100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 10/4/1921: Yankees and Giants Quietly Practice Before World Series Storm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

WORLD SERIES

GAME ONE

Wednesday, October 5, 1921

NEW YORK YANKEES vs. NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

 ⚾

The Times (Shreveport, LA), Tuesday, October 4, 1921

The Times (Shreveport, LA), Tuesday, October 4, 1921

South Bend (IN) News-Times, Tuesday, October 4, 1921

Fall River Globe (Massachusetts), Tuesday, October 4, 1921

⚾      ⚾      ⚾      ⚾      ⚾      ⚾      ⚾

 

Stockton Daily Evening Record (California), Monday, October 3, 1921

⚾      ⚾      ⚾      ⚾      ⚾      ⚾      ⚾

Fall River Globe (Massachusetts), Tuesday, October 4, 1921

South Bend (IN) News-Times, Tuesday, October 4, 1921

l; Fall River Globe (Massachusetts), Tuesday, October 4, 1921

r; The Twin-City Daily Sentinel (N. Carolina), Tuesday, October 4, 1921

The Times (Shreveport, LA), Tuesday, October 4, 1921

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 9/24/1921: Cleveland Evens Series With Yanks; Giants Bow to Cardinals 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 shifted along the New York/New England fault.  The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

News-Journal (Mansfield, Ohio), 

Sunday, September 25, 1921

GAME #146

BOXSCORE: Saturday, September 24, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

George Uhle Hurls Gem; Cleveland Reclaims Share of First Place

The page is turned.  We've reached the point in this tale where Harry Harper's offerings turn into pumpkins.  They appeared as big and sweet to the heavy-hitting Cleveland Indians.  A hero to Miller Huggins and the Yankees throughout their September run, the New Jersey native fails to pitch his way out of the fourth.  Cleveland opens with an unearned run in the third.  Left fielder Joe Evans singles through the middle, but Elmer Miller's error in centerfield allows mound opponent George Uhle to score all the way from first base.  In the visitor's fourth, Harper yeilds a double and issued two walks, loading the bases.  He then walks George Uhle to force in a run, and Joe Evans follows with a bases-clearing double.  Miller Huggins dispatches Harry Harper to the showers in favor of Bob Shawekey, who fares no better.  Shawkey allows four runs on six hits and two walks over the final 5.2 innings.  A crowd of 10,000 sits in silence as young George Uhle limits the Yankees to just four scattered hits in a complete-game shutout effort.  Roger Peckinpaugh, Babe Ruth who is playing with an injured wrist, Mike McNally, and Shawkey account for the Yankees only hits, none for extra bases.  Only one Yankee gets as far as third base.  Harry Harper yields five runs on three hits and six walks over 3.1 innings for the loss.  Cleveland and the Yankees are again tied for first place. 

• FINAL: CLE 4; NYY 0
• RECORD: 92-54 (.630); First Place, tied with Cleveland

⚾

News-Journal (Mansfield, Ohio), Sunday, September 25, 1921

GAME #148

BOXSCORE: Saturday, September 24, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Sportsman's Park

Giants Loss at St. Louis Leaves Door Open For Pittsburgh

Through the graces of Gotham, there remains a chance for Pittsburgh.  With their victory over Philadelphia at Forbes Field and the Giants series-opening loss at St. Louis, the Pirates close with 2.5 games of McGraw's men.  Facing Fred Toney, the Cardinals promptly tally three in the first inning.  The Giants rally back and overtake the Cardinals with a run in the second and three in the third.  But when St. Louis threatens again in the home third, John McGraw pulls Toney in favor of Jesse Barnes who limits the Cardinals to one run.  Tied at four apiece, the Cardinals go on to double their output with a run in the home fourth, two in the sixth, and one more in the seventh en route to an 8-4 victory.  Last year's 20-game winner Bill Doak holds the Gianst to four runs (only one earned) on nine hits and one walk with five strikeouts for the win.  Only Irish Meusel could decode Uhle's offerings with four hits including a triple in four trips to the plate.  With a hit in three trips, Cardinal second baseman Rogers Hornsby drives home his 117th run and holds steady with a .402 batting average.  High Pockets Kelly drives in a run giving him 132 this season.

