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

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Season Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

GAME #113

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, August 16, 1921 - BR

Brooklynn Robins @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Make-Up: 5/5/1921

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

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

FINAL: BRK 7; NYG 6

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

⚾

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

NEXT GAME: Wednesday, August 17, 1921

New York Yankees @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Comisky Park

The New York Herald, Wednesday, August 17, 1921

Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia),

Wednesday, Aug 17, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/13/1921: Giants Earn Series Split With Brooklyn; Yanks Sweep Twin Bill at Shibe Park

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Season Revisited

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

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

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

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates 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 #110

BOXSCORE: Saturday, August 13, 1921 - BR

Brooklyn Robins @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Salvage Series Split With Brooklyn

In a contest marked by folly and misplay, the Giants hold on for the victory.  Pete Kilduff scores in the third as a result of Dave Bancroft's error at short.  Hi Myers homers to right field with two outs in the fourth, giving the Robins a 2-0 lead.  Starters Fred Toney and Clarence Mitchell for Brooklyn simmer things down through the sixth.  The Giants then post four unearned runs in the home seventh on four hits, a walk, a hit by pitch, and errors by Ivy Olson at short and right fielder Tommy Griffith.  Meanwhile, Clarence Mitchell is knocked out of the box and replaced with Dutch Ruether.  Fred Toney forges ahead and yields a run-scoring hit to Ray Schmandt in the ninth but holds on for the win.  Toney allows two earned runs on just five hits and a walk with four strikeouts for the win.  Clarence Mitchell takes the loss.  Frankie Frisch goes 2 for 4 with a double and two runs batted in.  By salvaging Saturday's finale, the Giants earn a series split with Brooklyn.

• FINAL: BRK 3; NYG 4
• RECORD: 66-44 (.600); second place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #105

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Saturday, August 13, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS

Shibe Park

Make-Up: 4/23/1921

Yanks Claim Opener; Carl Mays Wins Number 18

Wally Schang and Elmer Miller drive in a run, and Home Run Baker plates two in a big four-run third inning.  Carl Mays takes care of the rest.  The submariner limits Philadelphia to a pair of runs on eight hits and no walks for his 18th victory this season against eight losses with a 2.94 ERA.  A's left fielder Tillie Walker hit an inconsequential home run in the ninth.  Youngster Eddie Rommel takes the loss.  Bob Meusel drives home two, and Aaron Ward drives home one.  Babe Ruth knocks in his 118th run this season.

• FINAL: NYY 7; PHI 2

⚾

GAME #106

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Saturday, August 13, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS

Shibe Park

Yankees Complete Sweep at Shibe Park

The Yankees scored early, often, and late.  Four runs cross the plate in the first, and five more touch home in the third.  Afterwhich it's just a matter of starter Rip Collins holding on.  Bob Meusel leads the way going 3 for 5 with a home run and five runs batted in.  Meusel lifts his RBI total to 88 for the season.  Wally Pipp goes 3 for 4 with three runs driven home.  With three hits, Babe Ruth raises his average to a .376 mark.  After yielding a run on three hits in the ninth, Miller Huggins relieves Rip Colling with Bob Shawkey.  Colling strikes out five en route to his eighth win this season.  With a twin-bill sweep at Philadelphia, the Yankees gain a half-game on Cleveland.  

• FINAL: NYY 13; PHI 7
• RECORD: 66-40 (.623); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/8/1921: Yankees Bow to Athletics in Extras; Giants Fall at Ebbets Field

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 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 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 in 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 #17

BOXSCORE: Sunday, May 8, 1921 - BR

Philadelphia Athletics @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

38,000 Watch With Dismay as Eddie Rommel Pitches Fourteen Inning Victory Over Yankees

Just as they had done yesterday for the Giants, New York City baseball bugs pack the Polo Grounds to capacity for today's American League tilt against the Athletics.  Making his fifth start of the season, Bill Piercy toes the slab for the Yankees and is opposed by Philadelphia right-hander Eddie Rommel.  

With runners on the corners in the fourth, left fielder Tillie Walker's sac-fly and catcher Cy Perkins' base hit through the middle gives the A's a 2-0 lead.  The Yankees pick up an unearned run in the fifth when Fred Hofmann scores on Braggo Roth's ground ball fielder's choice to third.  First baseman Ivy Griffin delivers home Philadelphia's third run in the sixth, but the Athletics' insurance expires in the ninth.  After Bill Piercy retires the A's in order, Bob Meusel reaches safely and advances to second on a costly error by Tillie Walker in left field.  Home Run Baker then singles off Eddie Rommel, scoring Meusel.  Miller Huggins replaces Baker with pinch-runner Chick Fewster, who, to this point, was getting a day off.  Pinch-hitting for Piercy, Chick Hawks taps out catcher to first advancing the runners along.  Eddie Rommel then walks Braggo Roth, but Chick Fewster takes advantage of a lackadaisical battery and steals home behind the play, thus tying the game at three.  

Huggins summons sophomore right-hander Rip Collins from the bullpen.  Mr. Connie Mack leaves Rommel in the game, and the two pitchers duel through four scoreless innings.  With one out and two runners on base in the top of the 14th inning, Cy Perkins triples into the left/center field gap giving the visiting Athletics a 5-3 lead.  Babe Ruth singles leading off the bottom half of the frame, advances to third on Wally Pip's hit, and scores on Bob Meusel's sac-fly to straightaway center.  With the tying run at second base, the capacity crowd is hushed when Rommel retires Wally Schang to end the game.  Rip Collins is tagged with his second loss in as many appearances.

The Yankees open a 17-game road trip on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers.

• FINAL: PHI 5; NYY 4 (14-inn)
• RECORD: 9-8 (.529); fourth place, 4.0 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #19

BOXSCORE: Sunday, May 8, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS

Ebbets Field

Southpaw Clarence Mitchell Shuts Out Giants at Ebbets Field

In this battle of rivals, the home team is yet to lose.  Today ends no differently.  After bowing in two straight at the Polo Grounds, the Robins return to Brooklyn, where the Giants lost for the fifth time this season at Ebbets Field.  After five scoreless innings, Tommy Griffith homers off Giants starter Jesse Barnes.  Robins starter Clarence Mitchell makes it stand.  Ivy Olson drives home an insurance run in the eighth, but it was not needed.  Mitchell yields ten hits and three walks in an otherwise stellar complete-game shutout effort.  The Robins southpaw improves to 3-0 with a 2.20 ERA.  Jesse Barnes is removed after six innings.  He allows one earned run on just three hits and three walks in a tough-luck loss.  Rosy Ryan allows one run on three hits over two innings in relief of Barnes.  Catcher Frank Snyder is the only Giants batter with multiple hits.  Brooklyn catcher Otto Miller is similarly the lone Robins batter with multiple hits.  Brooklyn reclaims second place from the Giants.  Today's game also marks the first time the New Yorkers have been shut out by the competition this season.

• FINAL: NYG 0; BKN 2
• RECORD: 12-7 (.632); third place; 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/4/1921: Giants Defeat Brooklyn in Series Opener; Yankees Postponed At Washington

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 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 in 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!

New York Herald

GAME #17

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, May 4, 1921 - BR

Brooklyn Robins @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

The Art Of Managing As Demonstrated by Mister McGraw; Giants Turn Away Brooklyn In Series Opener

The defending National League champions from Brooklyn arrive for their first visit this season to the Polo Grounds.  They bring an eleven-game consecutive win streak with them, including four in a row against the Giants back in April at Ebbets Field.  

One of Wilbert Robinson's very few off-season reinforcements, Dutch Ruether toes the slab for a third straight start against the Giants and is opposed by Mister McGraw's little experienced right-hander Rosy Ryan.  After trading zeroes through the fourth, Brooklyn strikes.  Center fielder Hi Myers singles leading off the fifth, advances to second, and scores on Dutch Ruether's base hit to left field.  Then with two outs and runners on the corners, Brooklyn successfully executes a double steal; Ivy Olson breaks for second drawing a throw while Dutch Ruether swipes home, giving the Robins a 2-0 lead.  

Two more scoreless innings go by until John McGraw takes over.  He replaces Rosy Ryan with Art Nehf, who pitches a scoreless top half of the eighth.  Meanwhile, Uncle Robbie sends Ruether out for the bottom half of the eighth.  At McGraw's insistence, the Giants strike back.  Lee King laces a lead-off double, and Goldie Rapp reaches on an infield hit.  With one out and both runners in scoring position, McGraw pinch-hits Alex Gaston for Nehf, who promptly triples into the right/center field gap tying the game at two.  McGraw then replaces Gaston with pinch-runner John Monroe, who scores the go-ahead run on George Burns' hit back through the box that hits Dutch Ruether but cannot assist for a putout.  After which, Jesse Barnes obliges Mister McGraw by closing out the ninth.  No twelfth consecutive victory for the Robins, not in Little Napoleon's empire.

• FINAL: BKN 2; NYG 3
• RECORD: 11-6 (.647); third place, 2.5 GB of Pittsburgh

GAME CALLED: Rain

Wednesday, May 4, 1921

New York Yankees @ WASHINGTON SENATORS

Griffith Stadium

This marks the seventh game this season for the Yankees compromised by rain.  Meanwhile, the King of Clout remains stuck at six home runs.  

Babe Ruth entered the season with 103 career round-trippers, giving him a total of 109 to date.  Roger Conner, the former 19th century Troy Trojans/New York Giants great, holds the major league record with 138 home runs over an 18-year National League career.  Lest we forget, just three years ago, while a member of the Red Sox, Ruth led the American League with eleven home runs.  A year later, he shatters Philadelphia A's Socks Seybold's 16-year old single-season American League record of 16 home runs.  Later that same season he ties and surpasses by one the all-time record of 28 home runs set in 1894 by Chicago White Stockings third baseman Ned Williamson.  Then, of course, last season Ruth accomplishes the once-unimaginable, breaking his own record, and resetting it at an incredible 54 home runs in one season - no player before had ever before hit 50 home runs.  

The man is hitting more home runs than whole teams!  Fans of both circuits are still struggling to comprehend the historical events unfolding before them.  In Ruthian terms, he is a mere 29 home runs away from tying Roger Connor with upwards of 140 regular-season games left to play.  If last season is any indication, the home run record once again rides a pale horse.

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 Today 10/11/1920: Indians Whitewash Brooklyn Robins; Take 4-2 Series Lead

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF DEM BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS
1920 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

WORLD SERIES: Monday, October 11, 1920 - GAME SIX

Brooklyn Robins vs. Cleveland Indians

League Park

Former Robin Tosses Three Hitter Over Brooklyn; Indians One Win Away From Title

A bewildered Uncle Robbie watches on as his former pupil Duster Mails turns away Robins batter after Robins batter.  Now 25-years old and making only his tenth appearance all season, Mails tosses a gem back in the face of former team mate Sherry Smith whom puts forth another fine although unfortunate performance.  Smith allows just one run on seven hits and one walk over eight innings.  However, Mails is better, yielding no runs on just three hits and two walks with four strikeouts through nine innings full.  Ivy Olson, Hi Myers and Ed Konetchy account for Brooklyn's only hits.  With one out in the home sixth George Burns doubles home Tris Speaker who scores all the way from first for the game's only run.  Ivy Olson doubles with one out in the eighth but is left stranded.  Uncle Robbie started Jack Sheehan at third in place of Jimmy Johnston.  The Robins have scored just two runs over the last three games at Cleveland.  The Indians now own a commanding 4-2 series lead in this best of nine championship.

100 Years Ago Today 10/3/1920: Brooklyn Robins Close Regular Season With Victory Over Braves

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF DEM BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

Game #155: Sunday, October 3, 1920 - BR

Boston Braves vs. Brooklyn Robins

Ebbets Field

Robins Win Final Game of Season; Next Stop World Series Versus Cleveland Indians

Brooklyn wraps up a wildly successful 1920 season with one final defeat of the Boston Braves in front of 10,000 crazed fans at Ebbets Field.  As if 26-innings weren't enough, the teams need another ten innings in order to decide a victor.  The Robins and Braves back on May 1 played nearly the length of three nine innings games only to end the day tied at one.  Boston jumps out to a quick 3-0 lead, all runs are unearned.  No changes in the score are affected through the seventh.  However, Brooklyn finally strikes for two runs in the eighth.  With a runner on Zack Wheat connects on his ninth home run for the season and his second in as many games.   Boston picks up an insurance run in the ninth.  But the Robins rally for two more in the bottom half, tying the game at four.  In the home tenth, Hi Myers triples home Bill McCabe with the winning run.  George Mohart and Johnny Miljus join together for the victory, allowing four runs, none earned, on nine hits and three walks.

From the first of September through the end of the season the Robins post a 23-6 (.793) record.  They end the season with a 93-61 record, seven games in front of the Giants and 10.5 games ahead of the now dethroned N.L. champ Cincinnati Reds.  After averaging just 65 wins over the last three seasons, their 93 victories ties for fourth highest in franchise history and falls just one win shy of their 1916 record.  Robinson's team never fell below .500 and were never more than 3.5 games out of first place.  The New York Giants got off to a poor start after Frankie Frisch was stricken by appendicitis.  They surged with a 20-11 record in August, but would ultimately lose 15 of 22 games against the Robins.

"No special system of playing won the 1920 pennant for the Brooklyn Superbas.  Nerve and Spirit won the pennant." - Wilbert Robinson. 

This is Uncle Robbie's second pennant since parting ways with the Giants and taking over the Superbas in 1914 from Bill Dahlen.  Only nine members of the 1916 N.L. champs remain.  Nine other players were acquired over the previous two seasons.  In fact, this year's team is largely unchanged from last season when they won only 69 games (a 24 game improvement).

A veteran lineup, seven of eight position regulars are 30-years of age or older.  Two of Wilbert Robinson's savviest moves were making Jimmy Johnston the starting third baseman and plugging Pete Kilduff at second.  Thirty-four year old Ivy Olson caught a lot of flack at shortstop by fans but he proved clutch with a stick.

The heart of the lineup proved solid.  Acquired last season, 34-year old first baseman Big Ed Konetchy bats .308 with 63 runs batted in.  Center fielder Hi Myers plays every game this season.  Myers finishes with a .304 average and once again leads the National League with 22 triples.  He posts career bests in on-base percentage and slugging average and leads the Robins for a second straight season with 85 runs batted in.  Brooklyn's undeniable star Zack Wheat registers his eighth .300 season.  The 1918 batting champion this season places fourth in the race with a .328 average and ranks fourth in the league with a .385 on-base percentage.

Acquired from the Pirates in 1918, Burleigh Grimes enjoys his finest season as a pro.  The spitballer posts a career high 23 victories against eleven losses with a 2.22 earned run average.  He finishes third in the N.L. with 131 strikeouts, while his wins and ERA both rank second.  In fact, the Robins lead the league with a 2.92 team ERA.

100 Years Years Ago Today 9/26/1920: Brooklyn Robins One Game Away From Clinching Pennant

 From the desks of: FINGERPRINTS OF DEM BUMS & LITTLE NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #151: Sunday, September 26, 1920 - BR

New York Giants vs. Brooklyn Robins

Ebbets Field

Uncle Robbie and Rube Marquard Push McGraw's Giants to the Brink

Many times this season when Uncle Robbie needed Rube Marquard to win a big game, his old friend delivered in the clutch.  Today in front of a sold out Ebbets Field the soon to be 33-year old hurls what is to date perhaps the most heroic regular season victory in his Brooklyn career.  From the visitor's dugout an expressionless John McGraw offers no glimpse into his troubled mind as his former star pitcher helps reduce the Robins magic number to one.  Once inside the clubhouse a convivial Wilbert Robinson revels in his rival's defeat.  Twenty-one game winner Fred Toney starts for the Giants but comes nowhere near finishing.  Down a run, John McGraw pinch hits for Toney in the third.  Alex Gaston strikes out, but an error by third baseman Jimmy Johnston and a hits by Dave Bancroft and Ross Youngs tie the game at one.  In the Brooklyn seventh, reliever Phil Douglas walks the bases loaded.  Ivy Olson follows with a single to right scoring two runs.  The teams trade runs in the eighth.  Rube Marquard then retires the Giants in order in the ninth.  Brooklyn wins their 90th game of the season and an already uproarious Ebbets Field crowd goes wild.  Fans spill out onto the field and accompany Marquard on his triumphant march back towards the dugout.  The former Giants southpaw allows two runs, none earned, on just five hits and two walks with five strikeouts through a full nine innings.  He improves to 10-7 with a 3.31 ERA.  Hi Myers drives in two runs giving him 83 for the season.  Tomorrow the Robins are idle, while the Giants host a twin bill against the Boston Braves.  Anything other than a two game sweep and the Giants are through.  Should the Giants win out, they'll host Brooklyn at the Polo Grounds.

• RECORD: 90-60 (.600)
• 1st Place; 5.0 GA

100 Years Ago Today 9/17/1920: Brooklyn Robins Take Second Straight From Defending Champs

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF DEM BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #145: Friday, September 17, 1920 - BR
Cincinnati Reds vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

The Countdown Begins: Six Game Lead With Ten Games Left to Play

LEON CADORE WINS #15

Leon Cadore once again comes through for Uncle Robbie.  The 28-year old right-hander limits the defending champions to a pair of unearned runs on five hits and five walks with five strikeouts through nine innings.  He improves to 15-13 with a 2.62 ERA.  Trailing 2-1 in the home seventh, Ivy Olson leads off with a double then scores the tying run on Tommy Griffith's base hit to left.  Zack Wheat singles and Hi Myers drives in his 78th run of the season giving the Robins a 3-2 lead and final margin of victory.  That's two straight wins against the Reds and thirteen wins in their last fourteen games.  Brooklyn widens their lead to seven over the now third place Reds.  The New York Giants defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in ten innings at the Polo Grounds.  They take over second place six games behind the Robins.

• RECORD: 86-58 (.597)
• 1st Place; 6.0 GA

EXTRA: BREAKING NEWS
EIGHT WHITE SOX TO BE SUSPENDED

Season long scuttlebutt and wild speculation is coming to a head.  A grand jury is being convened to investigate allegations that numerous White Sox players acted in concert to throw the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in return for monetary compensation from a known gambling syndicate.  Rumors have plagued the White Sox even while the series was in progress and ever since.  It is now being reported Mr. Comiskey will shortly announce the suspension of eight players allegedly implicated in the fix:

• Eddie Cicotte
• George "Buck" Weaver
• Oscar "Happy" Felsch
• Fred McMillan
• "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
• Charles "Swede" Risberg
• Claude "Lefty" Williams
• and Arnold "Chick" Gandil who never reported to the White Sox to begin with, electing instead to play semi-pro ball.  Looking back, Gandil's decision may very well have cost Chicago the pennant.  

That being said, today's unfolding events essentially leave the American League up for grabs between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.

Or does it?

When the White Sox took the field this afternoon at Comiskey Park, all suspected parties were present and in uniform.  Seemingly untroubled by outside disturbance, Eddie Collins and Shoeless Joe slash back to back triples and Happy Felsch drives home Jackson for a prompt 2-0 lead against the visiting New York Yankees.  Swede Risberg triples leading off the second inning and is driven home by Red Faber for a 3-0 lead.  A third inning error by first baseman Shano Collins leads to a pair of unearned runs for the Yankees.  Chicago then scores three runs in the sixth, two are unearned.  After which the Sox withstand two Yankees runs in the ninth for a 6-4 victory.  Chicago closes to within 1.5 games of first place, although their future appears bleak.

100 Years Ago Today 9/11/1920 Brooklyn Robins Sweep Cardinals; Widen First Place Lead Over Reds

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #137: Saturday, September 11, 1920, GAME ONE - BR
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Leon Cadore is a One Man Gang

Brooklyn rolls to a double-digit victory over the Cardinals, their third of the series.  The Robins score early, often and late.  Uncle Robbie's men offer no quarter to Cardinals pitchers Tony Lyons and Mike Kircher.  They generate twenty hits en route to a lopsided 15-4 victory.  Ivy Olson continues his torrid hitting going 3 for 5 with three runs scored.  Hi Myers drives home his team leading 74th run batted in.  Bernie Neis and Zack Wheat each drive in two runs apiece.  But the brightest star in the daytime sky over Ebbets Field is starter and wielder of bat, Leon Cadore.  The 28-year old right-hander is 3 for 4 at the plate, with a double, a home run to deep left, four runs batted in and two runs scored.  From sixty-feet six inches away he limits the Cardinals to four runs on ten hits and one walk with five strikeouts through nine innings full.  He improves to 14-12 with a 2.53 ERA.


