OTD 5/14/1921: Brooklyn Royal Giants Fall to Farmers at Glendale's New Field

From the desk: DEM BARNSTORMERS

The Brooklyn Citizen, May 14, 1921

On Saturday, May 14, 1921, the Brooklyn Royal Giants are defeated by the Farmers nine of Glendale, Long Island.  Twirling for the hosts, newly signed Harry Hagermann yields to Brooklyn three runs on ten hits and no walks with five strikeouts for the victory.

The Farmers take an early 1-0 lead when first baseman Dahncke homers to deep left; it's the first home run hit at Glendale's new field.  But Brooklyn answers with a run in the third.  Second baseman John Cason singles, advances to second, then scored on third baseman Louis Miller's base hit.  However, with three runs in the fourth, Glendale takes a 4-3 lead they would not concede.

• Game Account: The Standard Union (Brooklyn), May 15, 1921

Brooklyn Royal Giants starter Henry Howell issues four walks, and fans three before 1B/manager Eddie Douglas brings in reliever Jesse Hubbard.  The two hurlers join together in surrendering six runs on twelve hits.  

Center fielder Tom Fiall in the sixth singles and scores on Eddie Douglass' hit.  Farmers' shortstop Blank errs in the seventh, leading to Brooklyn's third run.  But any Royal Giants designs for a comeback are short-circuited; in the bottom of the seventh, Glendale scores twice more en route to a 6-3 final score at Farmer Oval.  Brooklyn third baseman Louis Miller accounts for three of Brooklyn's ten hits.

l: The Brooklyn Citizen, May 15, 1921

r: The Standard Union (Brooklyn), May 15, 1921

 

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/14/1921: Giants Turn Back Reds; Babe Ruth Powers Yankees Over 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 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 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 only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

⚾

GAME #24

BOXSCORE: Saturday, May 14, 1921 - BR

Cincinnati Reds @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Rube Benton Shuts Out Former Team; Giants Move Into Second Place

Making only his second start of the season, veteran Rube Benton twirls a gem against his former team as 22,000 fans at the Polo Grounds luxuriate in delight.  Acquired by Mister McGraw back during the 1915 season, Benton yields no runs, eight hits, and two walks in a complete-game shutout effort.  The Giants scored three times in the first inning and never look back.  Frankie Frisch triples home George Burns and Dave Bancroft, then scores on Ross Youngs' hit up the middle.  Benton provides himself some insurance with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the fifth.  Ross Youngs then caps off the scoring with a sacrifice fly scoring Frisch in the eighth.  Cincinnati's Dolf Luque takes the loss.  Frankie Frisch leads the charge with three hits in four at-bats with two RBI and two runs scored.  The Giants are now winners of four in a row and ten of their last twelve games.  With Brooklyn's loss against St. Louis, the Giants overtake second place.

• FINAL: CIN 0; NYG 5
• RECORD: 16-8 (.667); second place, 3.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #22

BOXSCORE: Saturday, May 14, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ CLEVELAND INDIANS

Dunn Field

Babe Ruth's Eleventh Home Run Lifts Yankees To Series Opening Victory Over Defending Champions 

The Yankees seize the opener of a four-game set against the first place and defending World Series champion Indians.  Trailing 4-2 after seven, the Yankees turn the tables on Cleveland in the eighth when Indians starter Jim Bigby hits lead-off batter Braggo Roth with a pitch and Roger Peckinpaugh's single puts runners on the corners.  Up comes Babe Ruth who then wallops a home run into the furthest seating rows in straightaway center field.  All center fielder Tris Speaker can do is look skyward in admiration and wave goodbye to the ball (that would surely have reached the bleachers at the Polo Grounds).  With the Yankees now staked to a 5-4 lead, Wally Pipp makes it back-to-back home runs and a 6-4 final margin of victory for the visiting Yankees.  Making his sixth appearance of the season, Jack Quinn yields four runs on eleven hits and two walks over nine complete innings pitched for his second victory this season.  For Ruth, his major league-leading eleventh home run of the season.  The Sultan of Swat is a full two weeks ahead of last season's home run pace.  Ruth last season didn't hit his eleventh home run until May 29 against Boston.  The Yankees move into second place ahead of Washington.

