From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD
100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds:
New York Giants & New York Yankees
1921 Season Revisited
In their last season at Hilltop Park, the formerly known New York Highlanders lose 102 games. Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants. To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceed to lose another 94 games.
Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees. As they were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.
As long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remains amicably strained. Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans. But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third. A franchise record of 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders. However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per se, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season at the turnstile in a decade.
Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shifted along the New York/New England fault. The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights.
Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball. However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation. He believes players work too hard and earnestly to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.
Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle as in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance. However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions. McGraw's disdain for his tenants was heightened when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history. Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.
In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds. Babe Ruth would continue accomplishing the unimaginable - if the previous season wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it. All the while, with each passing day, John McGraw grows more incensed. Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.
Sharing a ballpark is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season to no avail. But a solution lies not too far away ...
Until then, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds. It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series. All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe.
This is my replay of that season. Of course, I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible. But, more than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.
Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!
GAME #151
POLO GROUNDS (site change)
MAYS WINS NUMBER 27; YANKEES CLINCH AMERICAN LEAGUE PENNANT
Thirty-thousand members of New York City's American League fanatical society pack the Polo Grounds anticipating an uproarious afternoon, and the Yankees do not disappoint.
Star of the game, Elmer Smith, triples home starting pitcher Carl Mays in the third. But the second-division Athletics seize the lead in the fourth with three runs on five hits, three going for extra bases. Miller Huggins doesn't even flinch, and his intuition proves correct, for Philadelphia would score no
more. Mays retires the final nine Athletic batters consecutively. Making his 38th start, the submariner holds Philadelphia at three runs on ten hits and no walks with two strikeouts for his league-leading
27th victory against nine losses with a 3.02 ERA.
Meanwhile, with Roger Peckinpaugh at the plate in the fifth, the Yankees execute a double steal; Elmer Miller takes second, and catcher Wally Schang swipes home. Then, with Aaron Ward at-bat in the sixth, Wally Pipp steals second, advances to third on an errant throw by catcher Cy Perkins, and continues home on a subsequent wayward throw by center fielder Frank Welch. With the game now tied at three, another error by Frank Welch in the eighth clears the way for two more unearned runs and a 5-3 Yankee lead. When Elmer Miller secures the final out with a superb running catch of Chick Galloway's deep flyball to center field, the Polo Grounds erupts in unbridled jubilation. Yankee players come together, tossing their caps in the air and patting each other on the back. Wildly cheering grown men and women swarm the field in childlike revelry.
Much maligned throughout his four seasons at the Yankee helm, Miller Huggins pilots the Yankees to their first-ever American League pennant in the team's nineteenth year of existence. Col. Ruppert's restraint is to be commended. After finishing last year's race three games behind Cleveland, the Colonel nearly traded for Chicago's
Eddie Collins to replace Huggins earlier this summer. