100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/14/1921: Bob Meusel Powers Yanks Over White Sox; Reds Routed By Giants 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 #137

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, September 14, 1921 - BR

Chicago White Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Bob Meusel Powers Yankees Comeback; Hugmen Salvage Two-Game Split With Chicago

The afternoon does not start well for the Hugmen.  Roger Peckinpaugh's error at short leads to a first-inning run.  Bob Shawkey yeilds two more in the second.  After recovering a run in the bottom half of the second, Shawkey surrenders a leadoff triple to Eddie Collins and a single to Earl Sheely; Collins stays at third, but not for long.  With left fielder Bibb Falk at the plate, Shawkey unleashes a wild pitch allowing Collins to score, then surrenders a home run, and off to the showers, he goes.  Rip Collins enters the game and promptly surrenders a triple and base hit, giving the White Sox a 7-1 lead.  Bob Meusel homers, leading off the home fifth off Chicago starter John Russell.  But Ernie Johnson's home run off Rip Collins in the visitor's sixth gives the White Sox an 8-2 lead.  With two outs in the sixth, Bob Meusel connects for a three-run home run.  Then after issuing two walks to open the home seventh, manager Kid Gleason had enough and removed John Russell in favor of Shovel Hodge, who hits two straight batters forcing home a run.  Hodge then walks Elmer Miller to force in another.  Shovel Hodge is hastily replaced with Sarge Connally, who surrenders a two-run single to Peckinpaugh, and Elmer Miller scored on Babe Ruth's fielder's choice for a 10-8 Yankees advantage.  Elmer Miller drives home one last run in the ninth, giving this game its final score.  Bob Shawkey is taken off the hook, and Rip Collins earns the win in relief.  Waite Hoyt twirls two scoreless innings to close out the victory.  Bob Meusel drives home four runs giving him 125 this season, and Elmer Smith knocks in three.  This makes five straight games the Bambino has failed to hit for the circuit.  He is stuck at 54 home runs, one shy of breaking his own all-time single-season record set last season.  Meanwhile, sixteen regular-season games still remain to be played.  The Indians win at Philadelphia, and so the Yankees gain no separation in the standing from Cleveland.

• FINAL: CHI 8; NYY 11
• RECORD: 86-51 (.628); First Place, 0.5 GA of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #141

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, September 14, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Phil Douglas Puts Forth Stellar Effort; Reds Routed by McGrawmen

It's the Gothams who offer Reds' pitchers no quarter.  The McGrawmen score early and late, en route to a commanding 10-1 victory and their second straight at Redland Field.  With Phil Douglas opposed by old foe Eppa Rixley, both teams manufacture single runs in the second.  In the fifth, Irish Meusel singles home Frankie Frisch and Frank Snyder drives in Meusel, giving the Giants a 3-1 lead.  Phil Douglas makes it stand.  He yields no runs on just four hits over the final seven innings of the game.  The Giants' bats, however, were not yet done.  Three straight hits leading off the seventh knock Reds' starter Eppa Rixey out of the box.  Afterwhich, the Giants greet incoming reliever Cliff Markle with four more hits as part of a seven-run eighth inning and a 10-1 final margin of victory.  Phil Douglas allows just one run on six hits and four walks for his fourteenth win against eight losses, with a 4.19 ERA.  Eppa Rixey is denied his nineteenth victory.   Seven of eight position starters in the Giant lineup this game were all batting above the .300 mark.  Pittsburgh again defeated the Braves at Forbes Field.

• FINAL: NYG 10; CIN 1
• RECORD: 87-54 (.617); First Place, 1.5 GA of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/8/1921: Ruth Hits Number 53, But Yankees Fall in Ninth at Shibe Park; Idle Giants Host Brooklyn Friday

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!

TRAVEL DAY

Next Game: Friday, September 9, 1921

Brooklyn Robins @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

⚾

GAME #131

BOXSCORE: Thursday, September 8, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS

Shibe Park

Make-Up: 8/15/1921

Babe Ruth Hits Number 53, But Yankees Fall in Ninth

The Yankees suffer a bump in the road at Philadelphia, but the damage is negligible as the Tigers pounce upon the Indians by double-digits at Cleveland's Dunn Field.  However, this contest makes one ponder the Yankees pitching capabilities down the stretch.  Right-hander Tom Sheehan earlier this summer proved ineffective, so Miller Huggins of late is turning to the likes of Harry Harper and Tom Rogers for desperately needed relief.  Starting for the Yankees, Rip Collins occupies the mound only briefly.  The A's open the scoring in the first on a single and triple, but Collins also hits two batsmen.  Facing A's starter Eddie Rommel in the third, the Yanks muster just one bunt base hit by Babe Ruth but are moved along by two bases on balls and two Philadelphia throwing errors en route to a 3-1 lead.  Criticized for not utilizing his bullpen enough, Miller Huggins pulls Rip Collins with haste when the A's knot the game at three in the top of the fourth.  Babe Ruth then homers in the home fourth, and Aaron Ward singles and completes the circuit in the sixth on center fielder Zip Collins' three-base error.  The A's get one back in the sixth.  Afterwhich, the score remains unchanged through the eighth.  Tom Rogers climbs the bump again for the ninth.  After issuing a one-out walk to Jimmy Dykes, catcher Cy Perkins doubles him home Dykes, tying the game at three.  Zip Collins is then intentionally walked, bringing to the plate pinch-hitter Paul Johnson who singled to center field with one out, scoring Perkins from second base with the game-winning run.  For Babe Ruth, his 53rd home run this season leaves him one shy of tying last year's single-season record.

• FINAL: NYY 5; PHI 6
• RECORD: 82-49 (.626); First Place, 1.0 GA of Cleveland

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 8/31/1921: Giants En Route To Brooklyn; Senators Routed By Yankees at Griffith Stadium

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!

TRAVEL DAY

Next Game: Thursday, September 1, 1921

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS

Ebbets Field

The Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY), Monday, August 29, 1921

GAME #121

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, August 31, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ WASHINGTON SENATORS

Griffith Stadium

Make-Up: 5/5/1921

Senators Routed By Yankees in Series Opener at Griffith Stadium

The Yankees, for a second straight day, issue the Senators an unkind reminder that the American League is a two-team race.  Three Washington pitchers have their mound offerings battered to all corners of the yard.  Trailing 3-2 after four, the Yankees post an additional fifteen runs over the final five innings of play.  They amass 21 total hits, with just four going for extra bases.  Babe Ruth goes 2 for 5 with a double and a run batted in.  Elmer Miller, Roger Peckinpaugh, and starting pitcher Rip Collins wield doubles, and Bob Meusel homers to highlight a big six-run sixth inning.  In fact, Rip Collins and Meusel lead the Yankees with four runs batted in apiece, and Peckinpaugh drives home three while Elmer Miller plates two.  Rip Collins still gets roughed up for eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits and four walks in six innings pitched but still manages the win.  Jack Quinn, pitching in relief of Collins, yields a run on three consecutive hits in the seventh and is immediately replaced with Waite Hoyt, who closes out the game allowing just two hits over three scoreless innings.  Washington center fielder Sam Rice goes 2 for 4 with three runs batted in.

• FINAL: NYY 17; WAS 9
• RECORD: 75-46 (.620); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/27/1921: Giants Complete Sweep of First-Place Pirates; Yankees Take Second Straight at Navin 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 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 #125

BOXSCORE: Saturday, August 27, 1921 - BR

Pittsburgh Pirates @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Art Nehf Hurls Giants Fifth Consecutive Pitching Gem; Giants Complete Sweep of First-Place Bucs

Interest was waning; attendance figures said so.  As such, the Giants limped into this series against Pittsburgh, sporting a subpar 10-13 record in August.  Meanwhile, the Buccaneers were riding a wave of 16 victories in 22 games over the same span.  Nearly counted out of the pennant race, it can safely be said the Giants over these last four games have regained Gotham's attention.  The turnstiles tell no lies.  Before a capacity crowd of 36,000 fans at the Polo Grounds, the Giants, who stood 7.5 games out of first place just five days ago, today completed a remarkable five-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates, closing the gap between competitors to a mere 2.5 games with 29 left to play.  Art Nehf, who held the Pirates to a pair of runs in game one, this time limits the Bucs to just one run on a mere four hits and no walks for his 16th victory this season.  After allowing a two-out single in the second, Art Nehf retires the next ten batters in a row.  Then after allowing a leadoff single in the sixth, Nehf again sets down the next twelve batters consecutively.  Pittsburgh scores their lone run in the first inning, meaning Art Nehf finishes the game with eight shutout innings.  In a hard-luck loss, Pittsburgh's gamely veteran Hal Carlson surrenders only two runs (one earned) on five hits and no walks over seven innings.  The Giants score late.  Irish Meusel plates the game's decisive runs in the seventh, and in the eighth Frankie Frisch on a sacrifice fly drives home pinch-runner, Casey Stengel.

• FINAL: PITT 1; NYG 3
• RECORD: 75-50 (.600); second place, 2.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #118

BOXSCORE: Saturday, August 27, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ DETROIT TIGERS

Navin Field

Yanks Keep Pressure on Cleveland With Second Straight Victory At Detroit 

Facing Detroit's Red Oldham, Elmer Miller leads off the game with a home run, and with two outs, Bob Meusel follows with another.  Yankee starter Rip Collings keeps the Tigers scoreless until Bobby Veach doubles home two runs in the sixth, tying the game at two.  But that changes in the seventh with Bob Meusel's second home run of the game.  Not yet done, Bob Meusel drives home the opening run in a four-run ninth inning; Wallp Pipp drives home two, and Mike McNally plates Pipp for a 7-2 lead.  Rip Collins appears to tire in the home ninth, yielding three runs on three hits but holds on for the victory.  Despite the victory and a two-game series edge over Detroit, the Yankees still fail to gain ground on Cleveland who again defeated the Senators at Dunn Field.

• FINAL: NYY 7; DET 5
• RECORD: 73-45 (.619); seond place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/21/1921: Giants Even Up With Cards; Yankees Drop Twin Bill 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 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 #118

BOXSCORE: Sunday, August 21, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Even Series With Cardinals

The Giants play before a more representative crowd but, more importantly, get back in the win column.  With 25,000 on hand, the home team builds a 6-2 lead through four.  In turn, Fred Toney holds the Cardinals at bay despite yielding two more rather inconsequential runs in the final frame.  Toney allows four runs on eleven hits and two walks with two strikeouts for the win.  His record improves to 14-8 with a 3.77 ERA.  St. Louis first baseman Jack Fournier wields two hits, including a double, and drives home two.  Starter Bill Bailey is removed after four innings but not before surrendering six runs (four earned) on eight hits and two walks in a losing effort.  Dave Bancroft goes 3 for 4 with a double and two runs batted in, and in a near mirror effort, Ross Youngs likewise goes 3 for 4 with a triple and two runs driven home.  Irish Meusel, Frankie Frisch, and Fred Toney each drive in one.  The Giants even the series with St. Louis at one and shave one-half game from their deficit behind Pittsburgh.

• FINAL: STL 4; NYG 7
• RECORD: 70-48 (.593); second place, 6.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #111

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Sunday, August 21, 1921- BR

New York Yankees @ ST. LOUIS BROWNS

Sportsman's Park

Make-Up: 7/24/1921

Urban Shocker Outlasts Bob Shawkey; George Sisler Finishes What He Starts

To the delight of the St. Louis faithful, veteran starter Urban Shocker outlasts Bob Shawkey in the first game of a twin bill at Sportsman's Park.  First baseman George Sisler doubles home the game's opening run in the first.  Helped along by two St. Louis errors, the Yankees score twice in the fifth.  But Jack Tobin's three-run home run against Shawkey in the bottom of the frame puts the Browns back in front.  That is until the top of the fifth when Elmer Smith's hit ties the game at four.  George Sisler singles leading off the sixth, then advances to second.  Baby Doll Jacobson singles to left field with one out, scoring Sisler for a 5-4 lead and the final margin of victory.  Urban allows just one hit over the final three innings.  Despite striking out nine Cardinals, Bob Shawkey surrenders five runs on seven hits for the loss.  Babe Ruth doubles and drives home one run giving him 130 to date.

• FINAL: NYG 4; STL 5

⚾

GAME #112

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Sunday, August 21, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ ST. LOUIS BROWNS

Sportsman's Park

Yankees Humbled By St. Louis Novice Billy Bayne

The Cardinals' 22-year old left-hander, Billy Bayne, who entered the 1921 season with just 20 games of major league experience, hurls arguably the finest game of his brief career.  Bayne allows four hits and just two walks with ten strikeouts in a complete-game shutout victory.  Wally Pipp and Aaron Ward wield extra bases but are left stranded.  Roger Peckinpaugh and Babe Ruth account for the Yankees' only other hits.  George Sisler drives home the Browns' first run and scores their last.  Overall, Sisler scores three times and drives home two.  Baby Doll Johnson leads the Browns with three hits and a run scored.  Yankee starter Rip Collins loses after surrendering five runs (four earned) on nine hits and three walks with four strikeouts through seven innings.  Right-hander Bill Piercy enters in relief of Collins in the eighth and proceeds to surrender five unearned runs on three hits and one walk.  The Browns sweep the twin bill costing the Yankees 1.5 games in the standings.

• FINAL: NYY 0; STL 10
• RECORD: 68-44 (.607); second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/19/1921: Beleaguered Giants Take Rubber Game From Reds; Yanks Lose Series Finale at 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 #116

BOXSCORE: Friday, August 19, 1921 - BR

Cincinnati Reds @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Take Rubber Game Against Cincinnati Reds; First Place Pirates Split Twin Bill at Philadelphia

John McGraw has a problem.  The Giants have seen their deficit in the standings grow like an untamed garden weed under the hot August sun.  And therein lies the rub: if weeds were hard to grow, everyone would want them.  In the business of baseball, turnstiles tell the true story.  Consider if you will a team formerly tied for first place but now in a steady decline with only 3,000 fans bearing the witness on a Friday afternoon in New York City.  Meanwhile, the Highlanders, unwelcome tenants of the Polo Grounds, during their most recent homestand averaged just over 19,000 fans per game - a big problem, indeed.  It's pennants the people want.  To that effect, the Giants, in a decisive fashion, take Friday's rubber game against the Reds for the moment curtailing their freefall at six games back.  McGraw's men press starter Eppa Rixey for three runs in the first, then lower the hammer with four runs in the second, highlighted by two runs batted in each by Dave Bancroft and High Pockets Kelly.  Staked to a 7-2 lead after two, Jesse Barnes yields one last run in the fifth.  Irish Meusel drives home High Pockets Kelly in the home half of the fifth for an 8-3 lead and the final margin of victory.  Jesse Barnes surrenders three earned runs on twelve hits and one walk with four strikeouts for the win.  He improves his record to 11-7 with a 2.83 ERA.  Veteran Eppa Rixey takes the loss.  High Pockets Kelly drives home three runs giving him 110 for the season.  Down in Philadelphia, the Pirates and Phillies split games of a doubleheader.  And don't look now, but third-place Boston trails the Giants by a mere 2.5 games.

• FINAL: CIN 3; NYG 8
• RECORD: 69-47 (.595); second place, 6.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #109

BOXSCORE: Friday, August 19, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Comiskey Park

Yanks Bow in Rubber Game; Chicago Stars Shine Just a Little Brighter

Chicago offers New York pitchers no quarter.  Much maligned Miller Huggins dispatches four different moundsmen, none exit unscathed.  Starter Rip Collins surrenders two in just two innings, and Jack Quinn is treated likewise.  Losing pitcher Bill Piercy sustains the most damage, yielding six runs on five hits and two walks in just 1.1 innings pitched.  The last Highlander to climb the hill performs best, with Alex Ferguson surrendering one run on six hits over the final 2.2 innings.  Center fielder Amos Strunk leads Chicago with four hits and four runs batted in.  Second baseman Eddie Collins and catcher Ray Schalk each drive in three runs.  Right fielder Harry Hooper is 3 for 6 with two runs scored and one batted in.  White Sox starter Shovel Hodge goes the distance, allowing nine earned runs on 15 hits and six walks in an agreeably bloated nine-inning winning effort.  Babe Ruth and Home Run Baker drive home two runs each, and Bob Meusel drives home run number ninety.  Despite batting 10 for 17 with runners in scoring position, the Yankees nevertheless fall to the White Sox, winners of the series two games against one.

• FINAL: NYY 9; CHI 13
• RECORD: 67-42 (.615); second base, 1.0 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/10/1921: Yanks Take Series From White Sox; Giants Arrive Home Tomorrow Versus Brooklyn

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 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 #102

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, August 10, 1921 - BR

Chicago White Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Babe Ruth Hits Number 41; Yankees Take Series From White Sox

The Yankees crush three home runs en route to a resounding 14-8 triumph in Wednesday's finale and win their series with Chicago three games against two.  New York leads 9-0 after four innings highlighted by home runs from Home Run Baker and Babe Ruth and three runs batted in by Frank Snyder.  The White Sox plate five runs in the fifth, including Yankee killer Johnny Mostil's two-run home run, but two runs are unearned due to Roger Peckinpaugh's error at short.  Despite three more late runs by the White Sox, the Yankees ensure victory with a three-run sixth and two more runs in the seventh for a six-run margin of victory.  Right fielder Amos Strunk drives home three runs for Chicago, and Ernie Johnson leads the team with three hits.  The Yankees let no White Sox hurler go unscathed while mounting 15 total hits.  Home Run Baker goes 3 for 3 with five runs batted in.  Babe Ruth hits home run number 41, and with three runs batted in, now has a major league-high 111 to date.  Starting for the Highlander, Rip Collins is good enough, allowing seven earned runs on ten hits and three walks for the win.  The Yankees close out their homestand with a 7-6 record.  They now embark on a 19-game road trip, including a three-game set at Cleveland.  In the meantime, coupled with Cleveland's loss at Philadelphia, the Yanks gain a full game on the Indians.

• FINAL: CHI 8; NYY 14
• RECORD: 63-39 (.618); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland

The Ogden Standard (Ogden, UT),

Wednesday, August 10, 1921

⚾

TRAVEL DAY

NEXT: Thursday, August 11, 1921

Brooklyn Robins @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

The Ogden Standard (Ogden, UT),

Wednesday, August 10, 1921