100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/21/1921: Cleveland Gains Half-Game on Idle Yankees; Giants Increase Lead to Four With Win Over Cubs

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 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 Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY), 

Thursday, September 22, 1921

GAME CALLED: WET GROUNDS

Next Game: Thursday, September 22, 1921

Detroit Tigers @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

The Miami (FL) News, 

Thursday, September 22, 1921

GAME #147

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, September 21, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CHICAGO CUBS

Cubs Field

John McGraw Manvuevers Tenacious Giants to Win Over Cubs; Depart Chicago With Four Game Lead Over Pittsburgh

Nothing has come easy for these Giants.  They've scratched and clawed through 146 previous games and this day proved no different.  The McGrawmen's dogged tenacity and determination were on full display again this afternoon before a sparse crowd of 4,000 at old Weeghman Park.  Credit is due to Chicago for their gamesmanship and respect for the game with little else to play for.  For John McGraw pushed every button, pulled every lever, and Cubs' interim manager Billy Killefer matched him move for move.  

Facing Chicago right-hander Speed Martin, the Giants strike for single runs in the first and second innings, then tally a pair in the third, knocking Speed Martin out of the box.  Reliever Buck Freeman allows one run in the fifth on four hits through the sixth inning.  Gotham starter Art Nehf surrenders single runs in the second and third innings.  But when Nehf yields a run on four hits, three consecutively in the fifth, Mister McGraw summons to the mound Phil Douglas who ends the threat and preserves what is now a 5-3 New York lead.  Douglas, like Buck Freeman, then hurls a scoreless sixth.

Chicago's Percy Jones pitches a scoreless top half of the seventh.

Phil Douglas surrenders a one-out hit at the bottom of the frame and walks a pair to load the bases.  Bob O'Farrell then singles home two runs, and Percy Jones singles home two more for a 7-5 Cubs' lead.  Mister McGraw replaces Douglas with Red Shea, who secures the third out.

Percy Jones pitches himself into similar trouble in the eighth, surrendering a run on two hits, a wild pitch, and a walk.  Afterwhich, he is relieved by Elmer Ponder, against which the Giants score three more runs before the frame is through.

John McGraw then brings in Fred Toney, who throws a scoreless eighth and ninth inning to preserve New York's hard-fought 9-7 triumph.  Red Shea earns the victory after recording one out in the seventh.  The Giants support their moundsmen with three double-plays and 

McGraw's men batted 7 for 13 with runners in scoring position.  George Burns goes 2 for 5 with three runs batted in, mirrored by High Pocket Kelly's 2 for 5 with three runs batted in, giving him 131 for the season.  Ross Youngs leads with three hits and one run batted in, while Johnny Rawlings and Earl Smith drive a run apiece.

The Giants salvage a two-game split with Chicago while improving to 13-6 in September.  Meanwhile, not too far away at Forbes Field, the Brooklyn Robins shut out the Pirates.  The Giants' lead is now four, perhaps too complex for Pittsburgh to overcome.

• FINAL: NYG 9; CHI 7
• RECORD: 91-56 (.619); First Place, 4.0 GA of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh (PA) Daily Press, Thursday, September 22, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/20/1921: Harry Harper Again Comes Through For Yankees; Giants Fall in Tenth Inning at Cubs Park

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Season Revisited

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

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

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

Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates 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 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 #143

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, September 20, 1921 - BR

Detroit Tigers @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Harry Harper Tames Tigers; Yanks Bounce Back Atop Circuit

Pressure?  What pressure?  New Jersey native Harry Harper again comes through for an anxiety-riddled Miller Huggins.  Making just his sixth appearance, the southpaw earns his third win in four September starts.  Facing Detroit's Bert Cole, the Yankees strike for three runs in the fourth.  Harry Harper makes them stand, allowing two late runs in the seventh and ninth innings, on eight hits with four strikeouts for the win.  The Yankees added a run in the sixth en route to a 4-2 final score.  Bob Meusel and Aaron Ward drive home two runs each.  Cleveland falls to the Red Sox at Fenway Park, so the Highlanders retake a half-game lead over the Indians.  After their series finale with Detroit, the Yankees host the defending champion Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds one last time.  Cleveland is 13-7 in September, while the Yankees boast a 15-7 record.  The upcoming series victor is very likely to go on and secure the American League pennant. 

• FINAL: DET 2; NYY 4
• RECORD: 90-53 (.629); First Place, 0.5 GA of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #146

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, September 20, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CHICAGO CUBS

Cubs Park

Giants Fall in Tenth at Cubs Park; First Place Lead Shrinks to Three 

Facing the great Grover Cleveland Alexander, the Giants jump out to a 3-0 in the second inning on four consecutive two-out base hits.  Chicago scores twice against Jesse Barnes in the third, then pounces for four runs in the fifth, highlighted by Ray Grimes' leadoff home run for a 6-3 lead.  But the Giants claw back with two runs in the seventh and High Pockets Kelly homers in the eighth, tying the game at six.  Jesse Barnes is pulled after 4.2 innings pitched, having allowed six runs on ten hits.  Red Shea throws 1.1 scoreless innings, and Slim Salle pitches a scoreless seventh.  Afterwhich, Art Nehf hurls a scoreless eighth and ninth frame, and into extra innings, they go at Cubs Park.  In his third inning in relief of Alexander, Virgil Cheeves retires the Giants in order during the visitor's tenth.  In the home half, leadoff batter John Sullivan safely reaches on Frankie Frisch's errant throw to first base.  Ray Grimes swaps places with Sullivan on a fielder's choice, then advances to second on a wild pitch by Art Nehf.  Catcher Bob O'Farrell promptly follows with a single up the middle, driving home the winning run.  The idle Bucs, therefore, gain one-half game on the present National League leaders.  McGraw's men are now 6-2 on this road trip with seven games left with which to protect their precarious lead.  After Friday's finale with Chicago, the Giants must still trek through St. Louis and Philadelphia, then finally back within city limits to Brooklyn for the last scheduled game of the regular season.  

• FINAL: NYG 6; CHI 7  10 innings
• RECORD: 90-56 (.616); First Place, 3.0 GA of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/13/1921: Yankees Bow to White Sox; Giants Win in Twelfth Inning at Redland 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 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 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 #136

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, September 13, 1921 - BR

Chicago White Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Dickey Kerr Wins Eighteenth; Yanks Lead Cut to Half-Game

With the Yankees coming off their fourth doubleheader in eleven days, southpaw Harry Harper is again thrust into action.  Making his third start this month and fourth overall, he yields five runs on eight hits and three walks while surrendering two home runs off the bat of right fielder Harry Hooper for the loss.  Tom Rogers allows a run on two hits and two walks over the final two innings, making just his third appearance.  A 21-game winner last season, Chicago southpaw Dickey Kerr holds the Yankees to a pair of runs on five hits and four walks with seven strikeouts for the win.  Bob Meusel drives home a run in the first, and the Yankees are gifted one in the fourth with Ernie Johnson's misplay at short.  With Cleveland's victory at Philadelphia, the Indians gain a full game in the standings.  The Yankees lead is a mere half-game.

• FINAL: CHI 6; NYY 2
• RECORD: 85-51 (.625); First Place, 0.5 GA of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #140

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, September 13, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Ninth Inning Comeback Results in Twelve Inning Triumph at Redland Field

Art Nehf walks second baseman Sam Bohne leading off the home first.  Next up, shortstop Larry Kopf doubles into the left/center gap scoring Bohne.  Third baseman Heinie Groh then singles, putting runners on the corners.  A wild pitch advances Groh.  Still, with no outs, Rube Bressler grounds to Dave Bancroft at short, who throws out Kopf at home.  The Giants then turn an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Jake Daubert.  Irish Meusel strikes out with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth, and Johnny Rawlings bounces to third.  First baseman Jake Daubert accounts for himself in the home fifth with a two-run single, giving the Reds a 3-0 lead.  John McGraw removes Art Nehf after the sixth.  With Slim Salle now opposing Reds starter Dolf Luque, the score remains unchanged through the eighth.  With High Pockets Kelly on first and one out in the visitor's ninth, Irish Meusel's grounder to second is booted by Sam Bohne.  Johnny Rawlings then singles to load the bases.  Base hits by Earl Smith and pinch-hitter Frank Snyder result in three runs.  Pitching in relief of Slim Salle, Red Shea retires the Reds to force extra innings.  Red Shea continues the dual against Dolf Luque, and the score remains unchanged through the eleventh inning.  With two outs in the visitor's twelfth, Irish Meusel triples home Frankie Frisch with the go-ahead run.  Shea then sets down the Reds in order to close out the victory.  Art Nehf is taken off the hook, and Red Shea earns his fourth win against one loss with a 3.29 ERA.  Salle and Shea together account for six scoreless innings in relief of Nehf.  The Giants are now winners of six straight and own a 16-4 record over their last twenty games. Pittsburgh defeats Boston at Forbes Field.

• FINAL: NYG 4; CIN 3  12-innings
• RECORD: 86-54 (.614); First Place, 1.5 GA of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/5/1921: Red Shea Salvages Twin Bill Split for Giants; Ruth Hits Number 51, Yanks Split at Fenway Park

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Season Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

GAME #132

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Monday, September 5, 1921 - BR

Boston Braves @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Braves Overtake Giants in Opener

Fred Toney and Boston's Mule Watson duel through four scoreless innings.  Afterwhich, Toney takes matters into his own hands with a home run leading off the fifth.  In the sixth, Frank Snyder singles home Bob Meusel, followed by George Burns' two-run triple, giving the Giants 4-0 lead.  But Boston fortunes change for the better.  Lloyd Christenbury leads off the home seventh with a home run, and a sacrifice fly by Tony Boeckel pulls the Braves within two.  After surrendering two hits and a walk in the seventh, Fred Toney is removed in favor of Slim Salle.  Right fielder Billy Southworth greets the Giant reliever with a double to right field, scoring two; Walter Barbare and Tony Boeckel drive in runs giving the Braves a 6-4 lead.  High Pockets Kelly knocks in a run in the home ninth, but the Giants fall short.  Fred Toney is denied his 16th victory, while Garland Braxton earns the win in relief.

• FINAL: BOS 6; NYG 4

⚾

GAME #133

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Monday, September 5, 1921

Boston Braves @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

McGraw's Reinforcements Lead Giants in Second Tilt for a Split

Red Shea once again demonstrates the worth of his purchase price with a much-needed victory over the Braves.  Making only his fifth appearance this season, and for the last three seasons, Shea outduels Jack Scott as the Giants achieve a twin bill split and keep pace with Pittsburgh, who likewise split games of a doubleheader with Cincinnati.  Despite yielding 13 hits, Shea holds the Braves to three runs and one walk to earn his third victory.  Boston jumps ahead in the first, but Dave Bancroft ties the game in the third.  Key acquisition Irish Meusel knocks home two in the third, and Red Shea, in turn, drives home Meusel for a 4-1 lead.  Boston recovers two runs in the fifth.  Otherwise, Red Shea holds the Braves scoreless over the final four frames.  With the victory, the Giants join Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and the Yankees in the 80-win club.

• FINAL: BOS 3; NYG 4
• RECORD: 80-53 (.602); second place, 1.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #126

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Monday, September 5, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ BOSTON RED SOX

Fenway Park

Bob Shawkey Hurls Gem at Fenway Park

Bob Shawkey hurls his most important game this season to date, limiting the Red Sox to eight hits and one walk in a complete-game shutout effort.  The Yankees score both early and late.  Facing Boston's Sad Sam Jones, Bob Meusel and Wally Pipp stake Shawkey to a 3-0 lead in the first.  The score remains unchanged through the sixth.  Shawkey singles and scored on Babe Ruth's triple to the right/center field gap in the home seventh.  Bob Meusel and Wally Pipp again drive in runs, giving the Yankees a 6-0 lead.  Bob Meisel drives home his third run of the game in the eighth, giving him 113 runs batted in for the season, and when Wally Pipp gets caught in a rundown off first base, Meusel scores from third.  With two runners in scoring position in the ninth, Bob Shawkey protects his shutout with a fine play on comebacker hit by Everett Scott.  After a walk to Muddy Ruel, Shawkey induces Sammy Vick into a game-ending 6-4-3 double-play.  For Bob Shawkey, his second shutout this season.  He improves to 15-10 with a 3.85 ERA.  For the Yankees, their seventh consecutive win.

• FINAL: NYY 8; BOS 0

⚾

GAME #127

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Monday, September 5, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ BOSTON RED SOX

Fenway Park

Ruth Hits Number 51, But Red Sox Salvage Twin Bill Split

The Yankees muster little against sophomore right-hander Benn Karr who limits the Yankees to one run on just four hits and two walks for his sixth victory this season.  Babe Ruth hits his 51st home run, but it goes for naught.  Roger Peckinpaugh, Bob Meusel, and starter Rip Collins account for the Yankees' only other hits, all singles.  Boston takes both Rip Collins and Jack Quinn to the task.  Collins allows six runs on eight hits and two walks in 5.1 innings pitched for the loss, while Jack Quinn yields another two runs in relief on five hits and one base on balls in 1.2 innings.  Second baseman Del Pratt leads the Red Sox going 3 for 4 with three runs batted in and two runs scored.  

• FINAL: NYY 2; BOS 8
• RECORD: 80-47 (.630); First Place, 1.5 GA of Cleveland 

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/29/1921: Giants Defeat Cubs For Seventh Consecutive Win; Yankees En Route to Nation's Capital

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!

Daily News (New York, NY), Tuesday, August 30, 1921

GAME #127

BOXSCORE: Monday, August 29, 1921- BR

Chicago Cubs @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

McGraw's Reinforcements Continue Earning Their Worth; Bullpen Gets Giants Back on Track After Fred Toney Is Knocked Out of the Box

With Fred Toney toeing the rubber, Chicago right fielder Max Flack singles leading off the game, and shortstop Charlie Hollocher follows with a home run to right field.  Cubs starter Buck Freeman does himself no favors in the bottom of the frame, hitting Ross Youngs with a pitch and walking a pair to load the bases.  Burns scores on High Pockets Kelly's sacrifice fly to center field, and Irish Meusel follows with a two-run double to right field.  However, Toney yields three runs on four hits in the fourth and is replaced by Slim Salle, who ends the threat.  Chicago takes a 6-3 lead in the visitor's sixth on a Ray Grimes double.  Facing Chicago's Percy Jones pitching in relief of Freeman in the home sixth, George Burns and Dave Bancroft drive home a run pulling the Giants within one.  With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Irish Meusel triples, and scored on Johnny Rawlings' doubles, knocking Percy Jones out of the box.  Bill Cunningham greets incoming reliever Lefty York with a single to score Rawlings giving the Giants a 7-6 lead.  Irish Meusel then drives in what proves to be the decisive run in the eighth, as the Cubs score once in the ninth.  Still threatening with two outs and the tying run at third, Red Shea pitching in relief of Slim Salle secures the final out.  Shea earnes the win while Fred Toney escapes with a no-decision.  Slim Salle's work through the middle innings proves pivotal.  Irish Meusel and Johnny Rawlings continue expressing their appreciation of John McGraw through their performance and productivity.  They've been key contributors to the Giants success since their respective acquisitions,  Bill Cunningham included.  The Gians take a 2-0 series lead against the Cubs, and win their seventh consecutive game.  Meanwhile over in Brooklyn, the Robins shutout the Pirates.  Thus, the Giants gain a full game on Pittsburgh.

• FINAL: CHI 7; NYG 8
• RECORD: 77-50 (.606); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

TRAVEL DAY

Next Game: Tuesday, August 30, 1921

New York Yankees @ WASHINGTON SENATORS

Griffith Stadium

Daily News (New York, NY), 

Tuesday, August 30, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/22/1921: Giants Shut Out By Cards, Lose More Ground to Bucs; Yanks Prepped For Showdown 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 #119

BOXSCORE: Monday, August 22, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Cardinals Bill Pertica Hurls Second Straight Shutout Against Giants; Fading McGrawmen Fall Season-High 7.5 Game Back

Look what Bill Pertica did to the Giants, again!  In four appearances against the Giants this season, Partica now boasts a 3-0 record.  In his previous start against New York on Aug. 4 at Sportsman's Park, the Cardinal right-hander limited the Giants to six hits with six strikeouts in a complete-game shutout victory.  He limits the Giants to just three hits and five walks with two strikeouts in a second straight complete-game shutout win on Monday.  Ross Youngs, Johnny Rawlings, and Rosy Ryan pitching in relief of starter Red Shea account for the Giants only hits.  Left fielder Austin McHenry hits a three-run home run as part of a four-run first for St. Louis, and second baseman Rogers Hornsby goes 2 for 4 with a walk, a home run in the sixth, and two runs batted in.  Red Shea takes the loss.  The Cardinals take a 2-1 lead in the series with one game left to play.  With the loss, the Giants fall to 10-12 in August.  Coupled with Pittsburgh's victory at Boston, Gotham is now a season-high 7.5 games out of first place with just 35 regular-season games left to play.  

• FINAL: STL 6; NYG 0
• RECORD: 70-49 (.588); second place, 7.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #113

BOXSCORE: Monday, August 22, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ ST. LOUIS BROWNS

Sportsman's Park

Carl Mays and Bob Meusel Team Together Against Browns; Showdown With Cleveland Next

The Yankees exact a measure of revenge after yesterday's twin bill defeat and salvage a series split here at Sportsman's Park.  Starting pitchers Carl Mays and Ray Kolp traded zeroes through the first four innings.  St. Louis then seizes a 1-0 lead in the fifth.  But it does not last as the Yankees erupt for eight runs in the sixth and single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.  St. Louis picks up an inconsequential run in the ninth, quite obviously being too little, too late.  Carl Mays yields two runs on seven hits and five walks en route to his 19th win this season against nine losses with an even 3.00 ERA.  Bob Meusel leads the Yankees with a home run and four runs batted in, giving him 94 RBI to date.  With three hits, Babe Ruth lifts his average to a .380 mark, and Wally Schang continues providing steady contributions, going 2 for 5 with a double and two runs batted in.  Next, here we go again, back to Cleveland for a three-game showdown against the Indians who the Yankees trail by less than two games in the standings.  

• FINAL: NYY 10; STL 2
• RECORD: 69-44 (.611); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/17/1921: Newest Giant Red Shea Earns First Major League Win; Yankees Storm Comiskey Park

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Season Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

GAME #114

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, August 17, 1921 - BR

Cincinnati Reds @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

The Great Red Shea Earns His First Major League Victory

Facing former fan-favorite turned chief nemesis, Rube Marquard, first baseman High Pockets Kelly hits a first-inning grand slam home run to left field.  Dave Bancroft then connects on a two-run home run in the second, giving the Giants a 6-1 lead.  When Fred Toney yields two runs in the fourth, Mister McGraw removes him with haste.  Right-hander Red Shea comes into the game, making only his second appearance this season and the fifth of his career.  Back in 1918, he appeared in three games and totaled nine innings for the Philadelphia Athletics.  He was recently purchased from Toronto of the International League, and by all indications, it seems as if John McGraw has invested wisely.  Red Shea, the 23-year old Massachusetts native, faces 16 batters, allows no hits, and no walks over 5.1 scoreless innings pitched to earn his first-ever major league victory.

• FINAL: CIN 3; NYG 6
• RECORD: 68-46 (.596); second place, 5.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #107

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, August 17, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Comiskey Park

Yankees Jump Back Into American League Action at Chicago; Remain Hot On Cleveland's Trail

On the heels of their failed American Association tour, the Yankees return to the real business at hand, pursuing the American League pennant.  After entertaining a one-run deficit, the Yankees manufacture six runs in the third on four hits, three walks, a fielder's choice, and a wild pitch.  Not yet done, the Highlanders strike for two more runs in the fourth and one in the fifth.  Leading 9-3 entering the sixth, Babe Ruth cracks his 45th home run this season with a runner on giving the Yankees an 11-3 lead and their final margin of victory.  The game is called after the seventh due to rain.  Babe Ruth drives home three giving him 121 runs batted in.  Aaron Ward drives home two runs.  Bob Shawkey helps his own cause going 3 for 4 at the plate, scoring two runs, and driving home one.  On the mound, Shawkey allows three runs, two earned, on six hits, and one walk through seven innings for the win.  He improves his record to 13-8 with a 3.75 ERA.  Babe Ruth's home run, which clears the right/center field bleachers and leaves Comiskey Park, is estimated to have landed 475 feet away from home plate.  Ruth is now just two home runs shy of reaching a once thought unattainable 150 for his career.

• FINAL: NYY 11; CHI 3
• RECORD: 67-40 (.626); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland

⚾

Sadly, this day marks the one-year anniversary of the passing away of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman.  Regrettably, it was Carl Mays who delivered the fateful pitch.

The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana),

Wednesday, August 18, 1920