From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD
100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds:
New York Giants & New York Yankees
1921 Seasons Revisited
In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lost 102 games. Rebranded as the Yankees, in 1913, they moved just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants. To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceeded to lose another 94 games.
Known to hold a grudge, McGraw still harbored much animosity two full decades later, not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees. As they were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.
For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained. Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans. But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third. A franchise record of 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders. However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per se, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season in a decade at the turnstile.
Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shift. The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.
Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball. However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation. He believes players work too hard and earnestly to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.
Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle as in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance. However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions. McGraw's disdain for his tenants was heightened more so when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history. Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.
In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds. Babe Ruth would continue accomplishing the unimaginable, and if that wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it. All the while, with each passing day, John McGraw grows more incensed. Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.
Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the start of 1921 to no avail. But a solution lies not too far away ...
Until then, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds. It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series. All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe.
This is my replay of that season. Of course, I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible. But, more than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.
Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!
GAME #72
POLO GROUNDS
Home Run Baker Powers Highlanders to Game One Win
A crowd of 25,000 descend from and around Coogan's Bluff for a hot and humid holiday twin bill against the Athletics. Despite staking Bob Shawkey to an early three-run lead, the Yankees require three decisive runs in the bottom half of the seventh. After shutting down Philadelphia through six innings, the A's scored once in the top half of the seventh and three more times in the eighth to no avail. A's second baseman Jimmy Dykes leads Philadelphia with three hits, including a triple. Right-hander Dave Keefe yields six earned runs on ten hits, including two home runs struck by Home Run Baker and one knock by Bob Meusel; the two join together for half of the Yankees ten hits and six runs batted in, for Meusel, his 53rd and 54th this season. Bob Shawkey, at least mentally contented by the white powdery substance now being applied to baseballs by umpires, holds the A's to his standard four runs on eight hits and three walks with five strikeouts for his sixth victory against four losses. For the eleventh straight game, Miller Huggins does not utilize the bullpen. Otherwise, the Athletics fall to 29-43, an apathetic 17.5 games out of first place,
sticky powder be damned.
⚾
GAME #73
Aaron Ward and Wally Schang Lead the Way To Sweep Of Athletics
Don't look now, but with today's sweep of the Athletics, the Yankees win their seventh in a row. Despite Philadelphia jumping out to a four-run lead in the top half of the first, game two is a no contest. Facing sophomore pitcher Eddie Rommel, the Yankees amass 13 runs (twelve earned) on 14 hits and four walks through seven innings. Lefty Wolf yields the Yankees 14th and final run in the eighth. Aaron Ward leads the Yankees, going 2 for 4 with a double, home run, and four runs batted in. Babe Ruth drives in three runs with two hits, Bob Meusel drives home two, and Wally Schang hits his third home run this season. Ruth raises his season total to 77 runs batted in. Even Carl Mays drives home a run. Making his 18th start, Mays holds the A's to four runs on eleven hits for his 13th victory against five losses with a 2.49 ERA.
- FINAL: PHI 4; NYY 14
- RECORD: 45-28 (. 616); second place, 2.0 GB of Cleveland
GAME #69
Ebbets Field
High Pockets Kelly Lifts Giants Above Robins
The McGrawmen show Brooklyn fans just what is thought of Uncle Robbie's vaunted pitching staff. Facing Clarence Mitchell, who is indeed in the midst of an improved campaign over last, the Giants unleash a 14-hit mid-morning assault en route to a game one triumph. The Giants open with three runs in the first, and starter Rosy Ryan ensures they hold. A three-run third and single runs in the fourth and seventh give the New Yorkers their final margin of victory. Ross Youngs and High Pockets Kelly set off holiday fireworks as a dismayed Ebbets Fields crowd watches on. Youngs hits his third home run and drives home two, while George Kelly twice hits for the circuit and drives in five; they are home run numbers eleven and twelve. Meanwhile, Kelly's 75 runs batted in are just two behind Babe Ruth for the major league lead. Third baseman Jimmy Johnston in the first inning is the lone Robin to cross home plate courtesy of
Zack Wheat's sacrifice fly. Center fielder Hi Myers goes 3 for 4 with a double. Otherwise, to John McGraw's great delight Rosy Ryan hurls a gem, shutting out Uncle Robbie's batsmen over the final eight innings. All told, Ryan allows just one earned run on eight hits and two walks for his fourth win this season.
⚾
GAME #70
McGrawmen Complete Sweep at Ebbets Field
McGraw's men essentially pick up where they leave off, this time overcoming a one-run deficit in a more closely contested affair. The Giants open with a 2-0 lead, but it does not last as Brooklyn counters with three runs in the third. After tying the game at three, the Giants plate the game's decisive runs in the sixth. Brooklyn pulls within one in the eighth, but the Giants put the game away with two scores in the ninth. Zack Wheat homers and drives home three for Brooklyn, and Tommy Griffith drives in one. Starting at second base, newcomer Johnny Rawlings goes 2 for 4 with a pair of runs batted in. George Burns leads the Giants with three hits, and Ross Youngs drives home his 53rd run this season. McGraw's starter again proves better than Uncle Robbie's. Phil Douglas allows four runs (three earned) on seven hits and just two walks for the win. Uncle Robbie favorite Sherry Smith takes the loss.
- FINAL: NYG 7; BRK 4
- RECORD: 44-26 (.629); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh
Meanwhile, out in Utah ...