Game #138: Saturday, September 11, 1920, GAME TWO - BR
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Sherry Smith Whitewashes Cardinals

Sherry Smith follows up Leon Cardore's extravaganza with a more workmanlike effort against the Cardinals.  Smith was 2 for 3 at the plate with a double, but alas no home runs or runs batted in.  That was left up to Jimmy Johnston and Zack Wheat.  Rather than swing for the fences Sherry Smith focused in on the Cardinals allowing five scattered hits and two walks with two strikeouts over nine scoreless innings for the complete game shutout.  Sherry Smith improves to 9-6 with a fine 2.16 ERA and is the only Robins batter to register multiple hits.  So take that!  Brooklyn sweeps Saturday's twin bill, they sweep the Cardinals series four to none, and achieve their seventh straight victory.  Today's bounty of victories gives the Robins a three game lead over the Reds, and a 3.5 games lead over the Giants.  The Braves sweep two from Cincinnati, but the Giants take a single game from the Cubs at the Polo Grounds.

• RECORD: 80-57 (.584)
• 1st Place; 3.0 GA

EXTRA: AMERICAN LEAGUE

The New York Yankees defeat the Cleveland Indians at League Park to take over sole possession of first place by a slim half-game margin over the White Sox.  Yankees southpaw Hank Thormahlen limits Cleveland to a pair of runs, one earned, on seven hits and one walk over nine complete innings pitched.  He improves to 8-4 with a 4.16 ERA.  Babe Ruth strokes a hit and a double in three trips.  Second baseman Del Pratt leads the way with two hits in three trips with four runs batted in.  Catcher Truck Hannah goes 4 for 5 with a double, run scored and one run batted in and Wally Pip goes 3 for 4 with a double, three runs scored and one run batted in.  Cleveland shortstop Joe Evans drives in Cleveland's only earned run.  Yankees now move on to Detroit for three.

100 Years Ago Today 9/10/1920: Victory Over Cardinals Gives Brooklyn Robins Full Game Lead Over Reds

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF DEM BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #136: Friday, September 10, 1920 - BR
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Robins Tie Game in Ninth, Win in Eleventh Inning

This game was not for the squeamish or faint of heart.  Certainly not a good day for pitchers unless your name is Jeff Pfeffer who somehow escapes Friday's action with a victory.  Hi Myers opens the scoring in the first with a triple driving home Jimmy Johnston and Zack Wheat.  After which a passed ball by catcher Verne Clemons plates Myers for a 3-0 Robins lead.  In the top half of the second Rogers Hornsby connects off Rube Marquard for his ninth home.  The game remains a 3-1 affair through the sixth.  In the St. Louis seventh, Clemons drives home a run and first baseman Jack Fournier connects off Marquard for a three run home run to deep right.  Trailing 5-3 in the ninth, Brooklyn rallies against Cardinals starter Ferdie Schupp for three hits and two runs to send the game into extra innings.  Facing Jeff Pfeffer (in relief of Maquard and Sherry Smith) in the top of the eleventh, the Cardinals erupt for three runs.  Pfeffer yields three consecutive hits then walks Mike Knode with the bases loaded.  Right fielder Joe Schulz follows with a hit back through the box and into centerfield plating two.  Facing reliever Bill Sherdel in the home eleventh resilient Brooklyn counters with four runs, Hi Myers drives home the game winner.  Rube Marquard is happy to accept a no decision.  Pfeffer earns his fourteenth win of the season with a 3.05 ERA.  Ivy Olson is 3 for 6 with two runs batted in.  Hi Myers now has 73 runs batted in for the season.  Both the Reds and Giants are idle. 

BABE RUTH HITS #48

In the American League, New York's victory at Cleveland forces a first place tie between the Indians and White Sox with the Highlanders lurking a mere one-half game out.  Facing 18-game winner Ray Caldwell in the first inning at League Park, Babe Ruth (.374) connects for his unheard of 48th home run; with two runs batted in he now has 122 for the season.

• RECORD: 78-57 (.578)
• 1st Place; 1.0 GA

100 Years Ago Today 9/8/1920: Brooklyn Robins Reclaim Share of First Place

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #134: Wednesday, September 8, 1920 - BR
Brooklyn Robins vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Baker Bowl

Robins Returning to Brooklyn for the Final Home Stretch

Wednesday is a productive day for the Robins.  In defeating the Phillies they gain the series win, extend their winning streak to three and reestablish a tie for first place with the Reds.  Philadelphia's Cy Williams is 2 for 4 with a double and three runs batted in and catcher Walt Tragesser homers in the seventh, but it's not enough.  Brooklyn starter Jeff Pfeffer, who extends his record to 10-1 over his last fifteen appearances, goes the distance yielding four earned runs on ten hits and three walks with five strikeouts for his thirteenth victory of the season with a 2.94 ERA.  Brooklyn executes a double steal with Jimmy Johnston swiping home as part of a three run third.  They score twice more in the fourth on Ed Konetchy's home run and a sac-fly from Ivy Olson.  After which the Robins hold on for a 7-4 final.  Ivy Olson is 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored and two runs batted in.  Getting the start in right field, Bill Lamar goes 2 for 5 with a double, a run scored and one run batted in.  The Cincinnati Reds are idle, but the New York Giants sweep a twin bill at Braves Field to close within 1.5 games of first place.  The Robins have 21 games remaining on their schedule, with all but two slated for play at Ebbets Field.  Cincinnati visits Brooklyn mid-month who then close out the regular season with a five game home and home series against the New York Giants and a one game finale against the Braves.

• RECORD: 76-57 (.571)
• 1st Place; Tied

100 Years Ago Today 9/3/1920: Brooklyn Robins Shutout Phillies at Ebbets Field

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBNS

1920 National League Champions

Game #127: Friday, September 3, 1920 - BR
Philadelphia Phillies vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

Burliegh Grimes Hurls Gem Over Philadelphia Phillies

A couple of days rest does the body good.  Just ask Burleigh Grimes.  The spitballer and Ebbets Field crowd reconvene over a four hit whitewashing of the Phillies.  He faces just 32 batters, walking one and fanning four en route to his 19th victory against nine losses with a 2.06 ERA.  Ivy Olson continues his hot hitting going 3 for 5 with a run batted in.   Zack Wheat lifts his average to .319 with a single, double and triple, with two runs scored and two runs batted in.  Hi Myers plates two runs giving him a team leading 62 runs batted in.  The Robins generate sixteen hits overall, with Burleigh Grimes (.323) accounting for two.  Philadelphia moves out and the Boston Braves move in for a short weekend series at Ebbets Field.  The Reds trounce the Cardinals and the Giants defeat the incoming Braves at the Polo Grounds.  Brooklyn spends another day one-half game out of first.

• RECORD: 71-55 (.563)
• 2nd Place; 0.5 GB

100 Years Ago Today 8/27/1920: Brooklyn Robins Retake Sole Possession of First Place

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #121: Friday, August 27, 1920 - BR
Brooklyn Robins vs. Chicago Cubs
Cubs Park

National League is Officially Up for Grabs

By all indications, the National League is up for grabs.  We start in Cincinnati, where the defending champion Reds bow to the New York Giants after seventeen innings in the first game of a planned twin bill.  They're unable to play the second contest on account of darkness.  Back in Chicago, the Robins win their third straight and take their second in a row from the Cubs, thus sliding up one full game into first place.  Jeff Pfeffer toes the rubber and is opposed by Cubs veteran Claude Hendrix.  Chicago jumps out to a quick lead with runs in the first and second innings.  The Robins knot the game with a pair of runs in the third.  After trading runs in the fourth, the game proceeds quietly through the seventh.  Brooklyn breaks the deadlock with three runs in the eighth en route to a 6-3 victory.  Ed Konetchy drives in two runs, Tommy Griffith, Pete Kilduff and Otto Miller drive in one run apiece.  Ivy Olson remains hot at the plate with three hits in five at-bats.  Zack Wheat is also 3 for 5 with a run scored.  But the Robins also hit into five double-plays.  Jeff Pfeffer allows three earned runs on fourteen hits and two walks through nine innings for his eleventh victory against eight losses with a 2.95 ERA.

• RECORD: 69-51 (.575)
• 1st Place; 1.0 GA