100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/31/1921: Carl Mays Two-Hits Cleveland; Giants Lose Twin Bill 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.  

For 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 #93

BOXSCORE: Sunday, July 31, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Carl Mays Yields Just Two Hits; Babe Ruth Hits Number 38

The Yankees turn around and do to Cleveland what the Indians had done to them.  After yesterday's fifteen-run discrepancy, the Highlanders assail Cleveland pitching for twelve runs on 14 hits.  Starter Allan Sothoron, who just over one week ago hurled a three-hit shutout over the Yankees, surrenders seven runs on eight hits and four walks through five innings for the loss.  But the Yankees are far from done.  Reliever Ray Caldwell allows five more runs on six hits and two walks over the final three innings.  With the bases loaded in the home sixth, starting pitcher Carl Mays doubles home all three runners to knock Allan Sothoron out of the box.  Then with two outs and two runners aboard, a crowd of 28,000 comes to its feet when Babe Ruth connects off Caldwell for his 38th home run this season.  With four runs batted in, Ruth also breaks the century mark, notching his 102nd to date.  Carl Mays allows two runs on just two hits, including a home run by Doc Johnston, and three walks with two strikeouts for his 16th victory against seven losses with a 2.93 ERA.  With the win, the Yankees, again, pull within two games of first-place Cleveland.  The third-place Washington Senators are a distant eleven games out of first.

• FINAL: CLE 2; NYY 12
• RECORD: 58-35 (.624); second place, 2.0 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #96

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Sunday, July 31, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Make-Up: 6/9/1921

Eppa Rixey Outlasts Giants

Cincinnati owns a 5-2 lead after five.  All runs are earned on eight hits and two walks as starter Phil Douglas exits after the fifth.  The Giants seize a 7-5 lead in the top of the sixth when an errant throw by center fielder Edd Roush clears the way for five unearned runs.  But Rosy Ryan pitching in relief of Douglas does not hold.  Jake Daubert and Larry Kopf drive in a run apiece, tying the game at seven, and into extra innings, they go.  The score remains unchanged through the eleventh.  In the twelfth, the Giants have the go-ahead run on second with less than two outs, then, with two outs, Frankie Frisch poised at third, but Irish Meusel leaves him stranded.  With one out and two runners on base in the bottom half of the frame, Jake Daubert singles to right field, scoring Sam Bohne from second for the win.  Rosy Ryan surrenders three runs on five hits and three walks over 6.1 innings pitched for the loss.  In his first season with Cincinnati, hurler Eppa Rixey allows seven runs, but only two are earned.  He gains his 13th victory with a fine 2.12 ERA.

• FINAL: NYG 7; CIN 8 *12 innings

⚾

GAME #97

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Sunday, July 31, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Giants Leave Ducks On The Pond; Reds Complete Sweep

The Giants and Reds again go into extra innings, and again the Reds come out on top.  However, the McGrawmen should feel fortunate their twin bill loss only cost them one game in the standings.  They started the afternoon tied with Pittsburgh and now fall one game back.  After four scoreless innings, the Reds score single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.  With two outs in the eighth, the Giants string together three consecutive hits, highlighted by Dave Bancroft's two-run double.  Starting pitchers Art Nehf and Pete Donohue continue their duel through the ninth and into extra innings.  In the top of the eleventh, the Giants again string together three consecutive hits, this time highlighted by Ross Youngs' run-scoring double.  With no outs, the Giants then strand two runners in scoring position; High Pockets Kelly grounds to third, Irish Meusel pops foul to third, and Johnny Rawlings flies harmlessly to right field.  In truth, therein lies the difference in this game.  Cincinnati scores twice in the bottom of the frame to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  Art Nehf walks two and yields the decisive hit to left field by Heinie Groh.

• FINAL: NYG 3; CIN 4 *11 innings
• RECORD: 60-37 (.619); second place, 1.0 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/30/1921: All Fingers Pointing At Miller Huggins; Giants Achieve First-Place Tie With Pirates

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.  

For 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!

Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) July 30, 1921

GAME #92

BOXSCORE: Saturday, July 30, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Yankees Routed By Cleveland in Series Opener

It's rumored that Yankee ownership is willing to trade upwards of five players to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for second baseman Eddie Collins with designs to make him manager.  However, discussions were seemingly put on hold as it appears Colonel Ruppert decided to extend Miller Huggins one more opportunity during this homestand to prove himself worthy of guiding the club.  Should that, in fact, be the case, Huggins might as well start packing his bags.  Even worse than the 17-8 loss they sustained just over a week ago at Cleveland, the first-place Indians, fresh off a two-hit shutout over Boston, this time clobber the Yankees by a sorrowful score of 16 to 1.  New York manages just seven hits and committed four errors in the field, one by Babe Ruth.  But there is no leering at him this time, for the Bambino accounts for the lone Yankee run, his 37th home run this season to spoil the shutout.  Players are speaking up, as the Yankees played their best ball of late, with Miller Huggins feeling ill and absent from the team.  Fans are likewise not allied with Huggins.  The Yankees are being accused of not having the spirit of a winner.  Players say it's because they don't believe in Huggins and his peculiar style of managing.  Which is to say, the defending World Champion Indians are again leading the league because they believe in Tris Speaker. 1 In the meantime, starter Bob Shawley, Rip Collins, and Alex Ferguson all suffered the wrath of Cleveland's batsmen.  Cleveland's first baseman Doc Johnston goes 3 for 5 with a triple, home run, and an impressive seven runs batted in.  Shortstop Joe Sewell drives home three.  Cleveland starter  Stan Coveleski allows one run on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts for his 17th victory against seven losses and a 3.40 ERA.

 

right - The Ponca City News (Ponca City, Oklahoma), July 30, 1921

1 - The Hutchinson Gazette (Hutchinson, Kansas) July 30, 1921

• FINAL: CLE 16; NYY 1
• RECORD: 57-35 (.620); second place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #94

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Saturday, July 30, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Make-Up: 6/8/1921

Rube Marquard Hurls A Gem Over Former Mates

Left-hander Rube Marquard shows his old mates he still has what it takes to win, or in this case, defeat the Giants, knowing they're pressing to keep pace with Pittsburgh.  Many believe the Giants boast the top pitching staff in the circuit, even better than Pittsburgh.  But Rube Marquard was having none of it.  He limits the New Yorkers to just one run.  Second base substitute Joe Berry triples home Irish Meusel in the ninth to spoil the shutout.  Otherwise, the Giants wield only six hits and draw just two walks as Marquard wins his tenth game this season.  Starter Fred Toney is knocked out of the box after four innings but not before yielding six runs on ten hits and three walks.  The Giants' most recent win streak comes to an end at four.

• FINAL: NYG 1; CIN 8

⚾

GAME #95

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Saturday, July 30, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Jesse Barnes Lifts Giants Into First Place Tie With Pittsburgh

Jesse Barnes and the Giants turn the tables on Cincinnati.  New York scores early, often, and late en route to twelve runs off 18 hits.  Just as the Giants did in game one, Edd Roush and the Reds spoil the shutout with a run in the home ninth.  Jesse Barnes nonetheless wins his ninth, allowing one run on just five hits and no walks through nine complete.  High Pockets Kelly hits his eighth home run of the month, giving him 18 for the season.  His three runs batted in gives him a National League most 96, only two behind Babe Ruth for the major league lead.  Ross Youngs goes 2 for 3 with three runs batted in, giving him 70 for the season.  Today's twin bill split, and Boston's victory over the Pirates leaves Pittsburgh and Gotham tied for first place.  The Giants, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland are the three teams to achieve 60 wins to date.

• FINAL: NYG 12; CIN 1
• RECORD: 60-35 (.632); tied for first place with Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/29/1921: Giants Pull Within Half-Game of First; Yankees Poised To Host 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.  

For 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!

New-York Tribune (New York, New York), Friday, July 29, 1921

GAME CALLED: RAIN

Friday, July 29, 1921

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

NEXT: 7/30/1921

CLEVELAND INDIANS

* *  100 Years Later, in 2021, Cleveland Changes Their Name to the Guardians  * *

⚾

GAME #93

BOXSCORE: Friday, July 29, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

With Series Opening Win Over Reds, Giants Pull Within Half-Game Of First Place

In a back and forth affair, the Giants and Reds play to a seven-all tie through nine.  Starting pitchers Rosy Ryan and Cincinnati's Pete Donohue both fail to register even one out.  Donohue faces five batters, allows two hits, issued two walks, and makes an errant throw on Frankie Frisch's attempted sacrifice bunt.  At which point, Manager Moran replaces Donohue with Cliffe Markle.  Ryan is no better.  After Dave Bancroft's error, Ryan allows three straight hits, including a triple by Edd Roush, giving the Reds a 3-2 lead.  Four batters in, Slim Salle, is summoned to relieve Rosy Ryan and yields a fourth run charged to Ryan.  With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fourth, and Ross Youngs at the bat, catcher Ivy Wingo's errant throw to first base clears the bases, tying the game at five; Cincinnati commits six costly errors overall.  The Reds score in the sixth, but the Giants answer with two in the seventh.  With Slim Salle still toeing the slab in the ninth, second baseman Sam Bohne triples home the game-tying run.  Into extra innings, they go.  In the top of the tenth, the Giants bunch together three hits for a run, and, after another pitching change, Frankie Frisch doubles home two runs giving the Giants a 10-7 lead.  With two outs in the home tenth, Pat Duncan triples to center field, but in his attempt to score is thrown out at home, Ross Youngs, to Johnny Rawlings, to Frank Snyder to end the game.  Slim Salle puts forth a representative effort, allowing three runs on twelve hits and one walk with three strikeouts over tenth innings for the win.  The Giants win their fourth in a row and seven of their last eight in taking the series opener.  Pittsburgh is idle, and thus the Giants gain another half-game in the standings.

• FINAL: NYG 10; CIN 7
• RECORD: 59-34 (.634); second place, 0.5 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/22/1921: Giants Fall Again To Reds; Some Yankees Use Break For Exhibition At Akron

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 #85

BOXSCORE: Friday, July 22, 1921 - BR

Cincinnati Reds @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Reds Take Second Straight From McGraw Men

With no rain in sight, the Giants endure an 11-2 shellacking at the hands of the Reds.  Cincinnati scores early and often against starter Phil Douglas and closes out the game with a four-run ninth against Red Causey, making only his third appearance with the Giants.  Second baseman Sam Bohne's first-inning home run was merely a portent of things to come as the Red amass 15 hits led by Jack Daubert and Edd Roush with three apiece.  High Pockets Kelly homers leading off the fourth, and Johnny Rawlings drives home Curt Walker for New York's only two runs.  The Reds and Giants tomorrow will play a twin bill to make up for yesterday's postponement.  

• FINAL: CIN 11; NYG 2
• RECORD: 52-33 (.612); second place, 4.5 GB of Pittsburgh

The Evening Journal (Wilmington, Delaware),

July 23, 1921

NEXT GAME

Saturday, July 23, 1921

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia), July 23, 1921

The Logan Republican (Logan, Utah), July 23, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/20/1921: Giants Fall in Cincinnati; Yankees Down Indians, Gain Share of First 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 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 #84

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, July 20, 1921 - BR

Cincinnati Reds @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Fred Toney Bows to Eppa Rixey in Series Opener

Two former 20-game winners take the mound in the opening game between the Giants and Reds at the Polo Grounds, Eppa Rixey for Cincinnati and Fred Toney for the Giants.  The two duel to a one-all tie through six.  Cincy right fielder Greasy Neale leads off the game with a triple and scores in the first inning, and Ross Youngs drives home George Burns in the fourth.  The game's decisive run comes in the seventh.  Center fielder Edd Roush hits a leadoff double, advances to third, then scores on Pat Duncan's ground ball, third to first.  Eppa Rixey allows just one run on eight hits and two walks for the win.  Fred Toney yields two runs on nine hits and no walks in a losing effort.  The Giants sink four games behind the circuit leader.

