Brooklyn Nets: The X File

From the desk: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Eastern Conference Semifinals

Milwaukee Bucks

vs.

Brooklyn Nets

Joe Harris Is The X Factor

If you ride the Trolley, you know I've been somewhat ragging on Joe Harris this season.  

With Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden all together on the floor, I expected some of Joe Harris's career stats to slightly recede, and they did, but not for the reasons I anticipated.  

Before the James Harden acquisition, I was still expecting Joe Harris to take another step forward and again reset career highs in several categories.  If teams were overly concerned with guarding Durant and Irving, it seemed logical (to me) to think the game would have opened up for Harris.  But after four seasons of incremental, even methodical year-over-year improvement, Harris' attempts per game, rebounds, and points per game this season indeed ticked downward.  Lest we forget, after the addition of James Harden, the Big Three played less than ten games together.  Which is to say Joe Harris had every opportunity to ante up.  

Look, I know he's a hawkeye from behind the arc; his three-point shooting percentage speaks for itself. But I didn't necessarily need Joe Harris scoring 25 points this season when the Big Three were on the court together.  I wanted him scoring that many when one or two of the Three were missing from the lineup.  To that end, Joe's track record is spotty.  

Secondly, Joe Harris rarely follows up one 20-point game with a second straight 20-point game.  Harris scored 25 points in game two, then followed that up with eight points in 35 minutes during Brooklyn's only loss to the Celtics.  He was a little too absent for my tastes in game one, in which he went 3/8 from the field and 2/5 from behind the arc for ten points and three rebounds in 37 minutes.  But he was well involved in games five and six and played good all-around games.  He led the Nets in game five with a plus-17 and posted 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists.  Joe then scored ten points in game six and was second to James Harden with six assists.

• ICYMI  Brooklyn Nets: With A Flick Of The Switch

In their first regular-season match-up back on Jan 8, the Nets defeated the Bucks 125-123 at Barclays Center.  Kyrie Irving did not play.  Joe Harris picked up the slack with 20 points in 37 minutes.  We know Harden to be more of a facilitator than Kyrie.  Playing with Harden, Joe Harris scores more; with Irving, he usually scores less.  The Bucks won the next two games played back-to-back in early May.  James Harden did not play in the May 2 game.  Joe Harris shot 1/5 from behind the arc and finished the game with just five points in 35 minutes.  Jame Harden likewise missed the May 4 game.  Harris, this time finished 4/8 from behind the arc for twelve points.

Cycling back, game two against the Celtics could very well have been an aberration.  That's unfair of me to say, I know.  But the Big Three will not win a title by themselves.  They still need the complimentary players to pull their respective weight.  

I could have saved you from reading all this by simply saying Joe Harris cannot disappear against the Milwaukee Bucks like he did in the 2018-2019 playoffs against the Sixers.  My point is if Joe Harris can give the Nets more consistent performances similar to that of game six, Flatbush becomes near impossible to defeat, or not.  The Association's history is littered with the fourth man playing big in huge moments.  I want to see Joe Harris break away from being an unknown variable and add his name to that narrative.

Joe Harris is the X-factor.

The Metsian Podcast: First Place and the Roosevelt Avenue Resistance

From the desk: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

seventy-two minutes

#LGM

OTD 6/4/1924: Smokey Joe Williams Hurls Brooklyn Royals Giants to Victory Over Allentown Dukes

From the desk: DEM BARNSTORMERS

The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania)

Tuesday, June 4, 1924

 

On Wednesday, June 4, 1924, the Brooklyn Royal Giants defeated the Dukes at Allentown Park, Pennsylvania.  Pitching for the Royal Giants, Smokey Joe Williams limits the Allentown Dukes to one run on six hits, including extra-base hits by the center fielder Moran and catcher Joe Hyde who drives home the Dukes only run, thus spoiling the shutout back in the third.   Otherwise, Cyclone Williams allowed no hits after the third inning while issuing no walks and striking out seven through nine complete innings pitched.  In fact, Allentown's only base runner after the third, Joe Guiterez, was picked off first base by Williams.  Brooklyn jumps out to a 2-0 lead in the third on run-scoring doubles by second baseman Bunny Downs and captain Eddie Douglas.  Catcher Charlie Spearman leads the Giants with three hits, including Brooklyn's third extra-base hit.  Third baseman Johnson Hill drives home Brooklyn's third and final run in the sixth.  Left fielder Bob Scott, center fielder Jules Thomas, and Downs each score a run apiece.  Allentown starter Weldon Wychoff yields eleven hits and two walks with five strikeouts in a losing effort.

