100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 10/2/1921: Yanks End Season With Comeback Win Over Red Sox; Giants Bow to Uncle Robbie at Ebbets 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 Season Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the formerly known New York Highlanders lose 102 games.  Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move 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 proceed to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity 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.  

As long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remains 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 at the turnstile in a decade.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shifted along the New York/New England fault.  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 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 - if the previous season 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 is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season 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 #153

BOXSCORE: Sunday, October 2, 1921 - BR

Boston Red Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Babe Ruth Hits Number 59; Yanks Close Out Season Finale With Ninth-Inning Comeback Victory Over Red Sox

Down to the very last game, the Yankees refuse to be denied.  With 15,000 fans on hand for the regular-season finale, the Red Sox and Yankees stage quite the entertaining back and forth affair.  Starting in place of Wally Schang, catcher Al DeVormer doubles home two runs in the second against Boston starter Curt Fullerton.  Then with two runners on base in the third, Babe Ruth brings the crowd to its feet when he connects for his 59th home run this season, giving the Yankees a 5-0 lead through the third.  Yanks starter Bob Shawkey makes his exit after tossing three scoreless innings.  Rip Collins takes over mound duties in the fourth much to the Red Sox liking.  Babe Ruth's misplay in left field and three consecutive walks issued by Collins result in two runs.  With Rip Collins still toeing the rubber in the fifth, the Red Sox tally three on four hits, three going for extra bases.  Miller Huggins summons Bill Piercy, who ends the threat, but not before Boston ties the game at five.  Piercy and Fullerton traded zeroes through the seventh.  Wally Pipp's error in the eight leads to a run for Boston.  But with one out and two runners on base in the home ninth, Roger Peckinpaugh doubles home both runners with the tying and winning run. New York wraps up the season with a 4.5 game lead over the Cleveland Indians.  The next time the Yankees take the field will be here at the Polo Grounds against their landlords, the New York Giants, in the 1921 World Series.

• FINAL: BOS 6; NYY 7
• FINAL RECORD: 98-55 (.641); FIRST PLACE, 4.5 GA of Cleveland

The Birmingham (AL) News, Monday, October 3, 1921

The Buffalo (NY) Inquirer, Monday, October 3, 1921

GAME #153

BOXSCORE: Sunday, October 2, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ Brooklyn Robins

Ebbets Field

Burleigh Grimes Wins Number 22; Giants Drop Regular-Season Finale at Ebbets Field

Let Uncle Robbie have his fun, for he will soon be back sitting in his living room armchair while his chief rival plays on.  The now-former defending National League champions spent more than one hundred games since June 7, mired in fourth and fifth place.  Alas, Brooklyn wraps up their season with a 77-75 record, 16.5 games behind the pennant-winning Giants.  Before a crowd of 15,000 at Ebbets Field, spitballer Burleigh Grimes holds the Manhattanites to four runs on 13 hits and two walks with five strikeouts for his 22nd win this season against 13 losses with a 2.92 ERA.  Left fielder Zack Wheat

closes out the season with a .320 average.  Hi Myers goes 3 for 4 with two runs scored, and Ray Schmandt triples, driving home two.  Otherwise, John McGraw utilizes upwards of twenty players to keep everyone on point.  He spreads pitching duties between Art Nehf, Red Shea, and Rosy Ryan closes out the game.  Frankie Frisch drives home his 100th run, and Ross Youngs plates two giving him 105 for the season.  That makes three Giant players (High Pockets Kelly) who reach the century mark.

• FINAL: NYG 4; BRK 7
• FINAL RECORD: 94-59 (.614); FIRST PLACE, 4.0 GA of Pittsburgh

⚾

WORLD SERIES

GAME ONE: Wednesday, October 5, 1921

NEW YORK YANKEES

vs.

NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/11/1921: Yanks Salvage Split with Red Sox; Giants Hit the Road with Rout of Robins at Ebbets 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 Season Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lose 102 games.  Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move 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 proceed to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity 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.  

As long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remains 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 at the turnstile in a decade.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shifted along the New York/New England fault.  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 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 - if the preceding season 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 is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season 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 #134

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Sunday, September 11, 1921 - BR

Boston Red Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Rescheduled From Sept. 8, 1921

Bullet Joe Bush Outduels Waite Hoyt

Boston puts a damper on New York's homecoming.  Leading off the game, center fielder Nemo Liebold reaches safely on Roger Peckinpaugh's misplay at short.  Waite Hoyt walks Eddie Foster, and Mike Menosky's sacrifice bunt moves the runners along.  With one out, second baseman Del Pratt doubles them home.  Bob Meusel drives home a run in the bottom half of the frame.  However, Boston starter Bullet Joe Bush holds the Yankees scoreless over the final eight innings.  He limits the Yankees to seven hits with two strikeouts for his 13th win.  An error by Wally Pipp leads to another Red Sox run in the fourth.  In an otherwise representative effort, Waite Hoyt yields three runs, two earned, on just five hits and one walk with five strikeouts in the loss.

• FINAL: BOS 3; NYY 1 

⚾

GAME #135

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Sunday, September 11, 1921 - BR

Boston Red Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Make-Up: 7/1/1921

Bob Meusel Blast Lifts Yanks for Twin Bill Split

Another tightly contested pitching duel unfolds at the Polo Grounds, this time to the crowd's greater satisfaction.  All that was required of them was a little patience.  Boston once again opens the scoring.  Leading off the second, right fielder Shano Collins homers to deep left field off Yankees starter Bill Piercy.  Opposed by Boston right-hander Ben Karr, the score remains unchanged through the seventh inning.  Despite a stellar effort, Bill Piercy exits on the losing side of a 1-0 game, allowing one run on five hits and two walks.  Bob Shawkey hurls a scoreless top half of the eighth in relief of Piercy.  The Yankees finally size up Ben Karr's offerings in the bottom half of the frame, striking for five runs on six hits, highlighted by Bob Meusel's three-run home run.  Bob Shawkey walks lead-off batter Mike Menosky in the ninth.  Afterwhich, the Yankees turn a 6-4-3 double-play.  Shawkey records the final out to earn the win in relief of Piercy.

• FINAL: BOS 1; NYY 5
• RECORD: 85-50 (.630); First Place, 1.5 GA of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #139

BOXSCORE: Sunday, September 11, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS

Ebbets Field

First-Place Giants Embark on Season-Ending Road Trip With Rout of Robins at Ebbets Field

The season's final leg begins.  Gotham's first stop is across the East River in Brooklyn, where John McGraw serves Wilbert Robinson one last reminder before leaving town that his reign as defending National League champion is hereby over, if not by league standards, then by his own measure and manner.  With their latest defeat coming today at the hands of the Giants, the Robins fall 14.5 games out of first with roughly sixteen games left to play.  As such, a crowd of 18,000 at Ebbets Field bears witness to a rout.  

The Giants jump to a 5-0 lead before Brooklyn regroups with three runs in the home third.  But the Robins would score no more.  After yielding a hit and issuing two walks to open the third, John McGraw does not hesitate in replacing Bill Piercy with Fred Toney.  All three baserunners would score charged to Piercy.  In turn, Fred Toney allows just three hits over seven scoreless innings for the victory.  Not yet done, Giant hitters erupt in the sixth for another six runs on seven hits for an 11-3 lead and the final margin of victory.  

The catching tandem of Earl Smith and Frank Snyder continue blistering the opposition.  Snyder (.317) took his turn today, going 4 for 5 with a double and two runs batted in, giving him forty to date.  Meanwhile, Earl Smith is batting .332, with ten home runs and 49 runs batted in, with a .550 slugging average.  Said another way, John McGraw is getting marvelously rounded efforts from his two backstops and receivers.  Meanwhile, Irish Meusel and Johnny Rawlings continue demonstrating their gratitude toward John McGraw for bringing them into the fold.  The two joined for three hits, three runs batted in, and three runs scored.  Dave Bancroft lifts his average to .322 by going 3 for 5 with a run batted in, and Bob Meusel drives in his 93rd run this season.  The Giants amass twenty hits overall and bat 10 for 21 with runners in scoring position.

For the Giants, they sweep the Robins and extend their consecutive game win streak to six.  They widen their lead over the Pirates by a full game as Pittsburgh loses to the Reds at Cincinnati.  Next stop: Cincinnati.

• FINAL: NYG 11; BRK 3
• RECORD: 85-54 (.612); First Place, 1.5 GA of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/10/1921: Giants Take Second Straight From Robins; Carl Mays Wins Number 24 at Shibe Park

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 Season Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lose 102 games.  Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move 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 proceed to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity 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.  