• FINAL: NYG 4; STL 8
• RECORD: 91-57 (.615); First Place, 2.5 GA of Pittsburgh

News-Journal (Mansfield, Ohio), Sunday, September 25, 1921

"Smiling James" Mutrie, who once owned the Polo Grounds, owned the Giants, nicknamed them, managed them, and won two pennants with them, today at 77 years smiles as of old and follows "his" Giants in the sports pages.

"The first game I ever put on in New York was in 1880 when John B. Day and I started the Mets.  It was played on the old Polo grounds at 110th street and Fifth avenue.  Two thousand persons came out to watch us play - that was a great gathering.  When I came to New York in 1880 I walked the streets for weeks trying to convince somebody that baseball was a paying proposition.  Finally, Mr. Day believed in me and we started the game in old New York.  Just look at the game here today.  Yes, sir, and I started it." - James Mutrie.

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 8/5/1921: Yankees Seize First Place; Giants Take Finale 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 #96

BOXSCORE: Friday, August 5, 1921 - BR

Detroit Tigers @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Look Who's Number One..!

With Carl Mays opposed by two-time 20-game winner Hooks Dauss, Detroit takes a 2-1 lead into the sixth.  The Yankees unleash four hits highlighted by Bob Meusel's triple for three runs and a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the frame.  Wally Schang draws up the insurance policy with a three-run home run in the eighth.  The Tigers scored one inconsequential run in the ninth.  Otherwise, Carl Mays allows three runs (two earned) on seven hits and just one walk for his 17th win against seven losses with a 2.89 ERA.  Coupled with Cleveland's loss at Washington, the Yankees, for the first time since May 16, take over sole possession of first place in the American League.

• FINAL: DET 3; NYY 7
• RECORD: 60-36 (.625); first place, 0.5 GA of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #102

BOXSCORE: Friday, August 5, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Sportsman's Park

Fred Toney Outduels Roy Walker; Giants Salvage Series Finale

The Giants halt their three-game slide and salvage the series finale at Sportsman's Park.  Frankie Frisch leads the way going 3 for 4 with a double, triple, and two RBI.  On the mound, Fred Toney hurls a gem.  After yielding a run in the second, the Cardinals do not score again.  Toney allows one earned run on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts for the win.  He improves to 11-8 with a 3.68 ERA.  Catcher Verne Clemons drives home Austin McHenry with the Cardinals' only run.  Second baseman Rogers Hornsby goes 0 for 3 and sees his average fall to a .411 mark ... oh, the shame.  Dave Bancroft is the only other Giant with multiple hits.  Roy Walker yields two runs in seven innings pitched for the loss.

• FINAL: NYG 2; STL 1
• RECORD: 62-40 (.608); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/4/1921: Ty Cobb Schools Yankees; Giants Bow Again 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 #95

BOXSCORE: Thursday, August 4, 1921 - BR

Detroit Tigers @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Ty Cobb Leads Tigers Hitting Attack Versus Yankees

After yesterday's series-opening postponement, the Tigers pounce all over Bob Shawkey and the Yanks.  Shawkey yields a leadoff double to first baseman Lu Blue then loses his touch.  Perhaps the home plate umpire didn't rub enough baseball's new white powder on the ball because Shawkey walks Ty Cobb to load the bases, then walks Bobby Veach to force home the Tigers' first run.  Right fielder Harry Heilmann's fly center scores Donnie Bush, and Bob Jones' fly to right scores Cobb for a 3-0 first-inning lead.  Ty Cobb in the fifth gives Babe Ruth a glimpse of his own home run capabilities, with his tenth clout this season giving Detroit a 4-0 lead.  The Yankees finally score off Dutch Leonard in the fourth when Wally Pipp's sacrifice fly to center field scores Ruth from third.  The score remains unchanged through the seventh.  Manager Ty Cobb again leads by example in the eighth tripling home Donnie Bush and scoring on Bobby Veach's fly ball to right.  Home Run Baker drives home Roger Peckinpaugh and Ruth in the visiting eighth, but third baseman Bobby Jones takes exception with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the frame, after which Dutch Leonard helps himself with a hit and run batted in.  Dutch Leonard limits the Yankees to three runs on seven hits and four walks for the win.  Bob Shawkey allows all eight runs on eight hits, including two home runs and three walks for the loss.  However, there's good news out of the nation's capital, where the Senators swept both games of a twin bill against the Cleveland Indians.  Thus, despite today's loss against Detroit, the Yankees actually gain a half-game on the Indians.