• FINAL: NYY 6; CLE 4
• RECORD: 13-9 (.591); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland 

The Standard Union, Brooklyn, 

May 15, 1921

 

Brooklyn Cyclones Muster Little in First Defeat at Greenville

From the desk: THE SURF AVENUE SLUGGERS

Brooklyn leads Greenville; 2-1

I - BKN 6; GVL 1

II - BKN 3; GVL 2

III - GVL 8; BKN 2

Coney Island Swings and Misses in Game Three

The Greenville Drive score early, often, and late en route to a commanding 8-2 victory over the visiting Cyclones at Fluor Field, South Carolina.  Greenville starter Chris Murphy faces 20 batters, allowing just three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts through 5.1 innings pitched for the victory.  All told, three Drive pitchers limit Brooklyn to a pair of late runs on six hits and four walks with 15 unacceptable strikeouts.  Meanwhile, four of five Cyclones pitchers are scored upon.  Starter Oscar Rojas surrenders four runs (two home runs), three earned, on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts through only 3.2 innings pitched.  Brooklyn bats 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.  Left fielder Antoine Duplantis accounts for two of Brooklyn's six hits.  Center fielder Jake Mangum connected on his first home run, a two-run shot scoring Duplantis.  

• BOXSCORE: Thursday, May 14, 2021

THE METSIAN PODFEST: featuring Subway To Shea Podcast & MetsMusings Podcast

From the desk: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

This week The Metsian Podcast welcomes Anthony Rivera, proprietor of the Subway To Shea Podcast, to the show.  On the docket: a seven-game win streak, injuries, stock up/stock down, RatCoon, The Dark Knight returns, and a Mets 1977 regular season rewind assist from Gary Mac of MetsMusings Podcast.

 

eighty-two minutes

Calling all fans!  Be on the lookout for players involved with elevating the Mets into first place.  Several of the conspirators are known members of the notorious Bench Mob.  The rest of the team is armed with effective pitching and an increasingly dangerous lineup.  They are reported to have come away with series victories against the Diamondbacks and Orioles at Citi Field and are now thought to be in transit towards the Tampa/St. Pete area disguised in surfer shorts, sandals, sunglasses, and sunscreen.

#LGM 

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/13/1921: Giants Take Series From Cardinals; Yankees Set To Challenge Defending World Series Champs

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 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 only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

Fall River Globe, Massachusetts

GAME #23

BOXSCORE: Friday, May 13, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Giants and Mother Nature Conspire Against Cardinals

The Giants settle their business in the nick of time.  High Pockets Kelly drives in Frankie Frisch in the home fourth, and Cardinals starting pitcher Roy Walker doubles home shortstop Doc Lavan in the top of the fifth, knotting the game at one.  Providing regular backstop Frank Snyder a spell behind the plate, Earl Smith connects off Roy Walker on a two-run home run in the bottom half of the fifth.  Frankie Frisch leads off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and promptly steals second.  Afterwhich, Ross Youngs sends Frisch home with a double, and center fielder Curt Walker triples driving in Youngs for a 5-1 Giants lead.  It was then when storm clouds gathering over the Polo Grounds burst open, ending the game after six innings.  The Giants take the series from St. Louis, three games to one.

• FINAL: STL 1; NYG 5
• RECORD: 15-8 (.652); third place, 3.0 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #21

BOXSCORE: Friday, May 13, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ DETROIT TIGERS

Navin Field

Carl Mays and Babe Ruth Lead Yankees to Series Victory Over Detroit; Onward To Cleveland!

Detroit enjoys their only lead of the game in the first.  With the bases loaded in the second, Babe Ruth sends home all runners with a triple for a lead the Yankees would not relinquish.  That's not to say Detroit failed to inflict a measure of damage to Yankees starter  Harry Harper who in the sixth inning is hit by a line drive off the bat of Tigers' catcher Eddie Ainsmith resulting in a fractured left thumb.  Toeing the slab for Detroit, Howard Ehmke lacks for control, walking eight batters and yielding nine hits.  However, two infield errors clear the way for three unearned runs.  Harry Harper and reliever Alex Ferguson similarly join to walk eight batters and surrender ten hits.  But when Detroit rallies for two runs in the ninth, Miller Huggins calls upon Carl Mays who secures the game's final out.  For the Yankees ace, this marks his third relief appearance in the last four games.  He gained a complete game victory over Detroit on Tuesday, and in these last two games answered Hugs' call to the pen.  Bob Meusel, Aaron Ward, and Alex Ferguson each drive in a run apiece.  Babe finishes the series 7 for 15 with two triples and his ninth and tenth home runs of the season.  Today's three RBI raise his total to 27 for the young season, five behind High Pockets Kelly who presently leads the major leagues with 33 runs batted in.  New York takes the series from Detroit, three games to one.  Next stop for the Yankees: Cleveland, where they'll challenge the defending World Series champion Indians.

