Once Upon A Summer 8/18/1918: Tietjen & Lang Shipyard Nine Defeat John Donaldson and the Brooklyn Royal Giants at North Bergen, N.J.

From the desk: DEM BARNSTORMERS & THE DONALDSON NETWORK

New York Herald, Sunday, August 18, 1918

On Sunday, August 18, 1918, the Brooklyn Royal Giants were defeated by the Tietjen & Lang Shipyard nine at Nurge's Field, North Bergen, New Jersey.

The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware), 

Tuesday, August 20, 1918

Times Union (Brooklyn,, New York), 

Sunday, August 18, 1918

In accordance with the government's Work Or Fight edict, the Tietjen & Lang aggregation, similar to the New York Ship League Team, field a well-fortified nine featuring variously experienced major leaguers such as Paul Smith, former New York Yankees Ping Bodie, Hank Thormahlen, and their most recent arrival Ray Caldwell who by all indications quit the Yankees unbeknownst to manager Miller Huggins this very weekend.

Starting for Tietjen & Lang, left-hander Hank Thormahlen limits the Royal Giants to a pair of runs in the second inning.  Afterwhich, Thormahlen holds Brooklyn scoreless over the final seven innings with seven strikeouts (Smith putouts) for the win.  The Royal Giants are held to just five hits, two by first baseman Rafael Figarola, who, with catcher John Cason, score Brooklyn's only runs.  

Southpaw John Donaldson yields one run in the first, then hurls four scoreless frames before the Tietjen & Langs bunch together three decisive runs in the sixth.  The home team posts one last run in the eighth en route to a 5-2 final score.  Donaldson allows just five hits and strikes out four (Cason putouts) in the loss.  Ping Bodie with over 600 games of major league experience accounts for two of Tietjen & Lang's hits.

The New York Age (New York, New York), 

Saturday, August 24, 1918

⚾

BROOKLYN ROYAL GIANTS

ONCE UPON A SUMMER, 1918: JOHN DONALDSON'S LONE SEASON WITH THE BROOKLYN ROYAL GIANTS

• 6/28 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Acquire Midwest Pitching Great, John Donaldson
• 6/30 - John Donaldson Loses Brooklyn Royal Giants Debut To New York Lincoln Giants
• 7/3 - John Donaldson Poised To Make Brooklyn/Queens Debut At Dexter Park
• 7/4 - John Donaldson Twirls Shutout Over Cuban Stars In Dexter Park Debut
• 7/7 - Joe Williams Wins Second Straight Decision Over John Donaldson; Lincoln Giants and Royal Giants Split Twin Bill
• 7/13 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Defeat Glendale at Farmer's Oval, Queens
• 7/14 - John Donaldson Defeats Bushwick; Royal Giants Split Twin Bill At Dexter Park
• 7/15 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Take Series Opener From Atlantic City Bacharach Giants
• 7/16 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Take Game Two from Bacharach Giants; John Donaldson Earns The Victory
• 7/17 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Wrap Up Series With Bacharach Giants at Atlantic City
• 7/18 - N.Y. Ship League Team Defeat Brooklyn Royal Giants at Camden, New Jersey
• 7/21 - Cuban Stars Double-Up Brooklyn Royal Giants; John Donaldson Takes Loss at Dexter Park
• 7/24 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Bow To Stan Baumgartner and Bethlehem Steel at Allentown, PA
• 7/27 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Defeat Camp Dix Soldiers*
• 7/28 - Silk Sox Clout John Donaldson's Offerings; Brooklyn Royal Giants Fall at Doherty's Oval
• 8/3 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Defeat Prospect Heights at Hackensack*
• 8/4 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Forfeit Game To Glendale at Farmer's Oval
• 8/7 - Bethlehem Steel Team Hosts a Scoreless Tie Against Brooklyn Royal Giants
• 8/11 - New York Lincoln Giants and Royal Giants Split Twin Bill at Olympic Field; Joe "Cyclone" Williams Wins Opener, John Donaldson Wins Game Two
• 8/17 - New York Ship Wins Second Contest Against Brooklyn Royal Giants at Camden, N.J.

LHP - JOHN DONALDSON'S STARTS w/ BROOKLYN:

1. 6/30/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 2 runs, 7 hits, 2 W, 2K (Lincoln Giants; Olympic Field)
2. 7/4/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 0 RUNS, 5 hits, 1 W, 6K (Cuban Stars; Dexter Park)
3. 7/7/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 3 runs, 9 hits, 2 W, 2K (Lincoln Giants; Olympic Field)
4. 7/14/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, 1 W, 5K (Bushwick; Dexter Park)
5. 7/16/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 4 runs, 14 hits, (?) W, 6K* (Atlantic City; Bacharach Park, N.J.)
6. 7/21/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 6 runs, 10 hits, 4 W, 1 K (Cuban Stars; Dexter Park)
7. 7/28/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 9 runs, 16 hits, 2 W, 3 K (Silk Sox, Doherty's Oval, N.J.)
8. 8/11/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 2 runs, 13 hits, (?) W, (?) K (Lincoln Giants, Olympic Field)
9. 8/18/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 5 runs, 5 hits, (?) W, 4 K (Tietjen & Lang, Nurge's Field, N.J.)

• LINE: 81 innings, 32 runs, 86 hits, 12 walks, 29 strikeouts, 3.55 ERA 

BEDFORD & SULLIVAN PODCAST:

Restoring Baseball Great John Donaldson's Lost Legacy With Negro Leagues Historian and Founder of The Donaldson Network, Peter Gorton.

Minnesota native Peter Gorton leads a group of historians dedicated to discovering the lost legacy of John Wesley Donaldson.  In this episode, we discuss the man, baseball career, and life of one of the more incredible and inspiring athletes to ever play the game, and how his amazing legacy became lost to a nation, most particularly Baseball's Hall of Fame.  

Original airdate: March 13, 2021

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/5/1921: Yankees Take Series Lead Against Browns; Giants Idle

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

GAME #45

BOXSCORE: Sunday, June 5, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Ping Bodie Slashes Decisive Hit in Seventh; Yankees Take Second Straight From Browns

Matching each other run for a run through five, Sunday's affair opens with mighty blows.  Leading off the game, center fielder Jack Tobin homers off Yankees starter Carl Mays.  Facing St. Louis starter Urban Shocker, Babe Ruth, in turn, triples home Braggo Roth tying the game at one.  With two outs in the third, catcher Hank Severeid knocks home two runs.  But Wally Schang answers in the fourth with a two-run double.  Undeterred, Browns left fielder Ken Williams singled home the go-ahead run in the fifth.  The Yankees again manufacture the tying run in the bottom of the frame.  After a scoreless sixth, center fielder Ping Bodie triples home Wally Pipp with the go-ahead run in the seventh.  Carl Mays then retires seven of his final eight batters to close out his ninth victory against five losses with a 1.76 ERA.  He allows four runs (three earned), eleven hits, and just one walk through nine.  This marks Urban Shocker's third loss in four starts to date against the Yankees.  New York leads the series 3-1, with the finale slated for tomorrow afternoon here at the Polo Grounds.  A robust crowd of 31,000 cheer their Highlanders off the field and exit the grounds with glee.

• FINAL: STL 4; NYY 5
• RECORD: 27-18 (.600), second plays, 3.0 GB of Cleveland

OFF DAY

Sunday, June 5, 1921

Next Game: Tomorrow

New York Giants @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Forbes Field

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/13/1921: New York Yankees Trounce Athletics in Home Opener; Giants Outlast Phils in Extras

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today: The New York Giants and New York Yankees 1921 Seasons Revisited

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

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

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

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shifted.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sent seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.  Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball but an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation as one who believed players worked too hard and earnestly only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

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

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

Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition.  A resolution lies not too far away ...  

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

• BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games and PLAY BALL!!

⚾

GAME #1

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, April 13, 1921 - BR

Philadelphia Athletics @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Yankees Trounce Athletics in Home Opener

Upwards of 37,000 fans packed the Polo Grounds for Wednesday's season opener against the Philadelphia Athletics.  New York promptly opened the scoring in the second.  Leading off, center fielder Ping Bodie doubled against A's starter Scott Perry, and third baseman Aaron Ward followed with a home run to deep left field.  Perry and Yankees starter Carl Mays continued dueling through the sixth.  The home crowd's nail-biting began in the seventh when with two outs, third baseman Joe Dugan tripled home Philadelphia's first run of the game.  But the Yankees quickly alleviated any crowd anxiety with three runs on a walk and four hits in the bottom half of the seventh.  Afterwhich, a fielding error by substitute catcher Glenn Myatt in the bottom of the eighth cleared the way for another six runs (four unearned) en route to an 11-1 Opening Day Yankees victory.  Carl Mays yielded a lone run on just three hits and one walk with two strikeouts in a complete-game effort.  Left fielder Babe Ruth was 5 for 5 with two doubles and two runs batted in.  Ping Bodie drove in two runs, as did second baseman Chick Fewster.  In addition to earning the victory, Carl Mays went 3 for 4 at the plate.

• FINAL: NYY 11; PHI 1
• RECORD:  1-0

⚾

GAME #1

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, April 13, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Baker Bowl

Giants Outlast Phillies in Extra Innings at Baker Bowl Season Opener

The visiting New York Giants scratched back from a four-run deficit with two runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh for a 7-5 lead.  But similarly to the fifth inning, reliever Jesse Barnes and the Giants infield failed to keep the Phillies at bay, yielding two unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh, prompting a seven-all tie.  That's the way things stayed until the eleventh inning.  New York scored three times in the top of the frame on pinch-hitter Lee King's sacrifice fly, scoring George Burns and High Pockets Kelly's two-run inside-the-park home run to straightaway center field.  Reliever Fred Toney surrendered one run during the bottom of the ninth but successfully closed New York's 10-8 victory at Philadelphia.  Starter Phil Douglas escaped with a no-decision after yielding four runs in four innings pitched.  Fred Toney earned the victory in relief.  Frankie Frisch also led the charge with three hits, a stolen base, and three runs batted in.  Leadoff batter George Burns was 3/6 with three runs scored and one run batted in.

• FINAL: NYG 10; PHI 8 (13 innings)
• RECORD:  1-0