• FINAL: DET 8; NYY 3
• RECORD: 59-36 (.621); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #101

BOXSCORE: Thursday, August 4, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Sportsman's Park

Giants Befuddled by Rookie Bill Pertica; Cards Win Third Straight 

In one of the more ponderous losses this season, the Giants bow to the Cardinals for a third consecutive game at Sportsman's Park.  St. Louis right-hander Bill Pertica, who as a rookie pitched just one game in 1918, then completely missed the last two seasons, making his 24th appearance this season, limits New York to just six hits and no walks with a season-high six strikeouts over nine scoreless innings for a complete-game shutout victory.  Ross Youngs accounts for half of Gotham's hits including a triple.  Art Nehf, who pitches very effectively, is the hard-luck loser.  He allows seven hits and one walk but eventually yields.  Second baseman Rogers Hornsby with a hit in the sixth drives him the only run of the game.  Don't look now, but the Boston Braves trail the Giants by three games.

• FINAL: NYG 0; STL 1
• RECORD: 61-40 (.604); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 8/2/1921: Yanks and Indians Rained Out; Giants Drop Series Opener 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.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

Harrisburg (PA) Telegraph, Aug. 3, 1921

GAME CALLED: RAIN

Tuesday, August 2, 1921

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

⚾

GAME #99

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, August 2, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Sportsman's Park

Giants Lose Opener at Sportsman's Park; Pirates Idle

New York's arrival at Sportsman's Park is met with defeat.  Despite being staked to a 3-0 lead in the first, Jesse Barnes cannot hold back the Cardinals.  Two unearned runs in the third and a decisive four-run seventh inning spell his demise.  Milt Stock's two-run triple and Rogers Hornsby's base hit to score Stock are the difference.  Starting for St. Louis, former Dodger Jeff Pfeffer is knocked out of the box in the first.  However, Bill Bailey steps in with 6.1 innings of one-run ball for the win.  The Giants are limited to eight total hits and draw four walks.  High Pockets Kelly drives home two runs, and Ross Youngs and Johnny Rawlings each deliver one apiece.  Jesse Barnes takes the loss, allowing six runs (four earned) on nine hits and two walks through seven innings pitched.  The Giants lose one half-game in the standings as the Pirates were idle.

• FINAL: NYG 4; STL 6
• RECORD: 61-38 (.616); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/12/1921: Giants Take Opener From Cardinals; Babe Ruth Home Run Leaves Sportsman's Park

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

GAME #77

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, July 12, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants Offer Visiting Cardinals No Quarter

The fourth-place St. Louis Cardinals arrive at the Polo Grounds only to meet defeat.  Catcher Verne Clemons doubles in the fifth, scoring Rogers Hornsby and Austin McHenry.  Otherwise, Giants starter Jesse Barnes allows no hits through the fourth and just one hit over his final four innings pitched.  All told, Barnes allows two runs on four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts for his sixth victory against five losses with a 2.79 ERA.  High Pockets Kelly goes 2 for 5 with an inside-the-park home run in the fifth.  With three runs batted in, High Pockets raises his number to 82 for the season.  Johnny Rawlings continues performing for John McGraw with a run batted in and a run scored.  Frankie Frisch drives in his 50th run this season, and Jesse Barnes helps himself with a hit and a run batted in.  St. Louis starter Jesse Haines is knocked out of the box after 3.2 innings pitched.

• FINAL: STL 2; NYG 8
• RECORD: 48-29 (.623); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #79

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, July 12, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ ST. LOUIS BROWNS

Sportsman's Park

Babe Ruth Now Just One Home Run Away From Tying Baseball's All-Time Mark

Bob Shawkey gets off on the wrong foot, but his mates pick him up.  The Browns jumped out to a prompt 2-0 lead in the first.  New York answers with four runs in the third and the game's decisive run in the fourth.  St. Louis scores once in the fourth and one time in the eighth, and the Yankees added an insurance run in the seventh en route to a 6-4 final score.  With one out in the ninth, Miller Huggins calls for relief, summoning Carl Mays to close out the ninth for Shawkey and secure a series-opening win for the Yankees.  The Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth, hit his 33rd and 34th home runs this season, both coming off St. Louis starter Dixie Davis.  The first was a three-run blast in the third with Wally Schang and Bob Shawkey on base.  The second came in the seventh, a solo shot that completely left Sportsman's Park, landing on Grand Avenue.  George "Babe" Ruth is now just one home run away from tying Roger Connor's all-time mark of 138 home runs set 23 years ago during the previous century.

• FINAL: NYY 6; STL 4
• RECORD: 48-31 (.608); second place, 3.5 GB of Cleveland

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/14/1921: Bambino Spearheads Sweep Over Tigers; Giants Salvage Finale at St. Louis

From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD

100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds: 

New York Giants & New York Yankees 

1921 Seasons Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is my replay of that season. 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 #54

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, June 14, 1921 - BR

Detroit Tigers @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Bambino Swats Two More Home Runs; Yankees Sweep Tigers

Babe Ruth has now hit four home runs within the last 24-hours.  He hit a two-run home run in the first, then another two-run home run in the third, and the Yankees never look back.  The Huggmen also benefit from Home Run Baker's jolt in the seventh en route to a 9-6 final score.  Trailing 9-3 through the eighth, the Tigers score five times in the eighth to no avail.  Center fielder Ty Cobb hits his ninth home run this season in the sixth.  Braggo Roth and starter Rip Collins each drive home a run apiece.  After allowing six runs (five earned), Collins is the fortunate winner, after 13 hits and two walks through 7.2 innings pitched.  Carl Mays closes out the final 1.1 innings.  The Bambino now has 23 home runs and 59 runs batted in.  His second home run to straightaway center field is believed to have landed well over 460 feet away from home plate, many rows back in the bleachers.  With the victory, the Yankees complete a four-game sweep of the Tigers.  The Yankees also gain a full game on the Indians, who were defeated in eleven innings by the Senators at Washington.  They will next welcome the Chicago White Sox to the Polo Grounds.

• FINAL: DET 6; NYY 9
• RECORD: 33-21 (.611); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland

⚾         ⚾         ⚾

GAME #53

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, June 14, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Sportsman's Park

Giants Snap Skid; Salvage Finale at Sportsman's Park

On the brink of their seventh straight defeat, the New York Giants muster four runs in the eighth for a come from behind 6-4 victory in the series finale and thus avoid being swept at Sportsman's Park.  Fred Toney outlasts Cardinals starter Roy Walker who gets knocked out of the box after seven.  Toney made his 16th appearance, allowing four runs, three earned, nine hits, and just one walk through nine complete innings.  Cardinals' second baseman Rogers Hornsby goes 3 for 4 with a run batted in.  Roy Walker takes the loss, but his effort is compromised by six errors.  He yields five runs, but only two are earned.  Otherwise, Walker gives up six hits and three walks with three strikeouts through seven.  The Cardinals' own ten-game winning streak comes to an end as well.  Ross Youngs is 2 for 4 with three runs batted in.  Dave Bancroft goes 2 for 4 with two runs scored and one run batted in, and High Pockets Kelly drives home his 51st run this season.  The Giants arrive in Chicago tomorrow.

• FINAL: NYG 6; STL 4
• RECORD: 33-20 (.623); second place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh