100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/13/1921: Yankees Bow to White Sox; Giants Win in Twelfth Inning at Redland 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 #136

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, September 13, 1921 - BR

Chicago White Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Dickey Kerr Wins Eighteenth; Yanks Lead Cut to Half-Game

With the Yankees coming off their fourth doubleheader in eleven days, southpaw Harry Harper is again thrust into action.  Making his third start this month and fourth overall, he yields five runs on eight hits and three walks while surrendering two home runs off the bat of right fielder Harry Hooper for the loss.  Tom Rogers allows a run on two hits and two walks over the final two innings, making just his third appearance.  A 21-game winner last season, Chicago southpaw Dickey Kerr holds the Yankees to a pair of runs on five hits and four walks with seven strikeouts for the win.  Bob Meusel drives home a run in the first, and the Yankees are gifted one in the fourth with Ernie Johnson's misplay at short.  With Cleveland's victory at Philadelphia, the Indians gain a full game in the standings.  The Yankees lead is a mere half-game.

• FINAL: CHI 6; NYY 2
• RECORD: 85-51 (.625); First Place, 0.5 GA of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #140

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, September 13, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Ninth Inning Comeback Results in Twelve Inning Triumph at Redland Field

Art Nehf walks second baseman Sam Bohne leading off the home first.  Next up, shortstop Larry Kopf doubles into the left/center gap scoring Bohne.  Third baseman Heinie Groh then singles, putting runners on the corners.  A wild pitch advances Groh.  Still, with no outs, Rube Bressler grounds to Dave Bancroft at short, who throws out Kopf at home.  The Giants then turn an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Jake Daubert.  Irish Meusel strikes out with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth, and Johnny Rawlings bounces to third.  First baseman Jake Daubert accounts for himself in the home fifth with a two-run single, giving the Reds a 3-0 lead.  John McGraw removes Art Nehf after the sixth.  With Slim Salle now opposing Reds starter Dolf Luque, the score remains unchanged through the eighth.  With High Pockets Kelly on first and one out in the visitor's ninth, Irish Meusel's grounder to second is booted by Sam Bohne.  Johnny Rawlings then singles to load the bases.  Base hits by Earl Smith and pinch-hitter Frank Snyder result in three runs.  Pitching in relief of Slim Salle, Red Shea retires the Reds to force extra innings.  Red Shea continues the dual against Dolf Luque, and the score remains unchanged through the eleventh inning.  With two outs in the visitor's twelfth, Irish Meusel triples home Frankie Frisch with the go-ahead run.  Shea then sets down the Reds in order to close out the victory.  Art Nehf is taken off the hook, and Red Shea earns his fourth win against one loss with a 3.29 ERA.  Salle and Shea together account for six scoreless innings in relief of Nehf.  The Giants are now winners of six straight and own a 16-4 record over their last twenty games. Pittsburgh defeats Boston at Forbes Field.

• FINAL: NYG 4; CIN 3  12-innings
• RECORD: 86-54 (.614); First Place, 1.5 GA of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/4/1921: Braves Defeat Giants In Series Opener; Yankees En Route to Fenway 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 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!

Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona), 

Monday, September 5, 1918

GAME #131

BOXSCORE: Sunday, September 4, 1921 - BR

Boston Braves @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Joe Oeschger Greets Old Friends; Billy Southworth Strikes Decisive Blow Against Art Hehf

In the midst of his best season, National League veteran and one-time New York Giant until John McGraw included him in the trade to acquire Art Hehf, right-hander Joe Oeschger holds his former team to three runs on eight hits and two walks en route to his twentieth win this season against seven losses with a 3.25 ERA.  Earl Smith drives home High Pockets Kelly in the second, and Frankie Frisch triples home Dave Bancroft in the third.  But Boston jumps ahead with three runs in the visitor's fourth.  Earl Smith then ties the game in the bottom half of the frame with his ninth home run this season.  Handed a clean slate entering the fourth, Art Nehf yields a three-run home run to right fielder Billy Southworth, 

giving Oeschger and the Boston Braves a 6-3 lead and the final margin of victory.  With 28,000 bewildered fans looking on, Art Nehf surrenders six earned runs on eight hits in only 4.1 innings pitched for the loss.  Slim Salle and Red Causey joined together on 4.2 scoreless innings in relief of Nehf.  Tied no more - with Pittsburgh's extra-inning victory over the Reds, the Giants again fall back into second place.

• FINAL: BOS 6; NYG 3
• RECORD: 79-52 (.603); second place, 1.0 GB of Pittsburgh

Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona), 

Monday, September 5, 1918

Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia, PA), 

Monday, September 5, 1921

TRAVEL DAY

Next Game: Monday, September 5, 1921

New York Yankees @ BOSTON RED SOX

Fenway Park

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/30/1921: Giants Sweep Cubs, Winning Streak Reaches Eight; Yankees Win Opener at Griffith Stadium

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 #128

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, August 30, 1921 - BR

Chicago Cubs @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Rally Late to Complete Sweep of Cubs; McGrawmen Win Eighth Straight

Chicago right-hander Speed Martin poses a riddle to the Giants.  Johnny Rawlings leads off with a hit in the third inning, and Earl Smith draws a walk.  Next up, Art Nehf hits into an inning-ending triple play.  Speed Martin faces a minimum of 18 batters through the sixth inning and retires 19 of 22 batters through seven.  Chicago's Charlie Deal delivers home an unearned run in the first, Charlie Hollocher homers off Art Nehf leading off the third, and Charlie Deal drives home his second run in the fifth for a 3-0 Cub lead.  The score remains unchanged through the seventh.  That is until the Giants finally solve Charlie Deal with five runs in the eighth highlighted by Casey Stengel's run batted in and a pair of two-run homers off the bats of hot-hitting Earl Smith and Dave Bancroft for a 5-2 lead and the final margin of victory.  Art Nehf perseveres for the win, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts for his 17th victory against eight losses with a 3.65 ERA.  The Giants complete the sweep of the Cubs and, more importantly, win their eighth consecutive game to recover from a previously subpar month to finish August with an 18-13 record.  However, the Pirates defeated the Robins at Ebbets Field, so the Giants at least maintain their standing.

• FINAL: CHI 3; NYG 5
• RECORD: 78-50 (.609); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #120

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, August 30, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ WASHINGTON SENATORS

Griffith Stadium

Carl Mays Makes Easy Work of the Senators

The Yankees open their series against the Senators with five runs in the first and essentially never look back.  Carl Mays takes care of the rest.  He yields two runs in the bottom half of the first but does not yield another until the Senators generate one last run in the ninth.  Otherwise, only two of three runs allowed are earned, on eight hits and three walks en route to his 21st victory this season.  Support was plentiful as the Yankees post a pair of runs in the second and fourth innings and one last run in the fifth.  Bob Meusel and Aaron Ward each wield a pair of hits; Meusel drives home three runs, and Ward plates two.  Bob Meusel now has 103 runs batted in this season, and with a double, Babe Ruth drives in his 135th of the season.  Mike McNally and Roger Peckinpaugh, with four hits, also drive home a run each.  The Cleveland Indians were idle and so the Yanks gain one half-game in the standings.

• FINAL: NYY 10; WAS 3
• RECORD: 74-46 (.617); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland  

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/25/1921: Fred Toney Leads Giants Against Pirates; Yankees Relinquish First Place at 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 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 #123

BOXSCORE: Thursday, August 25, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Fred Toney Leads Giants to Third Straight Win Over Pirates

Right-hander Fred Toney takes his turn scuttling the Bucs.  Picking up where Art Nehf and Phil Douglas left off, Toney takes matters into his own hands.  In a big five-run second inning, Fred Toney hits a three-run home run to left field off Pittsburgh's talented rookie Johnny Morrison.  On the mound, Toney limits the Pirates to a run in the fourth, and one inconsequential run in the ninth, on eight hits, only one going for extra bases, three walks with three strikeouts for the win.  After yielding a single in the fifth, Toney retires the next eight batters consecutively.  He improves to 15-8 with a 3.69 ERA.  His battery mate, Earl Smith, goes 2 for 3 with two runs batted in.  The McGrawmen are proving themselves to be a finely tuned machine.  Their trio of starting pitchers have so far limited Pittsburgh to just four runs through 27 innings played, and if you haven't noticed, seven of New York's eight regular position players are presently hitting above the .300 mark led by Ross Youngs' .342 average.  The Giants have now won three in a row at the Pirates' expense to pull within four and one-half games of first place.

• FINAL: PITT 2; NYG 5
• RECORD: 73-50 (.593); second place, 4.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #116

BOXSCORE: Thursday, August 25, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Yankees Routed; Defending Champions Reclaim First Place

In quite the step backward, the Yankees are routed by the defending champions who salvage the series finale and more importantly reclaim first place.  Starter Bob Shawkey, Rip Collins, and Harry Harper have their mound offerings punished equally.  Center fielder Tris Speaker leads the Indians with four hits and shortstop Joe Sewell homers in the fifth and drives home four runs.  All told, Cleveland strikes for 15 runs on 17 hits; 12 runs are earned.  Meanwhile, right-hander Allan Sothoron limits the Yankees to just one run on Bob Meusel's double in the first.  Otherwise, Sothoron finishes with eight scoreless innings and strikes out six for the win.  For Bob Meusel, his 96th run batted in this season.  Babe Ruth goes 2 for 3 lifting his average to a .384 mark.

• FINAL: NYY 1; CLE 15
• RECORD: 71-45 (.612); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/13/1921: Earl Smith Powers Giants Over Cards; Carl Mays Dominates St. Louis Browns

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 heightened more so 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 #78

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, July 13, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Earl Smith and Art Nehf Lead Giants to Second Straight Victory Over Cardinals

After three scoreless innings, the Giants finally get after Cardinal starter Roy Walker.  With two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth, catcher Earl Smith connects for a grand slam home run to deep right field.  Then with two on and two outs in the sixth, the Giants, score three more on consecutive hits from Art Nehf, George Burns, and Dave Bancroft.  New York picks up an unearned run in the seventh, and Ross Youngs drives home the Giants' ninth and final run in the bottom half of the eighth.  Making his 15th start and the 21st appearance this season, Art Nehf allows four runs (three earned) on eight hits and four walks with two strikeouts in eight innings pitched for his eleventh win this season against four losses with a 4.14 ERA.  Don't look now, but Giant backstop Earl Smith is batting .313 with seven home runs and 33 runs batted in.  Technically in his sophomore season, Smith has already far exceeded last season's rookie performance.

• FINAL: STL 4; NYG 9
• RECORD: 49-29 (.628); second place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #80

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, July 13, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ ST. LOUIS BROWNS

Sportsman's Park

Carl Mays Rules The Day

St. Louis starter and one-time Yankee hurler Urban Shocker yields two home runs, but none off the bat of Babe Ruth.  Rather, the Bambino is hit with a pitch.  Chick Fewster is hit with a pitch as well.  Shocker and Ruth never played together.  However, he and Fewster, albeit briefly, did.  But after last season's unfortunate and fatal incident, Carl Mays doesn't seem inclined to retaliate.  After all, it's been less than a year since Ray Chapman's passing.  Instead, guile and craftsmanship rule Sub's day.  Mays allows just one run on eight hits and no walks while facing only six batters over the minimum as the Yankees turn two double-plays in his support.  At the plate, the Yankees strike for eleven runs on 18 hits.  Wally Pipp hits his fifth this season, and Carl Mays helps himself by going 2 for 5 with his own home run and three runs batted in.

• FINAL: NYY 11; STL 1
• RECORD: 49-31 (.613); second place, 3.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/8/1921: Art Nehf Out-Duels Grover Cleveland Alexander; Yankees Humbled In Chicago Opener

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 heightened more so 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 #73

BOXSCORE: Friday, July 8, 1921 - BR

Chicago Cubs @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Art Nehf Outduels Grover Cleveland Alexander For Series Opening Victory Over Cubs

In what is undoubtedly the most tightly contested match this season, a rather small gathering in hot and humid conditions witness Art Nehf and The Great Alexander brilliantly negotiate eight scoreless frames during Friday's series opener at the Polo Grounds.  Old Pete, Grover Cleveland Alexander, allows the Giants no runs on six hits and one walk, and Art Nehf limits the Cubs to just two hits and no walks.  Then, into the ninth, they go.  After striking out Pete Alexander leading off the top half of the frame, right fielder Max Flack connects for just the third Chicago hit against Nehf.  With one out in the home half of the ninth, Frankie Frisch draws a base on balls, and Ross Youngs singles back through the middle, putting runners on the corners.  Alexander then issues pinch hitter Casey Stengel an intentional walk loading the bases.  Into the box steps Curt Walker and laces a grounder to second baseman John Kelleher, whose misplay permits Frankie Frisch to score from third with the game-winning run.  Frisch and catcher Earl Smith lead the Giants with two hits apiece.  Recent acquisition Johnny Rawlings continues making Mister McGraw look smart with another hit in three trips to the plate.  All told, the soon-to-be 28-year old Art Nehf faces three batters over the minimum, yielding just three hits and no walks with three strikeouts and flawless fielding behind him.  He improves his record to 10-4 with a descending 4.19 ERA.

• FINAL: CHI 0; NYG 1
• RECORD: 45-28 (.616); second place, 4.5 GB of Pittsburgh 

Meanwhile, after the game, catcher Earl Smith challenges a New York City police detective to a fight, who gladly accepts ...

The Evening Kansan-Republican (Newton, Kansas), 

Saturday, July 9, 1921

GAME #75

BOXSCORE: Friday, July 8, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Comiskey Park

Yankees Subdued By Dickey Kerr In Series Opener at Comiskey Park

The Highlander's road trip does not begin well.  With Jupiter Pluvius postponing a key American League contest at Dunn Field, the visiting New York Yankees bow to the White Sox at Comiskey Park and thus fail to gain ground on the idle Cleveland Indians.  Home Run Baker drives home the game's opening run in the first.  Afterwhich last year's 21-game winner Dickey Kerr shuts out New York over the final eight innings of play, allowing ten total hits and two walks for his ninth victory.  Kerr also helps his own cause at the plate with a hit and run batted in.  Starter Bob Shawkey falls to 6-5 after yielding his standard four runs on nine hits and two walks.  Babe Ruth lifts his average to .382 with two hits in three at-bats and steals his ninth base this season.

