100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/11/1921: Babe Ruth Tames Tigers; Giants Lose Fourth Straight

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 #51

BOXSCORE: Saturday, June 11, 1921 - BR

Detroit Tigers @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Babe Ruth Hits Number 18; Roger Peckinpaugh Hit Wins Game In Ninth 

With one out in the first, Ty Cobb doubles off Waite Hoyt, plating the game's first run.  But with three straight hits off starter Jim Middleton, the Yankees own a 3-1 lead after one.  Detroit scores one in the second and another in the third, tying the game at three.  The score remains unchanged through the sixth.  With one on and one out in the seventh, Ty Cobb drives home his second run, then scores on left fielder Bobby Veach's home run to deep right field.  Babe Ruth evens the score with his eighteenth home run this season with two on and two out in the home seventh.  After a scoreless eighth, Roger Peckinpaugh drives home pinch-runner Mike McNally, in the bottom of the ninth for the win.

• FINAL: DET 6; NYY 7
• RECORD: 30-21 (.588); second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland

⚾         ⚾         ⚾

GAME #50

BOXSCORE: Saturday, June 11, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Sportsman's Park

Giants Bow In Series Opener At St. Louis; Losing Streak Hits Four

The Giants arrive in St. Louis only to have their losing streak extended to four.  Despite twelve hits, New York scores sporadically in the first, fifth, and ninth innings to no avail.  That's because the Cardinals knock starter Phil Douglas out of the box after just three innings pitched.  Douglas allows six runs, five earned, and ten hits.  St. Louis scores twice more against Rosy Ryan.  They bunch together three runs in the first inning and three more in the fourth.  Two Cardinals runs in the seventh give this game its 8-3 final score.  Jack Fournier hits his eighth home run for the Redbirds.  Bill Doak earns the win in relief of starter Ferdie Schupp, allowing two runs on six hits through 6.2 innings.  Phil Douglas suffers his first loss this season against four wins with a 3.99 ERA.  Eddie Brown leads the Giants with four hits, Dave Bancroft with three.  

• FINAL: NYG 3; STL 8
• RECORD: 32-18 (.640); second place, 2.5 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/25/1921: Walter Johnson Defeats Yanks at Polo Grounds; Giants Bow to Robins in Brooklyn

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, two full decades later, still harbored much animosity not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees themselves who 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 but an accomplishment for which John McGraw has little appreciation as one who 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 forward, 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.  A solution lies not too far away ...  

In the meantime, 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 #9

BOXSCORE: Monday, April 25, 1921 - BR

Washington Senators @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Big Train Outlasts Carl Mays; Litany of Errors Highlight Highlanders' Undoing

For the 15,000 on hand, victory seemed a surety.  With two outs in the first, Babe Ruth connects off the great Walter Johnson for his fifth home this season.  With two outs and two on base in the fourth, third baseman Aaron Ward singles home both Ruth and Wally Pipp.  Staked to a 3-0 lead, starter Carl Mays keeps the Senators hitless through seven.  However, his flirtations with history are rebuffed in the eighth.  After issuing consecutive walks, first baseman Joe Judge singles to left/center breaking up the no-hitter and loading the bases.  Afterwhich, right-fielder Clyde Milan follows with a comebacker that hits Mays and winds up being misplayed by catcher Wally Shang resulting in two unearned runs crossing the plate.  Next up, center fielder Sam Rice's sacrifice fly to right field scores Judge tying the game at three.  After Walter Johnson retires the Yankees in the bottom half of the frame, the Senators become beneficiaries of two more New York errors leading to another pair of runs and a sudden 5-3 lead.  Walter Johnson again retires the Yankees in order during their last half of the ninth to close out his second victory this season against one loss.  Big Train allows just five hits and strikes out seven.  Carl Mays suffers his first defeat, allowing five runs, but only two earned, on four hits and five walks with four strikeouts.  The Yankees' suffer a second straight defeat against Washington and their third loss in a row, including Philadelphia.

• FINAL: WAS 5; NYY 3
• RECORD: 5-4; third place, 2.0 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #9

BOXSCORE: Monday, April 25, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS

Ebbets Field

Uncle Robbie Gets Best of Giants in Series Opener

In this season's opening battle of the boroughs, Uncle Robbie's defending National League champions turn back local foe John McGraw and his band of aspiring contenders in game one of four scheduled this week at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field.  The host Robins promptly open the scoring against New York's Art Nehf.  Leading off, Ivy Olson doubles and soon scores on a Bernie Neis fielder's choice.  The Giants answered back against Brooklyn starter Dutch Reuther with a leadoff triple off the bat of center fielder Eddie Brown and a follow-up single from the third baseman Goldie Rapp.  But Brooklyn gets the better of Nehf in the third.  Ivy Olson walks and scores on third baseman Jimmy Johnston's triple.  Bernie Neis then follows with an inside park home run to center field, scoring Johnston for a 4-1 lead and the final margin of victory.  For Nehf, a second straight ineffective start.  He now owns a 5.11 ERA through his first 19.1 innings pitched.  First-year Robins pitcher acquired from Cincinnati, Dutch Reuther, yields just one earned run in eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts to even his record at 1-1 with a 4.86 ERA.

• FINAL: NYG 1; BKN 4
• RECORD: 6-3; third place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/21/1921: Giants Drop Polo Grounds Opener to Phillies; Yankees Open Road Trip With Win Over A's

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, two full decades later, still harbored much animosity not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees themselves who 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 shifted.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sent 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 but an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation as one who believed players worked 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 forward 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.  A resolution lies not too far away ...  

In the meantime, 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 #6

BOXSCORE: Thursday, April 21, 1921 - BR

Philadelphia Phillies @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Bow to Phillies in Polo Grounds Opener

A more livid mind cannot be found up or down the East Coast than that boiling inside the head of John McGraw.  Yielding a run in the eighth inning and ultimately losing to visiting Philadelphia on Opening Day is only partly the issue.  After all, that's baseball and within his control.  However, the Yankees outdrawing his Giants by upwards of 12,000 patrons in their respective first home games of the season is largely his matter and something disturbingly beyond his managerial authority.  Be that as it may, 25,000 watched in dismay as the Phillies jump starter Fred Toney for two runs in the first and two more in the second.  With one out in the bottom of the second, High Pockets Kelly connects off Phillies starter Bill Hubbell for his third home run of the season.  The Giants continue chipping away with runs in the fourth and fifth innings, then knot the game at five when High Pockets Kelly triples home Curt Walker and scores on Eddie Brown's sacrifice fly to left field.  But with two outs and the bases loaded with Phillies in the eighth, Dave Bancroft mishandles Bevo LeBourveau's grounder to short, allowing the decisive run to score.  Jimmie Keenan earns the victory with two scoreless innings in relief of Bill Hubbell.  Huck Betts closes out the eighth and ninth innings.

• FINAL: PHI 6; NYG 5
• RECORD:  4-2; second place, 1.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #6

BOXSCORE: Thursday, April 21, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS

Shibe Park

The Babe Ruth Show Hits The Road; Carl Mays Earns Third Victory

The Highlanders' first venture this season away from the Polo Grounds is a successful one.  Right-hander Carl Mays wins his third decision in as many starts, limiting the host Athletics to one earned run on 13 hits and one walk.  Just as they did back on Opening Day at the Polo Grounds, Philadelphia spoils Mays' shutout effort with a late-inning run and an inconsequential one at that.  Facing southpaw Roy Moore, Babe Ruth doubles home Roger Peckinpaugh for an early first-inning lead.  In the fourth, Bob Meusel doubles home Ruth and Wally Pipp, and Aaron Ward's run-scoring single in the sixth gives the Yankees a four-run advantage.  For good measure in the ninth, Babe Ruth connects on his third home run of the season scoring Chick Fewster for a final 6-1 margin of victory, the Yankees' fourth win in a row.

• FINAL: NYY 6; PHI 1
• RECORD:  5-1; first place, 1 GA of Washington

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/20/1921: Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel Power Yanks Past Red Sox; Braves Receive Similar Treatment From Visiting Giants

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, two full decades later, still harbored much animosity not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees themselves who 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 see, 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 shifted.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sent 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 but an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation as one who believed players worked 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 forward 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.  A resolution lies not too far away ...  

In the meantime, 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 #5

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, April 20, 1921 - BR

Boston Red Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Home Runs By Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel Propel Yankees Past Red Sox

Back on the field after consecutive rainouts, the Red Sox and Yankees duel to a 1-1 tie through the first six innings.  Yankees starter Jack Quinn helps his own cause in the second inning with a hit and run batted in.  But Boston catcher Muddy Ruel's hit in the fifth scores Stuffy McInnis with the tying run.  Still facing Sox starter Allen Russell in the sixth, Roger Peckinpaugh draws a lead-off walk and scored on Babe Ruth's home run to deep right field; with two outs, Aaron Ward's hit scores Bob Meusel for a 4-1 Yankees lead.  Still not done, in the seventh, Babe Ruth drives home Chick Fewster, and Bob Meusel connects for a three-run home run to left field.  Boston musters three runs in the top of the ninth, but it's too little too late.  Jack Quinn goes the distance yielding four runs, three earned, nine hits, and one walk with four strikeouts to earn his first victory of the season.  Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel join together for five hits, two home runs, and six runs batted in.  Ruth also had an outfield assist, throwing out baserunner Everett Scott at third base.

• FINAL: BOS 4; NYY 8
• RECORD:  4-1; first-place tie w/ Washington

⚾

GAME #5

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, April 20, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BOSTON BRAVES

Braves Field

Art Nehf is Good Enough as Giants Continue Weilding Hot Bats in Boston

The slugging Giants have now scored no less than nine runs in four of their first five games in all manners early, often, and late.  The lineup more than covered for starter Art Nehf who yielded five earned runs on eleven hits and a walk in 7.2 innings pitched.  Jesse Barnes took care of the rest with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.  Braves starter Jack Scott pitched himself into instant trouble, walking four of the first six batters faced.  Center fielder Eddie Brown tripled home High Pockets Kelly in the third for a 2-0 lead.  In the Giants fourth, an error by shortstop Walter Barbare paved the way for three unearned runs crossing the plate.  Braves left fielder Fred Nicholson got one back with an inside-the-park home run to straightaway center field in the fourth.  Boston would score four more runs, but so would the Giants en route to a 9-5 victory at Braves Field.  Frankie Frisch, Frank Snyder, Eddie Brown, and High Pockets all drove in two runs apiece; Snyder and Brown led the team with three hits each.  Dave Bancroft accounts for the Giants' ninth run batted in.

• FINAL: NYG 9; BOS 5
• RECORD:  4-1; first-place tie w/ Pittsburgh