• FINAL: CIN 2; NYG 1
• RECORD: 52-32 (.619); seond place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh

The Holyrood Gazette (Holyrood, Kansas),

Wednesday, July 20, 1921

GAME #86

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, July 20, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Yankees Take Opening Clash at Cleveland

New York's loss at Cleveland in their series finale back on May 17 has haunted Miller Higgins through all these days.  Just ask Babe Ruth, who, despite his exploits, has drawn his manager's ire ever since.  The Yankees ceded sole possession of first place that day and had yet to ascend the mountain top again.  That is until this afternoon's clash at Dunn Field.  No home runs for Ruth, but he crosses home plate three times.  Home Run Baker leads the Yankees, going 3 for 4 with a double and four runs batted in, and Bob Meusel drives home two.  Bob Shawkey puts forth one of his finest performances this season, allowing just one run on six hits and a season-high nine strikeouts for the win.  Right fielder Elmer Smith ruins the shutout with a home run in the sixth.  Otherwise, Shawkey wins his ninth against five losses and a 3.37 ERA.  Long-time nemesis and perennial 20-game winner Stan Coveleski yields seven earned runs in seven innings for the loss.  With the victory, New York ties Cleveland for first place.

• FINAL: NYY 7; CLE 1
• RECORD: 55-31 (.640); tied first place with Cleveland 

The Holyrood Gazette (Holyrood, Kansas),

Wednesday, July 20, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/7/1921: Yanks Take Series Opener From Defending Champs; Giants Blanked By Reds

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 #47

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, June 7, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Yankees Trounce Defending Champs in Series Opener

Their last game against the Indians at Cleveland never sat well with Miller Huggins.  He's been counting down the days until today's opening game against the circuit leaders at the Polo Grounds ever since.  The Huggmen did not disappoint.  In front of 14,000 fans, the Yankees take an immediate 3-0 lead against the defending World Series champions.  All three runs were unearned thanks in part to a fielding error by the third baseman Larry Gardner.  Still facing Indians starter Stan Covaleski, the Yankees strike for five more runs in the fourth, highlighted by Aaron Ward's home run.  Aaron Ward drives home another run in the fifth.  Home Run Baker drives home two runs.  Yankees starter Bob Shawkey puts the finishing touches on a winning effort but not before shortstop Joe Sewell homers to deep left.  Otherwise, Shawkey surrenders two runs on just five hits and three walks through nine innings for his third victory this season.

• FINAL: CLE 2; NYY 9
• RECORD: 28-19 (.596); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland

⚾         ⚾

GAME #48

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 7, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Old Friend Rube Marquard Whitewashes Former Mates

Former New York Giants star Rube Marquard treats his old mates unkindly upon their arrival in Cincinnati.  The now 34-year old veteran limits the Giants to just five hits and no walks with five strikeouts in a nine-inning complete-game shutout effort.  Frankie Frisch accounts for two of New York's hits.  Reds right fielder Rube Bressier and center fielder Edd Roush each account for three hits and drive in a run apiece.  Rube Benton takes the loss.  The Braves defeated the Pirates at Forbes Field; thus, the Giants lose no ground.

• FINAL: NYG 0; CIN 6
• RECORD: 32-16 (.667); second place, 0.5 GB of Pittsburgh

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

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

⚾

GAME #27

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 17, 1921 - BR

Cincinnati Reds @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Jesse Barnes Pitches Eleven to Complete Sweep Over Reds

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

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

⚾

GAME #25

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 17, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Miller Huggins Leers at Ruth During Loss to Indians 

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

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

100 Years Ago Today 9/16/1920: Brooklyn Robins Extend Lead to Six Over Reds and Giants

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF DEM BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #144: Thursday, September 16, 1920 - BR
Cincinnati Reds vs. Brooklyn Dodgers
Ebbets Field

Burleigh Grimes Turns Away Defending Champions; Robins Extend Lead to Six.

With the defending world champions in town Uncle Robbie puts the ball in the hands of his ace, Burleigh Grimes.  He is opposed by sixteen game winner Dutch Ruether.  The confident Reds waste no time taking a 1-0 lead on an Edd Rouch base hit.  Undeterred, Brooklyn counters in the bottom half of the frame with runs driven in by Zack Wheat and Hi Myers and in a flash Reds manager Pat Moran blazes a trail from the dugout towards the pitching mound.  Out goes Dutch Ruether and in comes right-hander Ray Fisher.  Pete Kilduff promptly greets the Reds reliever with a hit up the middle scoring Wheat for a 3-1 Robins lead.  Cincinnati then reminds Robins fans exactly whom they're up against.  With two outs and a runner on first in the fifth, first baseman Jake Daubert hits a Grimes offering deep beyond the reach of left fielder Zack Wheat that goes for an inside the park home run.  However, the Robins quickly break the deadlock on Otto Miller's hit in the sixth and add an insurance run on Tommy Griffith's double in the seventh, both runs coming against Fisher.  Burleigh Grimes retires the Reds in order to close out the ninth.  The spitballer improves to 22-10 with a 2.10 ERA.  Hi Myers is 2 for 4 and drives home his team leading 77th run batted in.  Brooklyn improves to 15-3 in September and now owns a six game lead over the Reds with eleven games left to play.  Cincinnati, however, still has eighteen games on their docket.  But that's because numerous rain postponements this season are coming to bear upon the Reds who must play five double-headers in the final weeks to come.  Meanwhile, the New York Giants split a twin bill with the Phillies which ties them with the Reds for second place.  The Giants have fifteen games left on their schedule, five of which are against Brooklyn.

• RECORD: 85-58 (.594)
• 1st Place; 6.0 GA

AMERICAN LEAGUE

• The Chicago White Sox best the Yankees 8-3 at Comiskey Park.  Thus New York falls into a first place tie with the Cleveland Indians.  The Yankees have twelve games on their schedule.  Meanwhile the White Sox close to within 1.5 games of first place, with two more games left in their series against the Yankees and thirteen games left in their regular season. 

100 Years Ago Today 7/30/1920: Cincinnati Reds Upend First Place Robins at Ebbets Field

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

EBBETS FIELD TURNSTILE

ROBINS EXPERIENCING RECORD SETTING TURNOUTS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS
1920 National league Champions

Game #98: Friday, July 30, 1920 - BR
Cincinnati Reds vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Reds Roll Robins in Series Finale; Take Three of Four at Ebbets Field and Close to Within Half-Game of First

The Reds make it crystal clear throughout the Borough just who the defending world champions are, with a methodical double-digit drubbing of the Robins in front a crowd upwards of 8,000 in attendance at Ebbets Field.  With Friday's victory Cincinnati takes the series from Brooklyn three games to one, and leave town back to within one-half game of first place.  After opening the scoring in the third, the Reds erupt for six runs in the fourth, then continue pouring it on throughout the later innings en route to an 11-0 whitewashing of the league leading Brooklyn Robins, whom suddenly appear under serious threat.  The Reds offer no quarter to starter Al Mamaux, and relievers Rube Marquard, and Clarence Mitchell; none escape unscathed.  Al Mamaux falls to 7-7 for the season with a modest 2.47 earned run average.  Reds right-hander Hod Eller stymies the Robins allowing just six scattered hits and three walks in a complete game shutout effort.  With two hits each, Ivy Olson and Hi Myers account two thirds of Brooklyn's hits.  The Robins are 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.  Cincinnati star Edd Roush is 3 for 4 with two runs scored and a run batted in, and  former long time Brooklyn Robin Jake Daubert goes 2 for 5 against his former team with a triple and two runs batted in.  The Reds muster sixteen hits in all.  Tomorrow the Robins welcome to town the sixth place St. Louis Cardinals, whom most recently suffer a four game sweep at the hands of the surging New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.  Meanwhile with a 47-44 record, and a 17-9 record to date in July, the Giants have supplanted the Pittsburgh Pirates in third place, and have quietly creeped 5.5 games behind the Robins.

• RECORD: 55-42 (.567)
• First Place; 0.5 GA