100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/18/1921: Yankees Bow To White Sox; Giants Outburst Too Much For Cubs

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lost 102 games.  Rebranded as the Yankees, in 1913, they moved just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants.  To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceeded to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw still harbored much animosity two full decades later, not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees.  As they were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.  

For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained.  Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans.  But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third.  A franchise record of 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders.  However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per se, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season in a decade at the turnstile.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shift.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.  

Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball.  However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation.  He believes players work too hard and earnestly to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle as in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance.  However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions.  McGraw's disdain for his tenants was further heightened when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history.  Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.

In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds.  Babe Ruth would continue accomplishing the unimaginable, and if that wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it.  All the while, with each passing day, John McGraw grows more incensed.  Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.  

Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the start of 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

Until then, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds.  It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series.  All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe. 

This is my replay of that season. Of course, I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible. But, more than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.  

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

⚾          ⚾          ⚾

GAME #57

BOXSCORE: Saturday, June 18, 1921 - BR

Chicago White Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Red Faber Wins 14th Game; White Sox Take Series Lead

A crowd of 22,000 watches in dismay as Miller Huggins removes Waite Hoyt early in the game.  Wally Schang's triple drives home the first run of the game in the second.  But Hoyt surrenders three runs on three hits and two walks while recording just one out in the fourth.  Alex Ferguson comes in from the bullpen to put out the fire, but not before Ray Schalk, and Ernie Johnson gives Chicago a 3-1 lead.  Third baseman Eddie Mulligan supplies Chicago the insurance they need with a run-scoring double to left field.  In the sixth facing White Sox starter Red Faber, Roger Peckinpaugh hits a leadoff home run to deep left field.  Then leading off the eighth, Peckinpaugh triples and scores on the throw when Babe Ruth grounds out third to first.  But the Yankees score no more.  Faber strikes out Wally Schang and Carl Mays to end the game.  Two-time 20 game-winner Red Faber appears on his way towards another milestone season; he improves to 14-3 with a 2.52 earned run average.  

• FINAL: CHI 4; NYY 3
• RECORD: 34-23 (.596); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland

⚾          ⚾          ⚾

GAME #57

BOXSCORE: Saturday, June 18, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CHICAGO CUBS

Cubs Park

Giants Tie Series With 11th Inning Outburst

The Giants and Cubs play into extra innings for the third time in four games.  A double from Dave Bancroft, a walk to Frankie Frisch, and another double off the bat of Ross Youngs give the Giants a prompt 2-0 lead.  Chicago gets one back in the bottom of the first, then takes a 3-2 lead in the second on a home run by catcher Bob O'Farrell and a run batted in from second baseman Zeb Terry.  Starter Fred Toney does not complete the second.  With Phil Douglas in relief, the score remains unchanged through the sixth.  Chicago starter Lefty York continues on.  With two out and two on in the top of the seventh, High Pockets Kelly drives home Bancroft with the tying run, and into extra innings, they go.  Manager Johnny Evers sends York out for the eleventh.  Perhaps, a mistake.  He allows York to yield seven runs on six hits, two for extra bases, and two walks, without making a move.  Art Nehf retires the Cubs in the bottom of the eleventh to close out the Giants victory.  Phil Douglas earns the win, and the Giants even up the series at two.

• FINAL: NYG 10; CHI 3
• RECORD: 35-22 (.614); second place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/29/1921: Yankees Complete Sweep of A's; Giants Idle

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lost 102 games.  Rebranded as the Yankees, in 1913, they moved just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants.  To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceeded to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw still harbored much animosity two full decades later, not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees.  As they were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.  

For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained.  Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans.  But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third.  A franchise record of 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders.  However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per se, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season in a decade at the turnstile.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shift.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.  

Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball.  However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation.  He believes players work too hard and earnestly to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle as in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance.  However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions.  McGraw's disdain for his tenants was further heightened when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history.  Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.

In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds.  Babe Ruth would continue accomplishing the unimaginable, and if that wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it.  All the while, with each passing day, John McGraw grows more incensed.  Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.  

Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the start of 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

Until then, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds.  It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series.  All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe. 

This is my replay of that season.  I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible.  More than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.  

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

New York Tribune

GAME #37

BOXSCORE: Sunday, May 29, 1921 - BR

Philadelphia Athletics @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Ruth Swats Number Fourteen; Yanks Sweep A's

With a crowd of 24,000 on hand, the Yankees unleash a five-run attack in the first inning and never look back.  A maelstrom of butterflies in the stomach of inexperienced Dave Keefe perhaps gets the better of him.  Facing Babe Ruth, he unleashes two straight wild pitches, the first permitting Roger Peckinpaugh to score and the second allowing Mike McNally advancement to third base.  Keefe ultimately walks Ruth, who soon scores on a two-run triple by Chicken Hawks.  Babe Ruth then hits his 14th home run this season, leading off the fourth.  The Yankees score twice more in the seventh and once in the eighth.  Starter Alex Ferguson yields three runs on eight hits, including a home run to Joe Dugan, and one walk through five innings pitched for the win.  Making just his fourth appearance in relief of Ferguson, Tom Sheehan allows one run on two hits - a home run to Cy Perkins - over the final four innings.  The road-weary Yankees complete a three-game sweep of Philadelphia and must now board a train back to the nation's capital, where a four-game set awaits against the unkindly Senators.

• FINAL: PHI 4; NYY 9
• RECORD: 23-14 (.622), second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland

 

New York Tribune

⚾

OFF DAY

Sunday, May 29, 1921

NEXT: Monday, May 30, 1921

Philadelphia Phillies @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/25/1921: Showdown With Pirates Washed Out; Yankees Throw Game Away at St. Louis

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lost 102 games.  Rebranded as the Yankees, in 1913, they moved just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants.  To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceeded to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw still harbored much animosity two full decades later, not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees.  As they were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.  

For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained.  Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans.  But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third.  A franchise-record 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders.  However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per se, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season in a decade at the turnstile.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shift.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.  

Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball.  However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation.  He believes players work too hard and earnestly to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle than in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance.  However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions.  McGraw's disdain for his tenants was further heightened when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history.  Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.

In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds.  Babe Ruth would continue accomplishing the unimaginable, and if that wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it.  All the while, with each passing day, John McGraw grows more incensed.  Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.  

Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the start of 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

Until then, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds.  It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series.  All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe. 

This is my replay of that season.  I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible.  More than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.  

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

GAME CALLED: Rain

Wednesday, May 25, 1921

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

⚾

GAME #33

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, May 25, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ ST. LOUIS BROWNS

Sportsman's Park

Yankees Bow to Browns; Carl Mays Suspended

Babe Ruth breaks out of his hitting slump.  He finishes the day 2 for 4 with a double, his 13th home run, and three runs batted in.  Down by a run with two outs and two runners on base in the seventh, Ruth connects on what is being called the longest home run hit at Sportsman's Park, deep into the center field bleachers, giving the Yankees a 6-4 lead.  St. Louis gets one back off Jack Quinn brought in to relieve starter Alex Ferguson in the seventh.  Ruth is hit with a pitch in the top of the ninth only to earn Miller Higgins' ire when he foolishly runs nearly to third on a routine flyball and gets doubled-up trying to feebly get back.  In the home ninth, George Sisler singles and scores the tying run on Ken Williams' triple.  Quinn then issues two intentional passes to load the bases.  With Baby Doll Jacobson at the plate, Quinn unleashes a wild pitch that hits Jacobson in the shoulder and makes its way to the backstop.  From third base, Ken Williams scores the winning run.  With two straight victories, St. Louis salvages a split of the four-game series.  To rub salt in their wounds, the American League today notified the Yankees that pitcher Carl Mays is suspended indefinitely for abusing and berating Umpire Chill during yesterday's contest, and Wally Schang is fined $25 for similar behavior.

• FINAL: NYY 6; STL 7
• RECORD: 19-14 (.576); second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/21/1921: New York and Chicago Clubs Fit To Be Tied

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lost 102 games.  Rebranded as the Yankees, in 1913, they moved just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants.  To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceeded to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw still harbored much animosity two full decades later, not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees.  As they were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.  

For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained.  Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans.  But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third.  A franchise-record 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders.  However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per se, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season in a decade at the turnstile.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shift.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.  

Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball.  However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation.  He believes players work too hard and earnestly to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle than in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance.  However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions.  McGraw's disdain for his tenants was further heightened when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history.  Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.

In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds.  Babe Ruth would continue accomplishing the unimaginable, and if that wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it.  All the while, with each passing day, John McGraw grows more incensed.  Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.  

Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the start of 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

Until then, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds.  It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series.  All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe. 

This is my replay of that season.  I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible.  More than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.  

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

⚾

GAME #31

BOXSCORE: Saturday, May 21, 1921 - BR

Chicago Cubs @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Chicago Cubs Salvage Series Split

The Cubs jump out to a 3-0 lead with a run in the first and two in the second.  Starter Lefty Tyler makes it stand, allowing two runs on ten hits and two walks through nine innings pitched.  Meanwhile, the Cubs knock starter Rosy Ryan out of the box with haste.  With one out in the second, Mister McGraw summons Phil Douglas from the pen.  He and Pol Perritt pitch the final 7.2 innings, allowing two runs (by Douglas) on nine hits and no walks.  George Burns drives home the Giants' first run in the seventh, and Lefty Tyler unleashes a wild pitch in the eighth, allowing Dave Bancroft to score from third.  In the ninth, Frank Snyder bounces into a game-ending 5-4-3 double-play.  Chicago salvages a split of the four-game series.  Making his third appearance, veteran Lefty Tyler improves to 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA.

• FINAL: CHI 5; NYG 2
• RECORD: 21-10 (.677); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #29

BOXSCORE: Saturday, May 21, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Comisky Park

Yankees Earn Series Split With White Sox

The Yankees get their scoring done early.  Roger Peckinpaugh homers in the first, and Bob Meusel drives home, Babe Ruth.  New York scores four more times in the third.  White Sox starter Doug McWeeny is partly to blame for his fielding error resulting in three unearned runs.  Manager Kid Gleason relieves McWeeny with Roy Wilkinson, who yields one run on eight hits over the final 6.1 innings.  Aaron Ward singled home Wally Pipp in the eighth.  Right fielder Harry Hooper triples home Eddie Collins and scores on left fielder Bibb Falk's two-out double.  Bibb Falk drives home two more runs in the ninth to no avail.  Starter Alex Ferguson surrenders four runs on seven hits and one walk to earn his second victory against one loss with a still troublesome 4.57 ERA.   The New Yorkers nevertheless gain a series split.  Onward to St. Louis.

• FINAL: NYY 7; CHI 4
• RECORD: 17-12 (.586); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/17/1921: Giants Complete Sweep of Reds; Careless Ruth Costs Yankees Share Of First

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lost 102 games.  Rebranded as the Yankees, in 1913, they moved just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants.  To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceeded to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw still harbored much animosity two full decades later, not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees.  As they were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.  

For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained.  Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans.  But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third.  A franchise-record 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders.  However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per se, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season in a decade at the turnstile.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shift.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.  

Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball.  However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation.  He believes players work too hard and earnestly only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle than in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance.  However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions.  McGraw's disdain for his tenants was further heightened when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history.  Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.

In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds.  Babe Ruth would continue accomplishing the unimaginable, and if that wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it.  All the while, with each passing day, John McGraw grows more incensed.  Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.  

Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the start of 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

Until then, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds.  It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series.  All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe. 

This is my replay of that season.  I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible.  More than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.  

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

⚾

GAME #27

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 17, 1921 - BR

Cincinnati Reds @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Jesse Barnes Pitches Eleven to Complete Sweep Over Reds

The usual allotment of putouts proved unsatisfactory in settling Tuesday's affair at the Polo Grounds.  The host Giants and visiting Reds needed more.  Making only his second start in nine appearances, Cincinnati's unfamiliar Buddy Napier toes the slab in opposition of Jesse Barnes.  The two duel to a three-all tie.  Ross Youngs triples home Frankie Frisch in the first, and Curt Walker triples and scores in the second.  Cincinnati strings together three consecutive singles in the bottom of the frame, and with the bases loaded, third baseman Sam Bohne scores on Pat Duncan's sacrifice fly.  Center fielder Edd Roush later drives home the tying run in the fifth.  After trading runs in the sixth and into extra innings, they go.  With one out in the top of the eleventh, Jesse Barnes walks his counterpart, Buddy Napier.  Barnes then induces Sam Bohne into a 6-4-3 double-play.  Leading off the bottom half of the frame, center fielder Curt Walker homers to deep left field against Napier ending the game.  The Giants sweep the Reds in four and extend their consecutive game-winning streak to seven.