As long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remains 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 at the turnstile in a decade.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shifted along the New York/New England fault.  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 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 - if the preceding season 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 is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season 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!

Hartford (CT) Courant, Sunday, September 11, 1921

GAME #138

BOXSCORE: Saturday, September 10, 1921 - BR

Brooklyn Robins @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Complete Two-Game Sweep Over Defending National League Champs; Maintain Half-Game Edge Over Bucs

Jesse Barnes gives John McGraw the final say over rival Wilbert Robinson and last season's National League champion Brooklyn Robins.  Facing 21-game winner Burleigh Grimes, the Giants strike for three runs on four hits in the first inning.  Ross Youngs, High Pockets Kelly, and Irish Meusel drive in runs, and Jesse Barnes makes them stand.  The Giants' right-hander limits Brooklyn to just one run on nine hits and no walks for his fourteenth victory against nine losses with a representative 2.85 ERA.  Second baseman Pete Kilduff ruins the shutout in the second with a home run.  The score remains unchanged through the ninth as 28,000 fans attending the final regular-season game at the Polo Grounds rise to their feet and show Jesse Barnes and his teammates appreciation.  The Giants have played five more games than Pittsburgh, who today defeated the Cubs, thus maintaining a half-game lead in the standings.  They must now defend and, with requisite effort, build upon this slimmest of leads entirely on the road.  Their trek begins tomorrow at Ebbets Field.  Afterwhich, it's off to Cincinnati, then back to Pittsburgh for another showdown versus the Pirates.  Games at Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and back in Brooklyn round out the schedule.

• FINAL: BRK 1; NYG 3
• RECORD: 84-49 (.609); First Place, 0.5 GA of Pittsburgh

Hartford (CT) Courant, Sunday, September 11, 1921

"In a close race like the present one, we don't intend to be beaten out by a technicality as we were in 1908." - John McGraw, Vice President, New York Giants

GAME #133

BOXSCORE: Saturday, September 10, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS

Shibe Park

Carl Mays Wins Number 24; Athletics Routed in Rubber Game

The A's jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.  But the Athletics would score no more.  Yankee starter Carl Mays shuts out Philadelphia over the final eight innings en route to his 24th victory this season.  Also helping himself out at the plate, Mays goes 3 for 6 with a double and two runs batted in.  In a second straight walloping of the Athletics, the Yankees amass 19 runs on 24 hits against three different pitchers.  Wally Schang lifts his average to .315 by going 5 for 6 with two runs batted in.  Babe Ruth goes 3 for 6 with a double, triple, and three runs batted in, giving him 154 to date.  Ruth also lifts his average to .384, placing him third behind Harry Heilmann (.403) and Ty Cobb (.390).  Getting the start at third base, Mike McNally goes 3 for 5 with three runs batted in.  Roger Peckinpaugh, Wally Pipp, and Aaron Ward each drive home two.  All told, the Yankees bat 16 for 24 with runners in scoring position.  They take the rubber game at Shibe Park while the Indians split a twin bill at St. Louis, giving the Huggmen a full two-game lead over Cleveland.

• FINAL: NYY 19; PHI 3
• RECORD: 84-49 (.632); First Place, 2.0 GA of Cleveland

The Selma Times-Journal (Selma, Alabama), 

Sunday, September 11, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/9/1921: Giants Seize First Place With Defeat Over Brooklyn; Yankees Trounce A's, Extend Slim Lead Over Cleveland

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 Season Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lose 102 games.  Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move 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 proceed to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity 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.  

As long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remains 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 at the turnstile in a decade.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shifted along the New York/New England fault.  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 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 - if the preceding season 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 is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season 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 #137

BOXSCORE: Friday, September 9, 1921 - BR

Brooklyn Robins @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Defeat Brooklyn; Gain Full Possession of First Place

Fred Toney outlasts Leon Cadore and Dutch Ruether for his sixteenth win against ten losses with a 3.84 ERA, and it comes at a most opportune time as the Pirates fall to the Cubs at Forbes Field.  Toney limits the Robins to single runs in the second and sixth innings, on nine hits and one walk.  The Giants turn two double-plays in Toney's defense.  Brooklyn starter Leon Cadore is removed from the game after facing just two batters.  Uncle Robbie brings in Dutch Ruether, who yields three hits resulting in two runs charged to Cadore.  George Burns triples home Fred Toney in the fifth.  In the seventh, the Giants further agitate Ruether for three more runs on two hits, two walks, and two wild pitches.  With the victory, the Giants gained sole possession of first place for the first time since June 24, and for only the second time this season, dating back to April 14, when they held a 0.5 game lead over Pittsburgh in each instance.  The Giants have one more tilt here at the Polo grounds tomorrow against these same Robins.  Afterwhich, should they retain this lead, they will be forced to protect it away from home as the Giants close out the season with a fifteen-game road trip.

• FINAL: BRK 2; NYG 6
• RECORD: 83-54 (.606); First Place, 0.5 GA of Pittsburgh

Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader, Saturday, September 10, 1921

GAME #132

BOXSCORE: Friday, September 9, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS

Shibe Park

Babe Ruth Hits Number 54 Tying Own Record; Yankees Extend Lead Over Cleveland

The Yankees even their series against the A's at one game apiece, and more importantly, improve their standing over Cleveland with a commanding 14-3 victory at Shibe Park.  Philadelphia left fielder Tillie Walker provides the home crowd their only reason to cheer, going 3 for 5 with two home runs and four runs batted in.  Or, perhaps the 4,500 onlookers were more interested in witnessing baseball history, as Babe Ruth hits home run number 54 in the fourth inning, thus tying his own single-season record.  The Bambino finishes 3 for 5 with three runs batted in, giving him 151 this season.  Roger Peckinpaugh goes 3 for 6, and Wally Pipp homers.  Otherwise, Bob Shawley takes most matters into his own hands.  He goes 2 for 5 at the plate with a triple, four runs batted in, and two runs scored.  He holds the A's to five runs on the mound, albeit on 15 hits and one walk in a winning effort.  He improves to 16-10 with a 3.90 ERA.

• FINAL: NYY 14; PHI 5
• RECORD: 83-49 (.629); First Place, 1.5 GA of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/3/1921: Ruth Hits Number Fifty as Yanks Sweep Senators; Giants Gain Share of First Place With Victory at Ebbets 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 Season Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lose 102 games.  Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move 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 proceed to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity 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.  

As long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remains 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 at the turnstile in a decade.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shift along the New York/New England fault.  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 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 - if the preceding season 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 is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season 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!

Daily News (New York, NY), 

Sunday, September 4, 1921

GAME #125

BOXSCORE: Saturday, September 3, 1921 - BR

Washington Senators @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Babe Ruth Hits Number Fifty, Carl Mays Wins Number Twenty-Two, and Yankees Go Two-Up on the Indians

Washington jumps out to an early lead for the third straight game only to get routed by the Yankees. 

Facing Carl Mays in the first inning, Senators' center fielder Sam Rice drives home the game's opening run, and catcher Patsy Gharrity gives the Senators a 2-0 lead in the second.  The Yanks get one back in the bottom of the frame when Bob Meusel draws a lead-off walk, advances to second, steals third and scored on Mike McNally's comebacker to Senator's starter Harry Courtney.  Matters go awry for the visitors in the third.  Harry Courtney yields a lead-off triple to counterpart Carl Mays.  After Elmer Miller draws a walk, Roger Peckinpaugh singles home Mays tying the game at two.  Still, with no outs, Babe Ruth swats his fiftieth home run this season, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead and knocking the Senator starter out of the box.  Not yet done, Yankees catcher Al DeVormer, subbing for Wally Schang, greets Washington reliever Al Schacht with a two-run single for a 7-2 lead.  Carl Mays crosses the plate in the sixth on Elmer Smith's triple, then singles home the Yankees' ninth run in the eighth.  With two outs in the visitor's ninth, Carl Mays surrenders a home run to third baseman Howie Shanks.  Otherwise, Mays yields three runs on eight hits and four walks for his 22nd win against nine losses with a 2.93 ERA.  A rain-dampened crowd of 25,000, particularly those seated in the upper right-field stands, are rewarded for their perseverance with a bit of history. The King of Crash, Babe Ruth, who, last season, became the first player ever to hit fifty home runs in a season, repeats the feat.  With 29 games left in the regular season, he is now just four away from tying his own single-season home run record, and, lest we forget, he leads major league baseball with 141 runs batted in.  Meanwhile, the Yankees not only sweep the four-game series at the Polo Grounds, but they are also winners of six consecutive games, all at the expense of Washington.  With Detroit's victory over the Indians at Navin Field, the Yankees gain another full game in the standings ahead of Cleveland.  BOXSCORE: The Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY), Sunday, September 4, 1921

• FINAL: WAS 3; NYY 9
• RECORD: 79-46 (.632); First Place, 2.0 GA of Cleveland

The Birmingham (AL) News, Sunday, September 4, 1921

⚾

GAME #130

BOXSCORE: Saturday, September 3, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS

Ebbets Field

Jesse Barnes Earns Victory at Wet Ebbets Field; Giants Seize Share of First Place

With an impatient Jupiter Pluvius in attendance amongst the 22,000 partisans at Ebbets Field, the Giants perform an about-face after yesterday's loss in handing the Robins an identical 5-1 margin of defeat in a shortened seven-inning affair at the Bedford and Sullivan grounds.  Uncle Robbie calls on Dutch Ruether for mound duties and is opposed by Jesse Barnes.  Leading off the game, George Burns safely bunt-hits his way on base, advances on Dave Bancroft's double, and scored on Frankie Frisch's fielder's choice to short.  Frank Snyder doubles leading off the third, gets bunted over to third by Barnes, and scored on George Burns' sacrifice fly to center field for a 2-0 lead.  The Giants scored three more times in the fourth.  Jesse Burns does his part by limiting the Robins to just one run on nine hits and no walks for the victory.  Ray Schmandt drives home Zack Wheat for Brooklyn's lone score.  The Robins bat 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.  Irish Meusel goes 2 for 3 with a fourth-inning home run.  High Pockets Kelly drives in his 117th run this season, and Jesse Barnes helps his own cause with a hit and one run batted in.  The Cardinals and Pirates were washed out at Forbes Field.  Thus, the Giants effectively achieve a first-place tie with the Pirates, save for the fractional minutia.  

• FINAL: NYG 5; BRK 1
• RECORD: 79-51 (.608); tied for first place with Pittsburgh

The Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY), 

Sunday, September 4, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/1/1921: Yankees Sweep Twin Bill From Senators; Giants Get Tripped-Up at Ebbets 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 Season Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lose 102 games.  Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move 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 proceed to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity 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.  

As long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remains 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 at the turnstile in a decade.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shift along the New York/New England fault.  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 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 - if the preceding season 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 is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season 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 #122

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Thursday, September 1, 1921 - BR

Washington Senators @ NEW YORK YANKEES 

POLO GROUNDS

Bob Meusel Powers Yankees in Opener

It's deuces wild for the Yankees upon their return home as they post pairs of runs in the first, third, and sixth innings en route to a 6-3 victory in Thursday's opening game.  Meanwhile, starter Bob Shawkey holds the Sens to three runs on seven hits and three walks with seven strikeouts for the win.  Catcher Patsy Gharrity pulls Washington with one in the second.  But Shawkey follows with five scoreless innings, then yields two unearned runs in the sixth, resulting from a throwing error by catcher Fred Hofman.  Bob Meusel connects on his 17th home run, and with two runs batted, he now boasts 108 this season.  Wally Pipp and Fred Hofman making the rare start, each drive in two runs as well.  Arguably having his best season to date, Washington veteran George Mogridge takes the loss.

• FINAL: WAS 3; NYY 6

⚾

GAME #123

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Thursday, September 1, 1921 - BR

Washington Senators @ NEW YORK YANKEES 

POLO GROUNDS

Make-Up: 6/28/1921

New Jersey Native Harry Harper Outperforms Walter Johnson; Yanks Sweep Twin Bill  

In front of 28,000 fans at Griffith Stadium, a dismayed crowd witnesses New York's seldom if ever utilized left-hander Harry Harper outperform the great Walter Johnson in game two of Thursday's twin bill.  Harper allows one run in the visitor's fourth, then keeps Washington scoreless the rest of the way.  He yields eight total hits and one walk with three strikeouts for only his second win this season.  Second baseman Bucky Harris accounts for the Senators' only run batted in, scoring Sam Rice.  In the home fourth, the Yankees string together five consecutive hits for a 3-1 lead.  After adding a run in the seventh, the Yankees again erupt for a four-run eighth inning for a commanding 8-1 lead and the final margin of victory.  Babe Ruth has now gone nine games without a home run, easily his longest drought this season.  This win, coupled with the Indians' extra-inning loss against the Tigers at Detroit, again elevates the Yankees to the top of the American League standings by one full game over Cleveland.