• FINAL: NYY 1; CHI 4
• RECORD: 46-29 (.613); second place, 2.0 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/27/1921: Giants Drop Finale at Baker Bowl; Yankees 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 heightened more so 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 #65

BOXSCORE: Monday, June 27, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Baker Bowl

Phillies Snap Series Skid; Phil Douglas Made to Suffer Through Drubbing

After a day off, Giants starter Phil Douglas takes one for the team, as the Phillies salvage the series finale and avoid a sweep.  Douglas surrenders twelve runs on 19 hits and four walks through a full nine innings pitched.  Johnny Rawlings, Frank Parkinson, and Cy Williams all homer for Philadelphia, and Bevo LeBourveau hit two in the first inning and one in the third.  Cy Williams leads the Phillies with four hits.  Bill Hubbell earns the win, allowing eight runs, but only three are earned.  Ross Youngs goes 3 for 5 with two doubles and a run batted in.  High Pockets Kelly hits his tenth home run this season in the seventh and has now driven in 70 runs to date.  Earl Smith also homers in the eighth.  Coupled with the Pirates victory at Chicago, the Giants lose a full game in the standings but remain five games ahead of third-place Boston, with who they will open a three-game series tomorrow at Braves Field.

• FINAL: NYG 8; PHI 12
• RECORD: 40-25 (.615); second place, 4.5 GB of Pittsburgh

The Black Sox Trials

The Evening World (New York, New York), Tuesday, June 28, 1921

"... Babe Ruth, despite his bulk, is developing into a remarkably good fielder - his wonderful ability to judge the direction of a ball's flight immediately it is struck gives him a lead in the pursuit that more than offsets his comparative lack of speed." - Isaac Shuman

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/6/1921: Yankees Get Two-Hit By Dixie Davis; Giants Slide Back Into Second Place

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!

⚾

GAME #46

BOXSCORE: Monday, June 6, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Browns Starter Dixie Davis Two-Hits Yankees

Dixie Davis hurls a gem, and St. Louis salvages the series finale.  The Yankees spoil the shutout in the eighth, partly by Davis' own doing.  After walking the bases loaded, Braggo Roth scores on Ping Bodie's fielder's choice to short.  Otherwise, Dixie Davis allows the one run on just two hits but walks eight batters with five strikeouts for the win.  A double by Babe Ruth and a pinch-hit from Fred Hoffmann are all the Yankees can claim.  Rip Collins allows two runs, one earned, on just three hits and four walks through seven innings for the loss.  Browns' left fielder Ken Williams goes 2 for 4 and drives home three runs for the Browns.  Dixie Davis also drives home a run in the ninth.  Next up, the showdown against the first-place Indians begins tomorrow when Cleveland arrives in New York for four games at the Polo Grounds.

• FINAL: STL 5; NYY 1
• RECORD: 27-19 (.587); second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland

The Richmond Times (Richmond, Indiana)

GAME #47

BOXSCORE: Monday, June 6, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Forbes Field

Pirates Retake First Place From Giants

Pittsburgh avoids the series sweep in a thrilling back and forth affair, replete with the obligatory heroic ending.  Rabbit Maranville's first-inning single drives home the game's opening run.  Earl Smith triples home Goldie Rapp, and George Burns plates Smith in the second.  A leadoff triple by Curt Walker and a one-out double by Earle Smith give the Giants a 3-1 lead.  But the Pirates cut their deficit by one in the home fourth.  When Dave Bancroft leads off the Giants fifth with a triple into the left/center gap, manager George Gibson removes starter Whitey Glazner in favor of right-hander Babe Adams.  With one out, a sacrifice fly by Ross Youngs drives home, Bancroft.  But the Pirates scored once in the bottom of the frame, making it a 4-3 in favor of the visitors.  The score remains unchanged through the seventh.  With starter Jesse Barnes still in the game, Possum Whitted leads off the eight with a single to left field, then scores the tying run when Charlie Grimm bounces into a 4-6-3 double-play.  With the game knotted at four, Mister McGraw send Jesse Barnes out for the ninth.  With two outs and two runners in scoring position, second baseman George Cutshaw drives home the winning run with a single to right field.  Pittsburgh reclaims first place by a mere half-game ahead of the Giants, who still win the series three games to one.

• FINAL: NYG 3; PITT 5
• RECORD: 32-15 (.681); second place, 0.5 GB of Pittsburgh