• FINAL: CIN 3; NYG 4
• RECORD: 19-8 (.704); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #25

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 17, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Miller Huggins Leers at Ruth During Loss to Indians 

Despite Babe Ruth's leadoff ninth-inning home run, the defending champions hold on to salvage the series finale against the Yankees.  The young right-hander George Uhle limits the Yankees to a pair of runs on nine hits and three walks with four strikeouts for the victory.  Uhle also helps his cause with a single, and a run batted in during a two-run seventh.  Making only his first start in four appearances, Alex Ferguson yields four runs on seven hits and three walks in a seven-inning losing effort.  For Babe Ruth, it marks home run number twelve of the season.  However, that seemingly mattered little to Miller Huggins, who was clearly perturbed with Ruth getting picked off second base in the sixth, then committing a costly error in left field during the pivotal seventh inning.  Thus, the Indians snap New York's five-game winning streak and regain a half-share of first place.

• FINAL: NYY 2; CLE 4
• RECORD: 15-10 (.600); t-first place with Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/12/1921: Kelly's Grand Slam Powers Giants; Yankees Win Slugfest at Navin Field

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lost 102 games.  Rebranded as the Yankees, in 1913, they moved just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants.  To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceeded to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw still harbored much animosity two full decades later, not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees.  As they were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.  

For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained.  Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans.  But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third.  A franchise-record 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders.  However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per se, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season in a decade at the turnstile.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shift.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.  

Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball.  However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation.  He believes players work too hard and earnestly only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle than in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance.  However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions.  McGraw's disdain for his tenants was further heightened when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history.  Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.

In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds.  Babe Ruth would continue accomplishing the unimaginable, and if that wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it.  All the while, with each passing day, John McGraw grows more incensed.  Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.  

Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the start of 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

Until then, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds.  It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series.  All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe. 

This is my replay of that season.  I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible.  More than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.  

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

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GAME #22

BOXSCORE: Thursday, May 12, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

George Kelly Powers Giants Over Cardinals; Slim Salle Finishes What Jesse Barnes Starts

The Giants stake Jesse Barnes to a four-run lead on High Pockets Kelly's grand slam home run in the first.  But St. Louis left fielder Autin McHenry homers in the fourth, and with the bases loaded, center fielder Heinie Mueller singles home two runs reducing the Cardinals deficit to one.  At once, Mister McGraw makes his way to the mound, and into the game comes Slim Salle, who ends the Cardinals' threat.  Catcher Frank Snyder provides the Giants some insurance with a two-run triple in the sixth, and Dave Bancroft scores in the seventh when Ross Youngs bounces into a fielder's choice.  St. Louis scores two unearned runs in the ninth to no avail.  Salle earns the victory evening his record to 1-1 with an unsightly 4.25 earned run average.  With eight home runs to date, George Kelly is two behind the major league leader, Babe Ruth.  The Giants failed to gain ground on the second-place Brooklyn Robins, who defeated the Reds a third straight day at Ebbets Field.

• FINAL: STL 5; NYG 7
• RECORD: 14-8 (.636); third place; 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

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GAME #20

BOXSCORE: Thursday, May 12, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ DETROIT TIGERS

Navin Field

Babe Ruth Has First and Final Say; Yanks Climb Back Into Third

With Roger Peckingpaugh on base, Babe Ruth's first-inning home run into the left-field bleachers (#) gives New York a prompt 2-0 lead.  But it does not last.  In the bottom half of the frame, Detroit's three-run rally overtakes the visitors.  Or so they thought.  New York strikes back with three runs in the third and two more in the fourth.  The Tigers answered with single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings.  But the Yankees regain separation with two more runs in the top of the sixth for a 9-5 lead. Facing Rip Collins pitching in relief of starter Tom Sheehan, Detroit erupts for five runs in the bottom half of the frame to seize a 10-9 lead.  

Miller Huggins hands the ball to Jack Quinn, who twirls a scoreless seventh, and Alex Ferguson follows with a scoreless eighth.  Facing Detroit's Dutch Leonard with two runners on base in the top of the ninth, Babe Ruth triples, giving the Yankees an 11-10 lead.  Carl Mays then retires the Tigers to end the game.  Ferguson earns the win.  Braggo Roth goes 3 for 5 with a home run and three runs batted in.  Roger Peckinpaugh is 3 for 4 with a double, three runs scored, and four runs batted in.  Listed among Babe Ruth's three hits, his major league-leading tenth home run.  New York moves up into third place, one-half game ahead of Boston and one-half game behind Washington.  Detroit right fielder Harry Heilmann finishes 2 for 4 with a triple and two runs batted in.  Center fielder Ty Cobb is held to one hit in four plate appearances.

• FINAL: NYY 11; DET 10
• RECORD: 11-9 (.550); third place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland
• # Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 13, 1921, p25, c3