• FINAL: WAS 1; NYY 8
• RECORD: 77-46 (.626); First Place, 1.0 GA of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #129

BOXSCORE: Thursday, September 1, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS

Ebbets Field

Burleigh Grimes Wins Number Twenty; Brooklyn Halts Giants Win Streak at Eight

The Giants' eight-game win streak comes to an abrupt end in where else but, you guessed it, Brooklyn against Wilbert Robinson and Burleigh Grimes.  Despite their double-digit deficit in the standings, the still defending National League champions will not go down lightly, at least not against John McGraw.

Spitballer Burleigh Grimes yields just six hits, three of which occur consecutively, leading off the fifth.  The following batter, Earl Smith, lifts a liner to left field caught by Zack Wheat, who throws to third baseman Jimmy Johnston who in turn throws to Ivy Olson at second base to complete a triple play, as both Irish Meusel and Johnny Rawling blunder by straying too far away from their respective bases.  Otherwise, Making his 30th appearance this season, Burleigh Grimes holds the Giants scoreless through the first eight innings of play.  The Giants spoil the shutout in the ninth, but in truth, Burleigh Grimes needs to look no further than at the infield play behind him.  Errors by Ivy Olson at short and second baseman Pete Kilduff tarnish Burliegh's otherwise fine pitching line with an unearned run, just one walk, and four strikeouts for his twentieth victory this season against eight losses with a 3.02 ERA.  Since the Pittsburgh series, John McGraw is displaying little to no hesitancy in removing his starters.  This game is no different.  Fred Toney is relieved upon yielding three runs (two earned) on seven hits over four innings pitched.  Slim Salle and Rosy Ryan each surrender a run over the final four innings.  Robins' catcher Otto Miller drives home two runs.  Hi Myers, Clarence Mitchell, and Burleigh Grimes account for Brooklyn's other runs sent home.  

Meanwhile, out in Pittsburgh, the Pirates lose both ends of a doubleheader against the Cardinals at Forbes Field.  Thus, the Giants still managed to gain a half-game in the standings.

• FINAL: NYG 1; BRK 5
• RECORD: 78-51 (.605); second place, 1.0 GB of Pittsburg

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 

Tuesday, September 2, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/16/1921: Brooklyn Hands Fading Giants Another Defeat; Yankees Lose Another American Association Exhibition Against Indianapolis

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 Season Revisited

In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lose 102 games.  Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move 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 proceed to lose another 94 games.  

Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity 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.  

As long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remains 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 at the turnstile in a decade.

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shift along the New York/New England fault.  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 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 - if the preceding season 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 is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season 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 #113

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, August 16, 1921 - BR

Brooklynn Robins @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Make-Up: 5/5/1921

Brooklyn Robins Came, They Saw, and Triumphed in a One Game Visit

Consider this a hit-and-run, if you will.  Sure looked like one for many of the 10,000 witnesses at the Polo Grounds.  Art Nehf opens with five scoreless innings pitched.  After he and Burleigh Grimes duel through three scoreless innings, Johnny Rawlings provides Nehf with two runs in the fourth, and Dave Bancroft and Ross Youngs drive in runs in the fifth.  Afterwhich, the Robins blindside Art Nehf with five hits, including Zack Wheat's two-run single in a four-run sixth.  Art Nehf is knocked out of the box, and Rosy Ryan ends the threat.  But the Giants recover.  Ryan Helps himself with a hit in the home sixth, scoring Meusel, and in the eighth, the other Meusel, Irish singles home High Pockets Kelly giving the Giants a 6-4 lead.  Facing Rosy Ryan with one out and Burleigh Grimes on base in the visitor's ninth, shortstop Ivy Olson homers to deep right field.  Brooklyn third baseman Jimmy Johnston then homers off Ryan to deep left field.  The spitballer Burleigh Grimes retires the Giants in an orderly fashion during the bottom half of the frame for his 18th victory this season against only six losses with a 3.04 ERA.  Rosy Ryan takes the loss.  With Tuesday's defeat, the Giants fall to 7-10 in August.  Moreover, they tie their season-high deficit of 5.5 games out of first place.

FINAL: BRK 7; NYG 6

RECORD: 67-46 (.593); second place, 5.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana), Monday, August 15, 1921

NEXT GAME: Wednesday, August 17, 1921

New York Yankees @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Comisky Park

The New York Herald, Wednesday, August 17, 1921

Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia),

Wednesday, Aug 17, 1921