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.
Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!
GAME #21
POLO GROUNDS
Fred Toney Ruffles the Redbirds
Fred Toney does it all, but it's the Cardinals who jump out in front. With one out in the fourth, Joe Schultz singles, and with two outs,
Rogers Hornsby singles putting runners on the corners. First baseman Jack Fournier then doubles to left, scoring Schultz. With two runners in scoring position, left fielder Austin McHenry laces a comebacker snagged by Toney for the final out. Toney's catch unquestionably saves two runs. Facing Cardinals starter Bill Doak in the sixth, Dave Bancroft doubles, advances to third, and soon scores on Ross Youngs' infield hit. Goldie Rapp and Ross Youngs each drive in a run during the home seventh. Fred Toney helps himself with a base hit during the Giants' two-run seventh. Ross Youngs triples and scores for the finishing touch, giving the hosts a 4-1 lead and the final margin of victory. Toney retires the Cardinals in order in the ninth. Toney yields one run on six hits and three walks (two intentional) with two strikeouts en route to his fourth win of the season against two losses with a 1.94 ERA. Three of the Giants' seven hits go for extra bases; High Pockets Kelly drives in his 28th run this season. However, they gain no ground on Brooklyn, who defeated the Reds at Ebbets Field.
- FINAL: STL 1; NYG 4
- RECORD: 13-8 (.619); third place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh
⚾
GAME #19
Navin Field
Tigers Steal One From Yankees
Making his fourth start, the Brooklynite Waite Hoyt toes the slab opposed by Tigers freshman right-hander Suds Sutherland. After a scoreless first inning, each team trades a run in the second. New York's Braggo Roth doubles home Wally Schang, and Detroit's third sacker Joe Sargent lofts a sacrifice fly scoring left fielder Bobby Veach. Hoyt and Sutherland traded zeroes for the next five innings. Ty Cobb throws out Babe Ruth at second base while attempting to stretch a single in the sixth. Sure enough,
Ty Cobb's hit puts runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom half of the eighth. With Bobby Veach at the plate, shortstop Donie Bush rumbles down the third-base line and successfully steals home for a 2-1 Tigers lead and, ultimately, victory. Waite Hoyt is effective but unlucky. He takes the loss upon surrendering two runs, one unearned, nine hits, and just one walk through eight. As a result, the Yankees slip down to fourth place, percentage points behind the Red Sox.
- FINAL: NYY 1; DET 2
- RECORD: 10-9 (.526); fourth place, 4.0 GB of Cleveland