• FINAL: NYY 6; DET 4
• RECORD: 12-9 (.571); third place, 2.0 GB of Cleveland

The DAILY TIMES (DAVENPORT, IOWA)

Brooklyn Cyclones Hold On For Second Straight Victory Over Greenville

From the desk: THE SURF AVENUE SLUGGERS

Cyclones lead Drive; 2-0

I - BKN 3; GVL 2

WEDNESDAY

Cyclones    3

GREENVILLE  2

FINAL

Strong Pitching and Timely Hitting Lead the Way

The Greenville Drive takes an immediate lead.  Cyclone starter Jose Butto walks the very first batter he faces, then unleashes a wild pitch advancing the runner to second.  After a theft of third base, third baseman  Brandon Howlett doubles home Greenville's first run.  Jose Butto and Greenville starter Brian Van Belle then trade zeroes through the fourth.  Brooklyn finally strikes back for two runs in the fifth; Juan Uriarte leads off with a triple and scores on Antoine Duplantis' single to right.  After a pitching change, Ronny Mauricio drives home Duplantis for a 3-1 lead.  However, in the bottom half of the frame, Brooklyn reliever Brian Metoyer uncorks a wild pitch permitting the base runner at third to score, making it a slim 3-2 Brooklyn advantage.  

• 5/11/2021 BOXSCORE: Game #7

Otherwise, the bullpen makes it stand.  Three Brooklyn relievers join together in limiting the Drive to one unearned run on just two hits and two walks with five strikeouts over the game's final five innings.  Right-hander Mitch Ragan earns a two-inning save.  Jose Butto yields one lone run on just two hits and three walks with six strikeouts through four innings.  All told, Brooklyn pitchers limited the Drive to a pair of runs, one earned, on just four hits and five walks with eleven strikeouts; Brian Metoyer is humbly credited with the victory.  The Cyclones amass eleven hits, bat 5 for 15 with runners on base but leave nine men on base.

 

• Brooklyn climbs a game above par.
• Ronny Mauricio has eight runs batted in through seven games.

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/12/1921: Kelly's Grand Slam Powers Giants; Yankees Win Slugfest 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 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 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 only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

⚾

GAME #22

BOXSCORE: Thursday, May 12, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

George Kelly Powers Giants Over Cardinals; Slim Salle Finishes What Jesse Barnes Starts

The Giants stake Jesse Barnes to a four-run lead on High Pockets Kelly's grand slam home run in the first.  But St. Louis left fielder Autin McHenry homers in the fourth, and with the bases loaded, center fielder Heinie Mueller singles home two runs reducing the Cardinals deficit to one.  At once, Mister McGraw makes his way to the mound, and into the game comes Slim Salle, who ends the Cardinals' threat.  Catcher Frank Snyder provides the Giants some insurance with a two-run triple in the sixth, and Dave Bancroft scores in the seventh when Ross Youngs bounces into a fielder's choice.  St. Louis scores two unearned runs in the ninth to no avail.  Salle earns the victory evening his record to 1-1 with an unsightly 4.25 earned run average.  With eight home runs to date, George Kelly is two behind the major league leader, Babe Ruth.  The Giants failed to gain ground on the second-place Brooklyn Robins, who defeated the Reds a third straight day at Ebbets Field.

• FINAL: STL 5; NYG 7
• RECORD: 14-8 (.636); third place; 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #20

BOXSCORE: Thursday, May 12, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ DETROIT TIGERS

Navin Field

Babe Ruth Has First and Final Say; Yanks Climb Back Into Third

With Roger Peckingpaugh on base, Babe Ruth's first-inning home run into the left-field bleachers (#) gives New York a prompt 2-0 lead.  But it does not last.  In the bottom half of the frame, Detroit's three-run rally overtakes the visitors.  Or so they thought.  New York strikes back with three runs in the third and two more in the fourth.  The Tigers answered with single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings.  But the Yankees regain separation with two more runs in the top of the sixth for a 9-5 lead. Facing Rip Collins pitching in relief of starter Tom Sheehan, Detroit erupts for five runs in the bottom half of the frame to seize a 10-9 lead.  

Miller Huggins hands the ball to Jack Quinn, who twirls a scoreless seventh, and Alex Ferguson follows with a scoreless eighth.  Facing Detroit's Dutch Leonard with two runners on base in the top of the ninth, Babe Ruth triples, giving the Yankees an 11-10 lead.  Carl Mays then retires the Tigers to end the game.  Ferguson earns the win.  Braggo Roth goes 3 for 5 with a home run and three runs batted in.  Roger Peckinpaugh is 3 for 4 with a double, three runs scored, and four runs batted in.  Listed among Babe Ruth's three hits, his major league-leading tenth home run.  New York moves up into third place, one-half game ahead of Boston and one-half game behind Washington.  Detroit right fielder Harry Heilmann finishes 2 for 4 with a triple and two runs batted in.  Center fielder Ty Cobb is held to one hit in four plate appearances.

• FINAL: NYY 11; DET 10
• RECORD: 11-9 (.550); third place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland
• # Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 13, 1921, p25, c3

Brooklyn Cyclones: Coney Island Plants Their Flag at Greenville

From the desk: THE CONEY ISLAND NINE

20th

Anniversary Season

2001 ~ 2021

TUESDAY

Cyclones   6

GREENVILLE 1

Fluor Field

FINAL

Josh Walker Impressive Again; Home Runs For Mauricio and Genord

For the first time in their now 20-year history, the Brooklyn Cyclones arrive in South Carolina for a regular-season game against the nearly 30-year old Greenville Drive.  The Cyclones entered Tuesday's action, having dropped three of five games against the Asheville Tourists.

• 5/11/2021: BOXSCORE: Game #6

Leading off the game, left fielder Antoine Duplantis singles and right fielder Matt Winaker lines a double to center field.  Next in, third sacker Brett Baty doubles home both base runners for a prompt 2-0 Brooklyn lead.  First baseman Joe Genord leading off the second connects on his second home run this season, and second baseman Luke Ritter doubles home Baty in the top of the third, giving the Cyclones a 4-0 lead.  Starter Josh Walker surrenders the lone run of his appearance in the home half of the third, but Ronny Mauricio's two-run blast in the top of the fourth gives dem Boardwalk Bums a 6-1 advantage.  Right-hander Dan Goggin pitches two scoreless innings in relief of Walker with four strikeouts.  Manager Blankmeyer then hands the ball to righty Nick MacDonald for the eighth, who faces the minimum with a strikeout.  Despite an error by Mauricio, Nick MacDonald effectively closes out the ninth just as well.  Making his second start, Josh Walker puts forth another commendable effort, yielding one run on four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts through six innings pitched.  Ritter finishes up 3 for 4 with a run batted in, and Mauricio and Baty each drive in two runs apiece.  Brooklyn achieves par with a 3-3 record.

QUICK OBSERVATION: Through six High-A level games, there have been far more home runs hit by both Brooklyn and the opposition than former New York-Penn League fans are accustomed to.  A true test awaits when games arrive at spacious MCU Park at Coney Island and hitting into the stiff Spring ocean breeze.

OTD 5/11/1908: Brooklyn Royal Giants Edge Defenders of Dunkirk; Bill Monroe Delivers Winning Hit

From the desk: DEM BARNSTORMERS

Buffalo Morning Express, May 12, 1908

Phil Bradley Twirls Seven-Inning Shut Out Against Defenders at Dunkirk, N.Y.

On May 11, 1908, at the Point Gratiot grounds in Dunkirk, New York, the local Defenders lost their season-opening game by the slimmest of margins against the Brooklyn Royal Giants.  In his first season with the Giants, Ed Wilson toes the slab for the visitors opposed by Harry Ehmke for the host Defenders.  The game is called after seven innings due to uncooperative weather.  Undeterred, the visitors play a clean game in the field.  Unlike Brooklyn, a Defenders' misplay in the fifth inning proves costly as Wilson's ensuing single and Bill Monroe's double and run batted in gives the Royal Giants a well-timed 1-0 lead.  The battery of Ed Wilson and Phil Bradley make it stand.  Wilson fans six in an abbreviated seven-inning shutout effort.  Defenders' starter Harry Ehmke though sabotaged by poor baserunning and three errors, yields just one run with six strikeouts in a hard-luck loss.

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/11/1921: Fred Toney Too Much For Redbirds; Tigers Slide By Yankees at Detroit

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 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 only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

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

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

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

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

DAILY NEWS

 

GAME #21

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, May 11, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Fred Toney Ruffles the Redbirds

Fred Toney does it all, but it's the Cardinals who jump out in front.  With one out in the fourth, Joe Schultz singles, and with two outs, Rogers Hornsby singles putting runners on the corners.  First baseman Jack Fournier then doubles to left, scoring Schultz.  With two runners in scoring position, left fielder Austin McHenry laces a comebacker snagged by Toney for the final out.  Toney's catch unquestionably saves two runs.  Facing Cardinals starter Bill Doak in the sixth, Dave Bancroft doubles, advances to third, and soon scores on Ross Youngs' infield hit.  Goldie Rapp and Ross Youngs each drive in a run during the home seventh.  Fred Toney helps himself with a base hit during the Giants' two-run seventh.  Ross Youngs triples and scores for the finishing touch, giving the hosts a 4-1 lead and the final margin of victory.  Toney retires the Cardinals in order in the ninth.  Toney yields one run on six hits and three walks (two intentional) with two strikeouts en route to his fourth win of the season against two losses with a 1.94 ERA.  Three of the Giants' seven hits go for extra bases; High Pockets Kelly drives in his 28th run this season.  However, they gain no ground on Brooklyn, who defeated the Reds at Ebbets Field.

• FINAL: STL 1; NYG 4
• RECORD: 13-8 (.619); third place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾

GAME #19

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, May 11, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ DETROIT TIGERS

Navin Field

Tigers Steal One From Yankees

Making his fourth start, the Brooklynite Waite Hoyt toes the slab opposed by Tigers freshman right-hander Suds Sutherland.  After a scoreless first inning, each team trades a run in the second.  New York's Braggo Roth doubles home Wally Schang, and Detroit's third sacker Joe Sargent lofts a sacrifice fly scoring left fielder Bobby Veach.  Hoyt and Sutherland traded zeroes for the next five innings.  Ty Cobb throws out Babe Ruth at second base while attempting to stretch a single in the sixth.  Sure enough, Ty Cobb's hit puts runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom half of the eighth.  With Bobby Veach at the plate, shortstop Donie Bush rumbles down the third-base line and successfully steals home for a 2-1 Tigers lead and, ultimately, victory.  Waite Hoyt is effective but unlucky.  He takes the loss upon surrendering two runs, one unearned, nine hits, and just one walk through eight.  As a result, the Yankees slip down to fourth place, percentage points behind the Red Sox.

• FINAL: NYY 1; DET 2
• RECORD: 10-9 (.526); fourth place, 4.0 GB of Cleveland

DAILY NEWS

The Metsian Podcast: Talking Baseball and America in 1962 with Author David Krell

From the desk: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

GUEST

Author

DAVID KRELL

Discussing His New Book:

"1962: Baseball and America 

in the Time of JFK"

ninety-six minutes

1 9 6 2

The New York Mets ~ Continental League ~ Houston Colt 45's 

Branch Rickey ~ Joan Payson ~ Casey Stengel ~ William Shea

1950's ~ Pop Culture ~ Politics ~ TV ~ Cinema ~ Space Race ~ Music ~ 1960's

and so much more!

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/10/1921: The Rajah Lifts Cards Over Giants; Babe Ruth Hits Number Nine

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

For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained.  Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans.  But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third.  A franchise-record 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders.  However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per 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 but an accomplishment for which John McGraw has little appreciation as one who believes players work too hard and earnestly only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.

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

In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds.  Babe Ruth would continue 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 in 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

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

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

• Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE

Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!

New York Times

GAME #20

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 10, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Cardinals @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Rogers Hornsby Sparks Winning Rally; Lifts Batting Average to .478

In a see-saw affair, the St. Louis Cardinals take the opening game of a four-game series at the Polo Grounds.  Facing New York starter Art Nehf in the first inning, right fielder Joe Schultz homers to straightaway center field.  Third baseman Milt Stock singles to right and advances to third on an error by Ross Youngs.  Rogers Hornsby singles home Stock, and with two outs, left fielder Austin McHenry singles home Hornsby for a 3-0 Cardinals lead.  But the Giants strike back.  Making only his sixth major league start, Bill Pertica issues a lead-off walk to George Young, and with one out, Frankie Frisch singles putting runners on the corners.  Right fielder Ross Youngs then connects for a home run tying the game at three.

St. Louis scores twice more in the third.  After yielding a double to Shultz and walking Rogers Hornsby, first baseman Jack Fournier singles to right scoring Schultz, but another error by Ross Youngs allows the Rajah to score as well.  Art Nehf pays the price; Mister McGraw brings in Slim Salle from the bullpen.  McGraw's batsmen counter again in the bottom of the frame.  High Pockets Kelly doubles home Frankie Frisch, then scores when Goldie Rapp is retired on a fielder's choice.

George Burns gives the Giants their first lead of the game in the fourth.  But it does not last.  Rogers Hornsby triples off Salle leading off the seventh and scores on Fournier's hit to left.  Catcher Pickles Dillhoefer then delivers the go-ahead run from which the Giants do not recover.

Slim Salle takes the loss after yielding two runs on seven hits and one walk through 5.2 innings in relief of Nehf.  Rogers Hornsby lifts his league-leading average to .478 with four hits in four at-bats.  High Pockets Kelly finishes the day with a .377 average after two hits in five at-bats.

• FINAL: STL 7; NYG 6
• RECORD: 12-8 (.600); third place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh

Daily News

GAME #18

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, May 10, 1921 - BR

New York Yankees @ DETROIT TIGERS

Navin Field

Babe Hits Number Nine; Carl Mays Makes it Stand

The Yankees hold on for a road trip opening victory at Detroit.  With Tigers rookie Jim Middleton toeing the rubber and Roger Peckinpaugh the runner at first, Babe Ruth homers to deep center field for a prompt 2-0 lead.  Carl Mays makes it stand.  Detroit mounts their only threat in the ninth when Donie Bush laces a lead-off triple to center field, and Ty Cobb delivers him home.  But Mays escapes further damage for his fifth victory of the season against two losses with a 1.12 ERA.  He allows one run on just five hits and two walks through nine.  For left fielder Babe Ruth, his ninth home run with 20 runs batted in through 18 games played.

• FINAL: NYY 2; DET 1
• RECORD: 10-8 (.556); third place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland

Daily News

Ty Cobb in 1909 led the American League with nine home runs.

Brooklyn Cyclones: Four Home Runs Power Coney Island Over Asheville

From the desk: THE CONEY ISLAND NINE

GAME FIVE

Cyclones 16

Tourists 12

FINAL

Someone must be reading my posts ...

After writing Saturday how the Cyclones got outscored 30-12 over their previous three games, the Surf Avenue Sluggers on Saturday erupt for 16 runs on 15 hits.  

Sure, the Tourists committed four errors, and the Cyclones scored five unearned runs off Asheville pitching.  Yeah, Brooklyn's own pitching yielded twelve runs on eleven hits, with the Tourists scoring nine runs in the eighth inning alone.  But we won, so, fuggedaboudit!

First baseman Joe Genord led Brooklyn's assault going 3 for 4 with a home run in the sixth, three runs scored, and three RBI.  In fact, Luke Ritter homered in the third, Ronny Mauricio homered in the fourth, and shortstop Cody Bohanek knocked one out in the fifth.  Mauricio now has five runs batted in through the first five games.

In that nine-run eighth inning, the Tourists closed within one run of the Cyclones, who now led by a suddenly slim 13-12 margin.  But the Cyclones score three more times in the ninth for good measure and make the series 2-3 in favor of Asheville.  Like their parents, Brooklyn went 4 for 21 with runners in scoring position and left twelve runners on base.

Starter Eric Kisena bucks a recent trend of sorts with an effective start.  He allows two earned runs on four hits with just two walks and eight strikeouts through five innings pitched.  He faces 20 batters and throws 78 pitches, with 49 (62.8%) going for strikes.  He yields a fourth-inning home run to Tourists left fielder Colin Barber, but it's the only extra-base hit he would yield.

UPDATE

Sunday, May 9, 2021

GAME CALLED