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
POLO GROUNDS
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GAME #131
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
