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 7/28/1921: Waite Hoyt Hurls Gem Over Browns; Giants Take Series From First-Place 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!

GAME #91

BOXSCORE: Thursday, July 28, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Waite Hoyt Hurls Gem Against St. Louis Browns

Leave it up to the kid from Brooklyn to show 'em how it's done.  The Yankees rebound from yesterday's defeat to tie their series with St. Louis at one.  Browns' starter Dixie Davis comes apart like wet paper in the third inning, yielding four runs on four hits, two walks, and a wild pitch.  In his first season with the Yankees, Erasmus High School graduate Waite Hoyt, undeniably having his finest campaign to date, makes it stand, limiting the Browns to just four scattered hits and four walks with five strikeouts over nine scoreless innings for his twelfth win against eight losses with a 3.25 ERA.  In fact, Hoyt drives in the first and decisive run for the Yankees.  Babe Ruth delivers home two runs giving him a major league-leading 97 RBI, and Bob Meusel goes 3 for 4 with two runs batted in.  St. Louis Browns' first baseman  George Sisler sat out his fourth straight game with an injury.

• FINAL: STL 0; NYY 6
• RECORD: 57-34 (.626); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland 

⚾

GAME #92

BOXSCORE: Thursday, July 28, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Forbes Field

Giants Take Three of Four Against the First-Place Pirates

The Giants have their say in Pittsburgh and punctuate their departure with a four-run rally in the ninth.  New York opens the scoring in the second; High Pockets Kelly scores on a Johnny Rawlings sacrifice fly, and Rabbit Maranville's misplay at short leads to a second run.  However, the Pirates struck for three runs on five hits in the third, inspiring John McGraw to remove starter Jesse Barnes in favor of Phil Douglas, who ends the threat.  That is until Max Carey gives Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead in the fourth.  The score remains unchanged through the eighth.  Pirates' rookie Whitey Glazner returns to the hill for the top of the ninth and promptly issues a walk to Earl Smith.  Consecutive hits by Eddie Brown and George Burns load the bases.  Pinch-runner Bill Cunningham scores on Dave Bancroft's fly to left field.  Frankie Frisch then cleared the bases with a double to center field and scored on second baseman George Cutshaw's errant throw.  Rosy Ryan is called upon to close out the ninth and retires the Bucs in order.  Max Carey ends the game on a pop-up to Dave Bancroft.  This gives the Giants three straight wins against the Pirates and a 3-1 series victory.  McGraw's Men are now just two games out of first place.

• FINAL: NYG 6; PIT 4
• RECORD: 58-34 (.626); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/26/1921: Giants Late Surge Overruns Pirates; Yankees Return Tomorrow To Polo Grounds

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 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 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 #90

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, July 26, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Forbes Field

Giants Score Tenth Inning Knock Out Over First Place Pirates

Like a heavyweight prizefight, the home team takes the early rounds.  The visitors regroup and forge ahead in the later rounds.  However, in the bottom of the ninth, the home team refuses to lose.  Afterwhich, a victor emerges in the tenth.  

By the fourth inning, Pittsburgh builds a four-run lead; Max Carey drives home a run in the third, and Charlie Grimm's inside the park home run in the fourth is worth three.  The score remains unchanged through the sixth.  Pirate starter Earl Hamilton through the first six innings, limits New York to no runs on just two hits and two walks with a strikeout.  Starting with the fourth inning, he retires nine batters in a row.  In the Giants' seventh, Hamilton retires Frankie Frisch and Ross Youngs to make it eleven in a row.  With two outs, High Pockets Kelly connects on his 17th home run this season.  But second baseman George Cutshaw cancels that out with a run batted in during the bottom half of the frame.  

With two runs on four straight hits in the top of the eighth, including doubles by Frank Snyder and George Burns, New York finally knocks Hamilton out of the box.  With one out and the bases loaded, Ross Youngs greets relief pitcher Hal Carlson with a bases-clearing triple to left field.   A double by George Burns and a triple by Dave Bancroft in the top of the ninth gives the Giants an 8-5 lead.

However, Rosy Ryan and Jesse Barnes pitching in relief of starter Fred Toney cannot protect the lead.  Back-to-back triples knock Ryan from the game.  Facing Jesse Barnes, Max Carey's flyball scores Carson Bigbee from third.  Rabbit Maranville lashes the third triple of the inning and goes on to score the tying run.

Into extra innings, they go at Forbes Field, with the game knotted at eight.

Leading off against reliever Whitey Glazner, Ross Youngs singles to left field.  High Pockets Kelly strikes out, but new acquisition Bill Cunningham makes Mister McGraw proud with a run-scoring triple to left field.  Cunningham is then thrown out at home by Carson Bigbee on Johnny Rawling's inning-ending double-play fly ball to left field.

Jesse Barnes faces four batters in the bottom half of the tenth while retiring three to preserve the victory and earn the win.  The Giants even the series at one.

• FINAL: NYG 9; PIT 8 *ten innings
• RECORD: 56-34 (.622); second place, 3.0 GB of Pittsburgh 

⚾

NEXT GAME:

Wednesday, July 27, 1921

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Monday, July 25, 1921

Cincinnati Reds Defeat N.Y. Yankees in an exhibition at Redland Field; 

Babe Ruth Hits Two Home Runs

⚾

Herald and Review (Decatur, Illinois),

Tuesday, July 26, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/19/1921: Giants Lose Ground To Pirates; Yanks Extend Win Streak To Eight

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 #83

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, July 19, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Pittsburgh Departs New York With Series Split And Three Game Circuit Lead

Pittsburgh answers back for yesterday's shellacking by inflicting one of their own.  Having salvaged a four-game split, the Pirates set sail for Boston's Back Bay, leaving the Giants one game further from first place than when they first arrived at the Polo Grounds on Saturday.  But the competition was fierce.  In this series, the victor scored in double-digits three times, while game two went into extra innings.  On Tuesday, Pittsburgh opens right away with three runs on three hits and a walk in the first.  The Pirates then erupt for seven runs in the seventh, kicked off by first baseman Charlie Grimm's two-run home run, knocking starter Rosy Ryan from the box.  Facing Slim Salle, the Bucs post five more runs highlighted by Max Carey's two-run home run.  Johnny Rawlings triples leading off the fifth and scores on pinch-hitter Casey Stengel's ground ball to second to ruin the shutout.  Otherwise, long-time Pirate veteran Babe Adams limits the Giants to a run on eight hits and no walks with six strikeouts for the win.  

• FINAL: PIT 10; NYG 1
• RECORD: 52-31 (.627); second place, 3.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #85

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, July 19, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ DETROIT TIGERS

Navin Field

Tigers Throw One Away; Yankees Extend Win Streak To Eight

New York completes a sweep of the Tigers and ties their season-high eight-game consecutive win streak.  Waite Hoyt is good enough, allowing five earned runs on nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts for his eleventh win against seven losses and a 3.77 ERA.  Down 5-0 after three, Detroit rallies for two runs in the fourth and three runs in the sixth to knot the game at five.  The decisive run crosses the plate in the top half of the sixth; Babe Ruth doubles to center field with one out.  Tiger backstop Eddie Ainsmith attempting to pick off Ruth throws errantly down to second, allowing him to score.  Wally Schang goes 2 for 4 with a double and a run batted in.  With the victory, the Yankees pull within one game of the first-place Indians.  Onward to Cleveland.

• FINAL: NYY 6; DET 5
• RECORD: 54-31 (.635): second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/18/1921: Giants Close In On Pirates; Babe Ruth Breaks Roger Connor's All-Time Home Run Record

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 #82

BOXSCORE: Monday, July 18, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Art Nehf Sinks Pirates; Giants Lead Series 2-1

The Giants answered back for yesterday's loss and punctuate it with a big eight-run fourth inning.  Pittsburgh starter Johnny Morrison is knocked out of the box four batters into the fourth, but not before yielding six runs on five hits and four walks.  Johnny Rawlings leads off the fifth with an inside-the-park home run, and Dave Bancroft knocks in the Giants' twelfth and final run.  Bancroft goes 3 for 3 with a double and three runs batted in.  George Burns, Frankie Frisch, and Johnny Rawlings each drive home two runs apiece.  Art Nehf wins his fifth straight decision.  George Cutshaw drives home Max Carey in the fourth to spoil the shutout.  Otherwise, Nehf allows just one run on eight hits and one walk with four strikeouts for his twelfth win against just four losses.  The Giants lead the series 2-1 and again pull within 2.0 games of first place.

• FINAL: PITT 1; NYG 12
• RECORD: 52-30 (.634); second place, 2.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida) 

Tuesday, July 19, 1921

GAME #84

BOXSCORE: MONDAY, JULY 18, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ DETROIT TIGERS

Navin Field

Babe Ruth Breaks Roger Connor's All-Time Home Run Record With Style

Facing Detroit starter Howard Ehmke, New York wastes no time, scoring early, often, and late en route to a nine-run margin of victory at Navin Field.  Chick Fewster wields four hits in six at-bats.  Bob Meusel and Home Run Baker drive home two runs each, as does Wally Pipp, who goes 3 for 5 with a home run.  Carl Mays hurls a dandy, allowing one run on just six hits and four walks for his 15th win against only five losses with a 2.56 ERA.  The Yankees win their third straight at Detroit and extend their win streak to seven consecutive games.  Not far removed from a season-high eight-game win streak, the Yankees have claimed victory in 15 of their last 18 contests and are now positioned just one game behind the league leader with whom they open a four-game series this upcoming Wednesday.

ICYMI: Babe Ruth Ties All-Time Home Run Mark

Like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb totaled 20 home runs over the first five seasons of his career.  But that is where the similarities end.  Now the author of well over 3,000 major league hits, Ty Cobb watches curiously in the top of the eighth as Babe Ruth brings a sparse crowd at Navin Field to its feet with his 36th home run this season.  Ty Cobb twelve years ago once led the major leagues in home runs with nine.  Now in his 17th season, Cobb has yet to ever hit double-digit home runs.  The Bambino's clout to center field is the record-breaking 139th of his career, now placing him ahead of Roger Connor's all-time mark, set back in 1897, seven seasons before Ty Cobb's rookie campaign with Detroit.

• FINAL: NYY 10; DET 1
• RECORD: 53-31 (.631); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland

New York Tribune, July 19, 1921

Babe Ruth Career Home Run #139 

Sets New All-Time Record

As of 7/15/1921: Babe Ruth Ties Home Run Record

With two outs in the sixth and Roger Peckinpaugh stationed at first, Babe Ruth hits his 35th home run this season completely out of Sportsman's Park.  It is the 138th home run in his career, which ties Roger Connor's all-time record set in 1897, one score and three years ago.  Earlier this season, Ruth broke  Gavvy Cravath's 20th-century record of 119 home runs.  It took Cravath, who retired just last season, 13 seasons and 1,220 games to achieve his mark, whereas Roger Connor played 1,998 games over 18 seasons.  

As a rookie in 1914 through 1918, Babe Ruth is utilized by the Boston Red Sox primarily as a pitcher.  He hit just 20 home runs over his first five seasons, eleven of which came in 1918 to lead both leagues.  During various single-seasons in his career, Roger Connor led baseball in doubles, triples, runs batted in, and even with a .371 batting average in 1885, but he never once led the circuit in home runs.  Gavvy Cravath three times led both leagues in home runs and led the National League three other times.  In 1919, Boston finally unleashed Ruth at the plate.  He goes on to set the single-season home run record with 29, then last year in his first year with the Yankees breaks his own record with a wondrous, almost ponderous 54 circuits.  The Bambino entered this season with 103 career home runs in just 534 games. Meanwhile, 83 home runs have come in his last three seasons alone.  In only his 615th career game, the Sultan of Swat ties Roger Conner.  At 26-years of age, Babe Ruth, health willing, still has many more years to play.  Mark this day: no baseball player in the history of baseball has hit more home runs than Babe Ruth.  Every clout from here on out merely extends the Bambino's own record.

 

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/24/1921: Giants Even Series With Pirates; New York Native Defeats Yankees at Sportsman's 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 Seasons Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

⚾

GAME #33

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 24, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Even Series With First Place Pirates

Led by the battery of Art Nehf and Earl Smith, the Giants defeat the Pirates and knot the series at one.  Goldie Rapp and Earl Smith each drive in a run apiece in the second.  But the Pirates answered with a run in the third and two in the fourth.  With Max Carey batting in the third, Pittsburgh executes a double-steal; Bill Skiff steals home.  Shortstop Rabbit Maranville homers leading off the fourth, and third baseman Cotton Tierney drives home a run giving Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead.  Earl Smith drives home his second run in the bottom of the frame, and after advancing on a passed ball, scores on Art Nehf's base hit into center field.  Frankie Frisch closes out the scoring when he delivers George Burns for a 5-3 Giants lead and the final margin of victory.  Nehf closes out the game with five scoreless innings.  All told, Art Nehf yields three runs, two earned, on five hits and three walks over nine full innings.  He improves to 5-2 despite a lofty 4.28 ERA.

• FINAL: PITT 3; NYG 5
• RECORD: 22-11 (.667), second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #32

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 24, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ ST. LOUIS BROWNS

Sportsman's Park

Fellow New Yorker Welcomes Yankees to Sportsman's Park

The Yankees jump into the pit dug by their own fielding misplays.  After coming up just short in two previous contests, the Browns finally break out against Carl Mays, who yields seven runs on five hits and one walk in just 1.2 innings.  However, six are unearned as the Yankees total four errors, three by second baseman Johnny Mitchell.  Third baseman Earl Smith homers in the fifth against Bill Piercy, pitching in relief of Mays, giving the Browns an 8-1 lead.  The Yankees rally for three runs in the sixth to no avail.  Meusel, who contributed one of New York's errors drives in his 31st run of the season, and Aaron Ward goes 3 for 4 with a double and a run batted in.  Held hitless again, Babe Ruth is now 2 for 22 in his last six games.  Browns' first baseman George Sisler goes 2 for 3 with a stolen base and two runs batted in.  Making only his fourth appearance for St. Louis since his acquisition from Detroit, Rochester, N.Y. native Bernie Boland earns the win.

• FINAL: NYY 4; STL 8
• RECORD: 19-13 (.594), second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/22/1921: Showdown Letdown at Polo Grounds; Yankees Defeat Browns In Tenth

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

Daily News (New York)

GAME #32

BOXSCORE: Sunday, May 22, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Pirates Seize Opener With Six-Run Ninth

The much-anticipated showdown against the circuit leading Pirates begins.  Before a capacity crowd of 40,000 at the Polo Grounds, Frankie Frisch doubles home George Burns in the first.  Pittsburgh veteran Wilber Cooper and Jesse Barnes then trade zeroes through the sixth.  Frank Snyder doubles home High Pockets Kelly in the seventh, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead.  Pirates' right fielder Possum Whitted connects for a two-run home run off Barnes in the top of the eighth.  After yielding a third straight hit, Mister McGraw relieves Barnes with Slim Salle.  At the plate, George Burns answers with a home run leading off the bottom of the frame.  However, the Pirates seize the day with six runs in the top half of the ninth.  Center fielder Max Carey spearheads the charge with a two-run home run.  Second baseman George Cutshaw knocks Salle out of the box with a run-scoring double.  Pittsburgh scores three more times against Fred Toney.  Aaron Ward hits a three-run home run in the home ninth to no avail.  New York falls 4.5 games behind the first-place Pirates.  Slim Salle takes the loss.  Wilbur Cooper improves to 7-0 with a 2.53 ERA.

• FINAL: PITT 8; NYG 6
• RECORD: 21-11 (.656), second place, 4.5 GB of Pittsburgh

Daily News (New York)

GAME #30

BOXSCORE: Sunday, May 22, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ St. Louis Browns

Sportsman's Park

Carl Mays Lifts Yankees With Arm and Bat

On a "blazing 90-degree" Sunday at St. Louis, Missouri, the Yankees outlast Urban Shocker and the Browns.  Nine innings proved incapable of declaring a victor in this tightly contested affair.  Aaron Ward scores on Johnny Mitchell's sacrifice fly in the second.  In the fifth, Wally Schang singles and scores on Bob Schawkey's double.  The Browns manufacture two runs in the bottom of the frame.  With two on and two outs in the top of the seventh, Bob Meusel homers over the left field fence for a 5-2 lead.  But it does not last.  A leadoff single by George Sisler and triples by Hank Severeid, and third baseman Earl Smith knock Yankees starter Bob Shawkey out of the box.  With Carl Mays in the game, a sacrifice fly scores Smith from third, tying the game at five.  The score remains unchanged through the ninth.  In the top of the tenth, Aaron Ward hits a one-out triple, and Carl Mays comes to his own rescue with a run-scoring hit to left field with two outs.  Mays then retires the Browns in order in the home tenth.  Shawkey escapes with a no-decision.  Carl Mays improves to  7-3 with a 1.60 ERA.  For Bob Meusel, his fifth home run.  Babe Ruth is 2 for 18 over his last four games.  

• FINAL: NYY 6; STL 5 (10 innings)
• RECORD: 18-12 (.600), second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland