100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/23/1921: Waite Hoyt Hurls Yanks to One Game Lead Over Tribe; Pirates Gain Ground on Idle 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 Season Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

GAME #145

BOXSCORE: Friday, September 23, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Waite Hoyt Outduels Stan Coveleski in Series Opener; Yankees Lead By One

Occupying the first base dugout, the challengers from the highlands of upper Manhattan, and hosts of this weekend's American League showdown, the New York Yankees.  In the visiting dugout, hailing from the lakeshore of Ohio, the defending World Series champion, Cleveland Indians.  With both teams locked in a tie for first place, the Brooklynite Waite Hoyt is opposed by 22-game winner Stan Coveleski for Cleveland.  Three innings go by before the Indians open the scoring in the fourth on Joe Sewell's run-scoring triple and a wild pitch.  The Yankees get one back on doubles from Babe Ruth and Wally Pipp, then pull ahead in the sixth on consecutive doubles from Ruth and Bob Meusel and another run batted in by Wally Pipp.  After a scoreless seventh, Wally Pipp drives home his third run, giving the Hugmen a 4-2 lead and the final margin of victory.  Waite Hoyt holds Cleveland to a pair of runs on six hits and three walks with a season-high seven strikeouts for the win.  He improves to 18-13 with a 3.11 ERA.  Amid his fourth consecutive 20-win season, Yankee nemesis Stan Coveleski allows four earned runs on six hits and four walks in the loss as Cleveland slides back into second place.

• FINAL: CLE 2; NYY 4
• RECORD: 92-53 (.634); First Place, 1.0 GA of Cleveland

The Evening News (Harrisburg, PA), Saturday, September 24, 1921

⚾

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Saturday, September 24, 1921

GAME CALLED: RAINED OUT

Next Game: Saturday, September 24, 1921

New York Giants @ ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

SPORTSMAN'S PARK

A second straight day of idleness has harmed the McGrawmen as the Pirates defeated the hapless Philadelphia Phillies at Forbes Field to close within 3.5 games of the Giants.  The latter tomorrow open a series against the third-place Cardinals at St. Louis on Saturday.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Saturday, September 24, 1921

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

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Season Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

GAME #123

BOXSCORE: Thursday, August 25, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Fred Toney Leads Giants to Third Straight Win Over Pirates

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

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

⚾

GAME #116

BOXSCORE: Thursday, August 25, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Yankees Routed; Defending Champions Reclaim First Place

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

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

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/24/1921: Revived Giants Sweep Twin Bill From Pirates; Yankees Take Over First Place From Cleveland

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Season Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

The Pittsburgh (PA) Press, 

Thursday, August 25, 1921

GAME #121

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Wednesday, August 24, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Make-Up: 5/25/1921

Art Nehf and High Pockets Kelly Lead McGrawmen in Rout of Pirates

The great National League showdown begins.  Facing southpaw Art Nehf, shortstop Rabbit Maranville leads off the game with a double.  He advances to third on Carson Bigbee's grounder to second, then scores on Max Carey's sacrifice fly to left field.  Far from a portent of things to come,  starting for Pittsburgh, two-time 20-game winner Babe Adams surrenders a home run to Irish Meusel with High Pockets Kelly on base.  In the fourth, Earl Smith then singles home Irish Meusel, giving the Giants a 3-1 lead.  Babe Adams must aid his own cause doubling home Charlie Grimm in the sixth because that would be all for Pirate batters.  Art Nehf surrenders just one hit the rest of the way.  Not yet done, the Giants continue making their opening statement with an eight-run margin of victory.  High Pockets Kelly punctuates the game with his 22nd home run this season with one out in the sixth, and Earl Smith once again drives home Irish Meusel for a 5-2 lead.  High Pockets Kelly then delivers home Ross Youngs in the seventh.  Facing Whitey Glazner pitching in relief of Adams, the Giants post four more runs en route to a 10-2 victory.  Irish Meusel steals home, Frankie Frisch singles home two, and Ross Youngs drives in Dave Bancroft with the Giants' tenth and final run.

• FINAL: PITT 2; NYG 10

⚾

GAME #122

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Wednesday, August 24, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Phil Douglas Outperforms 20-Game Winner Wilbur Cooper; Giants Sweep Twin Bill

John McGraw, throughout the season, has always believed his pitching staff is the National League's best.  Following Art Nehf's performance, Phil Douglas in game two further reinforces that notion with a pure gem.  Outdueling Pittsburgh's 20-game winner Wilbur Cooper, Douglas allows just five hits and no walks with four strikeouts in a complete-game shutout victory.  After four scoreless frames, George Burns drive home a run in the fifth.  The Giants then knock Wilbur Cooper out of the box with five more runs in the sixth.  Johnny Rawlings kicks off the rally with a run batted in, Phil Douglas pushes across another, and George Burns highlights the inning with a three-run inside-the-park home run.  Facing reliever Lyle Bigbee in the seventh, Irish Meusel triples home High Pockets Kelly for a 7-0 final margin of victory.  The Giants complete the twin bill sweep of the Pirates and gain two full games in the standings.

• FINAL: PITT 0; NYG 7
• RECORD: 72-50 (.590); seond place, 5.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #115

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, August 24, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Cleveland Surrenders First Place to Yankees; Two Infield Errors Are Indians Undoing

Let Miller Huggins revel at this moment.  This season's head-to-head series against Cleveland has levied a great tax upon the Yankee skipper.  In May, the Yankees took 3 of 4 from the Indians and departed Cleveland tied for first place.  Since then, the Indians have resided in first-place every day except for three.  The defending champions simply refused to yield ground.  When you consider that players, during this time, openly said they do not appreciate Miller Huggins' managerial style and that Col. Jacob Ruppert came very close to trading for Chicago's Eddie Collins as his replacement, well, then let him have his day.  The Brooklynite Waite Hoyt and 20-game winner Stan Coveleski duel to a two-all tie through eight.  In the first inning, Bob Meusel singles home Babe Ruth.  In the second, Mike McNally then plates Wally Pipp.  Shortstop Joe Sewell and first baseman Doc Johnston each drive in a run during the fourth.  After which, the score remains unchanged.  That is until the visitor's ninth.  Elmer Miller reaches safely on Joe Sewell's misplay at short.  Roger Peckinpaugh bunts Miller over, who advances to third base on second baseman Bill Wambsganss' errant throw to first.  Miller then tags up on Wally Pipp's flyball to left field, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead and the final margin of victory.  Since May 16, the Yankees own sole possession of first place in the American League for only the third time. 

• FINAL: NYY 3; CLE 2
• RECORD: 71-44 (.617); first place, 0.5 GA of Cleveland

The Winnipeg Tribune (Canada), Thursday, August 25, 1921

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 7/21/1921: Jupiter Pluvius Visits Polo Grounds; Indians Overrun Yankees at Dunn 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 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 CALLED: RAIN

Thursday, July 21, 1921

Cincinnati Reds @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), July 22, 1921

GAME #87

BOXSCORE: Thursday, July 21, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Indians Overrun Yankees in Game Two; Retake Sole Possession of First

The defending World Series champions say not so fast and hammer their point home with 17 runs on 22 hits, eight for extra bases.  Twice this season, the Yankees surrendered a season-high twelve runs, clearly making this game their worst shellacking.  For mercy's sake, Miller Huggins utilizes an uncommon - for him - three relievers.  The Indian lineup nonetheless provides no quarter.  Carl Mays yields seven runs in just 2.2 innings pitched.  All other Yankee pitchers exit with their ERA equally bruised.  Cleveland shortstop Joe Sewell spearheads Cleveland's effort going 5 for 6 with three doubles and two runs batted in.  Center fielder Tris Speaker goes 3 for 5 with a double, two runs batted in, three runs scored, and right fielder Elmer Smith is 3 for 6 with two doubles and a team-high three runs driven home.  For their part, the Yankees generate eight runs on 16 hits, which ordinarily wins the day, just not this day.  With the victory, the Indians bring to an end the Yankees' eight-game winning streak and retake sole possession of first place.

• FINAL: NYY 8; CLE 17
• RECORD: 57-32 (.632); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/10/1921: Babe Ruth Breaks Modern Home Run Mark; Giants Bow To Reds at Cincinnati

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!

New York Tribune

GAME #50

BOXSCORE: Friday, June 10, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Babe Ruth Sets 20th Century Home Run Mark, But Yankees Lose to First Place Indians

It's a bitter-sweet day for the 22,000 on hand at the Polo Grounds.  The Yankees lose again to the Indians and finish the series no closer to first place than when they started back on Tuesday.  Jim Bagby toes the rubber for Cleveland and is opposed by Carl Mays.  Both starters fail to see this game to its conclusion.  Cleveland opens the first on a triple by Tris Speaker and a base hit from right fielder Elmer Smith.

With two outs in the third, Babe Ruth hits his 17th home run this season and the 120th of his career.  He breaks the 20th-century major league record formerly held by Gavvy "Cactus" Cravath, who hit the final home run of his career last season.  Ruth can now set his sights on baseball's all-time home run champion, Roger Conner, who compiled 138 home runs in a career spanning 1880 through 1897, most notably for the Troy Trojans and New York Giants.

Elmer Smith homers off Carl Mays in the seventh, giving the Indians a 2-1 lead.  But Jim Bigby begins to unravel in the bottom of the frame.  With two on and two outs, Wally Pipp drives home Gabby Roth, but an errant throw by Bigby puts two runners in scoring position.  Bob Meusel makes him pay with a double scoring Roger Peckinpaugh and Pipp.  In the bottom of the eighth, Carl Mays homers off Jim Bigby, giving the Yankees a 5-3  lead.  After Braggo Roth follows with a triple, Tris Speaker removes Bigby from the game.  Roger Peckinpaugh greets Indians reliever Duster Mails with a single scoring Roth.  But Mails settles down, and the Yankees leave the bases loaded.  Tris Speaker doubles home a run in the top of the ninth.  After right fielder Elmer Smith's hit puts runners on the corners, Miller Huggins removes Mays in favor of Bob Shawkey, who yields consecutive hits to third baseman Larry Gardner and Joe Sewell for a six-all tie.  Larry Gardner homers leading off the eleventh, and Pinch Thomas doubles home Joe Sewell for an 8-6 lead.  George Uhle retires the Yankees in the bottom half of the frame for the win.  Bob Shawkey takes the loss.

• FINAL: CLE 8; NYY 6
• RECORD: 29-21 (.580); second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland
• r. New York Tribune

⚾

 

GAME #49

BOXSCORE: Friday, June 10, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Reds Take Second Straight and the Series; Giants Skid Now At Three

Eppa Rixey hurls a gem, and the Giants lose their third straight.  Rixey, the former Philadelphia Phillie and military veteran yields just two hits through the first seven innings.  The Giants finally push across a run in the eighth when Frankie Frisch triples and scores on Ross Youngs' base hit.  Otherwise, Eppa Rixey allows one run on just four hits and four walks with three strikeouts over nine innings complete.  Fred Toney simply is not up to the task.  He yields two earned runs on ten hits and three walks through six innings pitched.  Slim Salle surrenders one run in two innings pitched.  With two on and two outs in the third, right fielder Rube Bressler triples home two runs.  Bressler again drives in a run in the home seventh.

• FINAL: NYG 1; CIN 3
• RECORD: 32-17 (.653); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/9/1921: Defending Champs Trounce Yanks; Jupiter Pluvius Foils Giants/Reds Again

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!

Daily News (New York, New York)

GAME #49

BOXSCORE: Thursday, June 9, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Defending Champions Unleash 16-Hit Attack Against Yankees Hurlers

After two straight defeats, the defending World Series champions unleash their frustrations with double-digit runs against Yankees hurlers; four in all, none exits unscathed.  Jack Quinn fails to make it out of the first inning, yielding four runs on four hits and a walk before recording a second out.  Alex Ferguson is summoned to put out the fire.  In the third inning, shortstop Joe Sewell homers against Ferguson, and in the fourth, Tris Speaker again takes Ferguson deep for a 7-0 Indians lead through three and a half innings.  The Yankees finally get on the scoring ledger in the bottom half of the frame when Home Run Baker goes deep against Cleveland starter Ray Caldwell.  The Indians responded with six more runs on five hits and four Yankees errors.  Relievers Rip Collins and Tom Sheehan take their lumps.  Wally Pipp homers in the sixth, making it a 13-4 game.  But in the top of the ninth, Cleveland scores on New York's fifth error of the game for a 14-4 final margin of victory.  Ray Caldwell faces three batters in the home ninth to end the game.  This may have been the worst trouncing suffered by the Yankees to date, but that May 17 loss at Cleveland remains a hurtful thorn in Miller Huggins' side.

• FINAL: CLE 14; NYY 4
• RECORD: 29-20 (.592); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland
• r. FRANK BAKER, Daily News (New York, New York)

 

The Cincinnati Inquirer

GAME CALLED: Rain

Thursday, June 9, 1921

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

This makes two consecutive days Jupiter Pluvius has postponed the Giants and Reds, and the tenth time this season, the Giants have been rained out.  These latest two incidences have cost the Giants a full game in the standings, as the first-place Pirates take two of three from the Braves at Forbes Field.