The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), Thursday, June 5, 1924

 

The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), Thursday, June 5, 1924

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/4/1921: Giants Take Over First on Douglas One-Hitter; St. Louis Routed By Yankees

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.  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 #44

BOXSCORE: Saturday, June 4, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Yankees Score Early and Often in Rout of Browns

The Yankees chose to not let this game remain an open debate.  Facing former Detroit veteran Bernie Boland, Bob Meusel homers in the first inning scoring Roger Peckinpaugh and Wally Pipp.  With two on and no outs in the second, Babe Ruth's single scores Chick Fewster and knocks Boland out of the game.  Reliever Bill Bayne is greeted with a double from Peckinpaugh, a triple off the bat of Home Run Baker, and Wally Schang's run-scoring single, giving the Yankees an 8-0 lead.  Wally Pipp drives home the Yankees' ninth run in the third.  Starter Jack Quinn surrenders four runs, three earned, nine hits, and two walks through 6.2 innings for the win.  Bob Shawkey pitches the final two innings striking out three.  The Yankees take two games to one series lead.  They also gain a full game on Cleveland, who were whitewashed by the Red Sox at Boston.  But just as the Yankees get back Home Run Baker off the injured list, Chick Fewster was forced to leave this day after colliding with Bob Meusel while attempting a catch.

• FINAL: STL 4; NYY 9
• RECORD: 26-18 (.591); second place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

GAME #46

BOXSCORE: Saturday, June 4, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Forbes Field

Phil Douglas One-Hits Pirates; Giants Take Over First Place

In front of 25,000 stunned fans packed into Forbes Field, McGraw's Men stampede into first place with a 12-0 whitewashing of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Saturday's offensive marks their third straight victory over the formerly first-place Buccaneers.  Frankie Frisch and starter Phil Douglas each drive home three runs each.  Goldie Rapp goes 2 for 4 with two runs driven in, and Ross Youngs goes 3 for 4 with a triple and one run batted in.  Meanwhile, Phil Douglas, making his tenth appearance this season, allows just one hit, a single by left fielder Carson Bigbee leading off the bottom half of the first.  Afterwhich, he faces just 28 more batters and yields no hits en route to the victory.  He walks none, but the Giants commit one error (by first baseman High Pockets Kelly with two outs in the ninth).  The Giants are also the first team in baseball to achieve 32 wins this season.

• FINAL: NYG 12; PITT 0
• RECORD: 32-14 (.696); first place, 0.5 GA of Pittsburgh

 

OTD 6/4/1939: Brooklyn Semipro Bay Parkways Split Twin Bill With Barton's Nighthawks at Erasmus Field

From the desk: BROOKLYN SEMIPROS

Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)

On Sunday, June 4, 1939, within two miles of where I presently live, the local Bay Parkways split games of a doubleheader with Barton's Nighthawks at Erasmus Field, McDonald Avenue at the Avenue M station along the Culver Line.

GAME ONE - Bay Parkway opens the scoring.  However, the Nighthawks grab a 3-1 lead after two innings and hold a 4-2 lead through four.  Bay Parkway ties the game at four with two runs in the sixth, including a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Arlington, the backstop.  The game remains knotted through the eighth.  Then with two runners on base in the home ninth, Bay Parkways first baseman Max Posnack doubles, one bounce over the right field fence driving home the winning run.  Spiro and Buster Lavac join together to limit the Nighthawks to seven hits, three going for extra bases, six walks, and four strikeouts.  Lavac earns the win.

GAME TWO - Bob Miller toes the slab for Barton's Nighthawks and is opposed by Bay Parkways left-hander Jimmy McCloskey.  When Bay Parkway takes a 1-0 lead in the third, the Nighthawks tie it in the fifth.  When the Parkways go ahead 2-1 in the eighth, the Barton Nines rally in the ninth, tying the game at two.  They play a scoreless tenth inning.  However, Jimmy McCloskey is forced to exit due to injury and is relieved by Buster Lavac.  After trading runs in the eleventh, the Nighthawks finally put two runs between them and their hosts for a 12-inning 5-3 victory and twin bill split at Erasmus Field.  This time, Buster Lavac suffers the loss.  

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

OTD 6/3/1917: Brooklyn Royal Giants and Bushwick Split Twin Bill at Ridgewood Park

From the desk: DEM BARNSTORMERS & BROOKLYN SEMIPROS

The Brooklyn Citizen (Brooklyn, New York)

On Sunday, June 3, 1917, the host Brooklyn Royal Giants and Bushwick split games of a doubleheader at Ridgewood Park, Irving Avenue at Halsey Street.

GAME ONE

Royal Giants    8

Bushwick         1

FINAL

Bushwick Foils String Bean Williams' Shutout Effort To No Avail

The Royal Giants defeat Bushwick with great efficiency.  Winning right-hander String Bean Williams limits Bushwick to just one run on eight hits and three walks with five strikeouts through nine innings pitched.  First baseman Freddie Hohman scores Bushwick's only run in the ninth to spoil the shutout.  Otherwise, the visitors leave twelve runners on base.  Game one loser Jim McGarry yields eight runs on eight hits, including doubles by String Bean Williams and shortstop Joe Hewitt, and a home run off the bat of catcher Luis Santop.  It is said Santop's home run cleared the right field fence by several yards.  Right fielder Johnny Pugh made a great rally-killing catch while crashing into the outfield fence. 

TIMES UNION (Brooklyn, New York)

GAME TWO

Royal Giants   3

Bushwick        5

FINAL

Bushwick Starter Eddie Girard Scores Late Decision Over Maywood Brown

Bushwick gets the better of Royal Giants starter Maywood Brown in game two, striking for five runs on nine hits, including three for extra bases by starter pitcher Eddie Girard, second baseman Taguer, and Freddie Hohman.  Maywood Brown is demonstrably wild with eight walks but appearing just as fearsome with seven strikeouts, albeit in a losing effort.  Bushwick unknots a three-all tie with two runs in the sixth en route to a 5-3 victory.  Winning pitcher Eddie Girard allows three runs on seven hits, including two for extra bases.  Royal Giants catcher Luis Santop goes 1 for 3 with a double and two runs scored.  Center fielder Charles Earle and Maywood Brown lead the Giants with two hits apiece.

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/3/1921: Bambino Ties Cactus Cravath; Giants Take Second Straight From First Place Pirates

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.  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 #43

BOXSCORE: Friday, June 3, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Babe Ruth Hits Number Sixteen, But St. Louis Outlasts Yankees

The Browns erupt for seven runs in the fourth inning.  Afterwhich, it's a just matter of outlasting the Yankees.  However, St. Louis first helps the visitors open the scoring in the third when second baseman Dud Lee's errant throw allows Aaron Ward to score.  Roger Peckinpaugh's error in the top of the fourth helps clear the way for the Browns.  Starter Waite Hoyt is knocked out of the box after yielding four runs on four hits.  Miller Huggins replaces Hoyt with Rip Collins, who soon yields a three-run home run to right fielder Dutch Wetzel.  The Browns plate what would turn out to be vital insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings.  Babe Ruth triples and scores in the fourth, then launched home run number 16 this season in the sixth.  Trailing 9-6 after eight, Peckinpaugh and Ruth open the home ninth with consecutive singles.  Pinch-runner Johnny Mitchell scores on a fielder's choice, and Home Run Baker drives home Ruth.  But the Yankees rally ends there.  St. Louis starter Dixie Davis earns the win.  St. Louis takes a 2-1 series lead.  For Babe Ruth, his 119th career home run, tying him with Gavvy Cravath who hit the final home run of his post-1900 career just last season.

• FINAL: STL 9; NYY 8
• RECORD: 25-18 (.581); second place, 4.0 GB of Cleveland

New York Tribune (New York, New York)

Gavvy "Cactus" Cravath

"He wasn't much of a fan of Babe Ruth, he didn't like Babe's style.  He thought he was a hot dog." - Granddaughter of Gavvy Cravath, Ginger McMillian

GAME #45

BOXSCORE: Friday, June 3, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Forbes Field

Giants Take Second Straight From Pirates; Move Within Half-Game Of First Place

Two savvy vets go head to head at Forbes Field.  Starting for the Giants, Fred Toney is opposed by Pittsburgh's Earl Hamilton, who nurses a 1-0 lead through the fifth.  Fred Toney singles and scores in the sixth on Dave Bancroft's flyball to right field, tying the game at one.  Hamilton and Toney continue their duel through the eighth.  With one out in the top of the ninth, Williams yields two hits, then walks Ross Youngs to load the bases.  Manager George Gibson makes no move.  High Pockets Kelly's fly to left field scores Dave Bancroft from third.  Lee King follows with a triple to right, scoring Frankie Frisch and Ross Youngs for a 4-2 lead.  Fred Toney retires the Pirates in order in the home half of the ninth.  Toney improves to 7-2 with a 2.88 earned run average. 

• FINAL: NYG 4; PITT 2
• RECORD: 31-14 (.689); second place, 0.5 GB of Pittsburgh

Jersey Shore Evens Up Series With Brooklyn Cyclones

From the desk: THE CONEY ISLAND NINE

WEDNESDAY

Brooklyn         1

Jersey Shore  4

FINAL

After Tuesday's four home run barrage, Jersey Shore hurlers keep the Cyclones bats relatively dormant in game two of their series at Jersey.  

The BlueClaws scored four times in the third, highlighted by a two-run home run from right fielder Jhailyn Ortiz.  All runs are charged to Brooklyn starter Justin Lasko who allows four hits, one walk, and fans three through five innings pitched.

Ronny Mauricio grounds a base hit through the left side in the sixth, delivering Gerson Molina with Brooklyn's first and only run.  The Cyclones lose by a margin of three.  Lasko takes the loss. 

Otherwise, Andrew Edwards gives up just one hit in two scoreless innings, and Michel Otanez twirls a scoreless eighth.  Third baseman Brett Baty (.352) is the lone Cyclone with multiple hits.  Ronny Mauricio now has 17 RBI through 23 games.

• GAME #23 Boxscore: 6/2/2021

Brooklyn continues holding up the five-team North Division with an 8-15 record.  They trail the first place Aberdeen Ironbirds by 8.5 games.  The game also marks only the fifth time this season they do not strike out in double-digits.

So, there's that ...

Brooklyn Nets: With a Flick of the Switch

From the desk: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

PLAYOFFS: ROUND ONE
Nets defeat Celtics; 4-1

I - BKN 104; BOS 93

II - BKN 130; BOS 108

III - BOS 125; BKN 119

IV - BKN 141; BOS 126

V - BKN 123; BOS 109

The Curious Case Of Game Three

Not only does Flatbush defeat and eliminate the Celtics in five games of the first round of these playoffs, the Brooklyn Nets quite literally inflict upon Boston the equivalent of an organizational compound fracture.

President of Basketball Ops Danny Ainge has since announced his retirement.  For the moment, his departure renders the Celtics in a state of disrepair, as in out of order, as in broken (hearted).  Lest we forget, this Celtics team is the one former Nets general manager Billy King so graciously helped Danny Ainge build and/or construct by providing him with so many years of high-end draft selections in exchange for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.  But it wasn't until Tuesday that the Celtics actually realized their failure, considering they just got ousted by the underwriters of their own playoff viability.  This is to say Sean Marks and the Nets have been to the depths of the NBA standings and are presently moving on to round two against Milwaukee at Boston's expense.

Now that the Nets are moving on, having eliminated Boston in commanding fashion, I must ask what the hell happened in game three?  They led by as many as 15 points, then trailed at one point by 17 points only to lose by six points.  James Harden led Flatbush with 40 points, and Kevin Durant scored 39 points.  But Jayson Tatum dropped 50 points that night ... and I say, so what.

Brooklyn won game one by eleven points, then took game two by a considerable 22 points.  Then came what I can only describe as an internal short circuit.  They troubleshoot it and seemingly cleared it.  Because the Nets win game four by 15 points, then close out the series with a 14 point margin of victory.

Talk about a flick of the switch ...

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/2/1921: Yankees Glad To be Home; Art Nehf Blanks First-Place Pirates

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.  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 #42

BOXSCORE: Thursday, June 2, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Bob Shawkey Takes Care of Browns With Both Bat and Ball

The Yankees celebrate their return home from dreadful Washington with an affirmative effort against the St. Louis Browns.  Bob Shawkey limits St. Louis to single runs in the third and sixth innings.  Otherwise, he gives up seven hits, five walks, five strikeouts through nine for his second win of the season with a 3.58 ERA.  The Yankees' lineup inflicts all their damage against starter Urban Shocker who is knocked out of the box after five.  Wally Pipp leads the charge with a home run and three runs batted in, and Bob Shawkey gets into the act with a home run and two runs batted in.  Bob Meusel and Aaron Ward also drive in runs.  However, the Yankees gain no ground on the leader as the Indians defeat the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

• FINAL: STL 2; NYY 7
• RECORD: 25-17 (.595); second place, 4.0 GB of Cleveland

New York Tribune

GAME #44

BOXSCORE: Thursday, June 2, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Forbes Field

Art Nehf Hurls Gem; Giants Close Within 1.5 Games Of First-Place Pirates

After having their previous series at the Polo Grounds compromised by rain and splitting the balance of two games, the long-awaited showdown for first place begins.  To the great dismay of some 20,000 fans on hand at Forbes Field, the Giants take game one in a no contest.  Art Nehf puts forth New York's third straight impressive start; only this performance is a true gem.  The Giants southpaw limits the first-place Pirates to just four hits and four walks through nine shutout innings pitched.  He improves to 7-2 with a 4.13 earned run average.  The rather inexperienced Jimmy Zinn matches Nehf zero for zero through seven innings.  But the game unravels for Pittsburgh in the eighth.  Five runs facilitated by an error from third baseman Cotton Tierney and four hits highlighted by Goldie Rapps triple, and a run batted in by Ross Youngs in the eighth give the Giants a seven-run margin of victory.  Today, the Giants and Cleveland Indians join Pittsburgh as the only three teams to achieve 30 wins.

• FINAL: NYG 7; PITT 0
• RECORD: 30-14 (.682); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh

Brooklyn Cyclones Take Opening Game Against "New" Jersey Shore Rival

From the desk: THE CONEY ISLAND NINE

BATTLE of the BEACHES

CONEY ISLAND

vs.

JERSEY SHORE

FROM

It Doesn't Matter

No Staten Island Yankees?  No problem, now we take out our frustrations on the BlueClaws!  At least at Coney Island, our seagulls have respect for us and our families.  Seagulls along the Jersey Shore are just despicable and flat-out dangerous.

The rivalry is on ... Fugheddaboudit!

GAME ONE

Cyclones   11

BlueClaws   5

FINAL

CYCLONES HIT FOUR HOME RUNS; SNAP FOUR-GAME SKID

Brooklyn jumps out to a three-run lead before Jersey gets on the board with a pair in the home second.  The Cyclones then erupt for three more runs in the fifth.

Coney Island wastes no time.  Brett Baty opens the scoring with his first home run this season.  Luke Ritter trots home when Joe Genord connects on his fifth home run.  Starter Jose Butto surrenders a two-run home run to designated hitter Vito Friscia in the bottom half of the frame.  Shortstop Ronny Mauricio triples home two runs in the fifth, and Brett Baty drives home Mauricio extending Brooklyn's lead by four.  That is until Vito Friscia connects on his second home run of the game in the sixth, reducing the Cyclones' lead by half.  Jersey essentially gives the Cyclones a run in the seventh; Zach Ashford scored.  Brett Baty drives in his third run of the night with a double in the eighth; it's his 20th run batted in this season.  Next up, touted catcher Francisco Alvarez goes deep to center field, giving the Cyclones a commanding 10-4 lead.  Jersey picked up a run in the eighth, but Brooklyn center fielder  Adrian Hernandez canceled it out with a home run in the top of the ninth for Brooklyn's eleventh and final run.  Jose Butto allows three runs on three hits and one walk with five strikeouts through 5.1 innings pitched for the win.  

And, yes, I'm still paying attention: the Cyclones struck out 13 times!

Long Island Ducks: The Pond Is Open For Business

From the desk: THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

OPENING SERIES

Long Island Ducks def. Lexington Legends; 3-1

I - LID 5; LEX 0

II - LEX 9; LID 8

III - LID 4; LEX 3

IV - LID 5; LEX 2

THE 2019 ATLANTIC LEAGUE CHAMPIONS FINALLY RETAKE THE FIELD

The Atlantic League defending champions are back.  This past Saturday, the Long Island Ducks returned to the playing field hosting for the first time in Atlantic League history the Lexington Legends, formerly of the South Atlantic League.  The Legends, like the Ducks, are defending 2019 champions of their former circuit.

5/29/2021

GAME ONE - Long Island wins their first game of the season, defeating the Legends 5-0 in the front end.  Starting for the Ducks, Akeel Morris allows just one hit and two walks with six strikeouts through four innings pitched.  In relief of Morris, right-hander Jose Cuas earns the victory pitching a scoreless fifth.  Johnny Hellweg tosses a scoreless sixth, and southpaw Justin Kelly secures the shutout with a scoreless seventh.  Three of Long Island's five runs were unearned.  Left fielder LJ Mazzilli, shortstop Ryan Jackson, and pinch-hitter Juan De La Cruz drive in runs for the Ducks.

GAME TWO - Try as they might, the Ducks come up short in game two.  Trailing 9-3 heading into the last half of the seventh, Long Island scores five runs to no avail.  Starter Mike Bolsinger allows three runs in two innings.  Afterwhich, Lexington strikes for another five runs off Anderson DeLeon pitching in relief of Bolsinger.  Ryan Jackson finishes 4 for 4 with a run scored and one run batted in, and catcher Sal Giardina drives home three runs.

Jupiter Pluvius caused a postponement of Sunday's game, forcing the Ducks and Legends to play another twin bill on Monday.

5/31/2021

GAME ONE - Trailing 3-0 after four and a half innings, Long Island answers with four runs in the home fifth for the win.  Starter Joe Iorio battles through his first start, allowing three runs, two earned, on just two hits, but walks five.  The Legends' only other hit comes off Mike Tonkin in the seventh and final frame.  With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, Ducks catcher Hector Sanchez connects for a grand slam home run against Lexington's Liam O'Sullivan for a one-run margin of victory.  Devin Raftery earns the win in relief of Iorio.

GAME TWO - What did Yogi say, "it's deja vu all over again?"  The home crowd gets two thrillers for the price of one.  With the Ducks trailing 2-1 after eight and a half innings, a collective and rather excellent pitching duel comes to an end.  With two outs and the bases jammed with Ducks, crowd favorite Steve Lombardozzi connects off Lexington reliever Shawn Blackwell for a walk-off grand slam home run.

• Lexington Legends
• Long Island Ducks

TUESDAY

Long Island Ducks

vs.

West Virginia Power

FROM

Appalachian Power Park

In their first road trip of the season, the Long Island Ducks arrive in Charleston, West Virginia, where on Tuesday they opened a three-game series against the Power.  West Virginia is a former affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and most recently the Seattle Mariners.  Like the Lexington Legends, the Power are formerly of the South Atlantic League.

Game One

Ducks    3

Power    4

Final/Box

Catcher Sal Giardina opens the scoring with a home run in the third.  But the Power gives Ducks starter Brendan Feldmann a jolt with three runs in the fourth.  Right fielder Daniel Field's two-run home run in the eighth tied the game at three.  But West Virginia retakes the lead in the bottom half of the frame against Devin Raftery.  Long Island goes down in order in the top half of the ninth.  The first game at Appalachian Power Park between the Ducks and newly independent Power goes to the hosts.

New York Islanders Take Game Two In Overtime

From the desk: LONG ISLAND NOMADS

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

ROUND TWO

Islanders and Bruins tied; 1-1

I - BOS 5; NYI 2

II - NYI 4; BOS 3*

*overtime

Goalie Decision Still Altering Barry Trotz's Sleep Patterns

Both teams laid a lot of hits.  In fact, the Isles in game one inflicted seven more than Boston.  Physicality in this series is expected.  But if you remember, Long Island actually had to ease back on the physicality against Pittsburgh to better sync up their game.

Game one against Boston, you look at the disparity in shots on goal, then allowing two power-play goals, then just falling apart in the third period, and no one is really left wondering what happened.  

Boston centermen fired off 19 shots on goal, and three of their centermen, in particular, accounted for six assists, while three centermen each scored a goal.  Playing without Anders Lee, the Isles centermen joined together for 18 shots on goal.  Collectively they accounted for six points, and the Isles also got three goals from their centers.  That's fairly representative.

No skater for either team would post a minus-two for the game.

Tuuka Rask faced just 22 shots, allowing one even-strength goal and one on the power play.  

Meanwhile, Ilya Sorokin faces 39 shots.  He allows two power-play goals which both come very late in the period.  In the first period, David Pastrnak erases a one-goal lead with just 0:24 seconds left.  Then with the Isles trailing by two in the third, he yields a goal with 1:25 left in regulation.  He gives up three other goals at even strength.

And so, Coach Trotz spends another night with much to ponder.

For game two, Sorokin was out, and Semyon Varlamov was back in.  He faced 42 shots and stopped all but three, although it did little to avert overtime.  

Boston gets on the board at 2:38 of the first period.  But Varlamov keeps them out of the net for the rest of the first and all of the second.  Meanwhile, Long Island scores three unanswered second-period goals.  Two come on a slowly improving power play, and Kyle Palmieri tallies his fourth of the playoffs.

In a repeat of game one, the third period once again proves problematic.  Boston scores twice, sending this game into overtime.  That's when Tuuka Rask commits the mistake of a lifetime, turning over the puck, essentially handing it to Casey Cizikas, who ends the game unassisted.

The Islanders owned a slim advantage in face-offs, they increased their shots over game one, and the power play took yet another little step forward.  Physicality among both teams remains high.

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 6/1/1921: Giants Sweep Twin Bill from Phillies; Miller Huggins Questioned For Loss Against Senators

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.  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 #42

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Wednesday, June 1, 1921 - BR

Philadelphia Phillies @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Rosy Ryan Twirls a Dandy; High Pockets Hits Number Nine

Frankie Frisch and Rosy Youngs lash back-to-back triples in the first, giving the Giants an instant 3-0 lead and starter Rosy Ryan makes it stand.  Ross Youngs knocks home two more, and Curt Walker drives home another in a three-run third.  With Eddie Brown (double) standing on second in the fifth, High Pockets Kelly hits his ninth home run this season.  Not yet done, Kelly knocks home Frisch in the seventh for the Giants' ninth score of the afternoon.   Ryan comes up roses, allowing two earned runs on eight hits and no walks with two strikeouts through nine innings for the win.  Jimmy Ring takes the loss.

• FINAL: PHI 2; NYG 9

⚾

GAME #43

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Wednesday, June 1, 1921 - BR

Philadelphia Phillies @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

Rube Benton Tosses Three-Hitter, Dave Bancroft Takes Care of the Rest

The Phillies strike first.  Errors by Dave Bancroft and Goldie Rapp open the way for two Philadelphia runs in the second.  Bancroft makes up for his misplay with a triple in the third driving home George Burns.  In the fourth, Earl Smith plates Curt Walker with a sacrifice fly to center field, tying the game at two.  A big five-run fifth knocks Phillies starter George Smith out of the box.  Bancroft hits an inside-the-park home run; Ross Youngs, High Pockets Kelly, and Earl Smith also drive in runs.  Dave Bancroft caps off a big day at the plate with a double in the sixth, scoring Burns.  Starter Rube Benton yields three runs, none earned, on just three hits and two walks for his fourth victory against one loss with a 1.19 ERA.

• FINAL: PHI 3; NYG 8
• RECORD: 29-14 (.674); second place, 2.5 GB of Pittsburgh

⚾         ⚾         ⚾

GAME #41

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, June 1, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ WASHINGTON SENATORS

Griffith Stadium

Walter Johnson Outlasts Carl Mays; Miller Huggins Under Scrutiny

Behind the great Walter Johnson, Washington wins today's series finale and defeat the Yankees three games to one.  New York appeared headed towards a sure victory.  Chick Fewster's run-scoring double in the top of the ninth gives the Yankees a 7-3 lead.  But with one out and one on in the home ninth, starter Carl Mays yields a triple to pinch-hitter Clyde Milan.  Then with two outs, Bucky Harris reaches safely on an errant throw by shortstop Mike McNally, pinch-runner Bobby LaMotte scores from third.  Miller Huggins makes no move even as he watches Sam Rice triple to left field.  Now down by one, right fielder Frank Brower singles home Rice with the tying run.  Miller Huggins still makes no move.  Left Fielder Bing Miller then doubles to center field, plating Brower with the winning run.  Carl Mays allows eight runs, but only six are earned.  Otherwise, the Senators hammer Mays for twelve hits, four going for extra bases, and three coming in the ninth.  Miller Huggins must answer for this one.

• FINAL: NYY 7; WAS 8
• RECORD: 24-17 (.585), second place, 4.0 GB of Cleveland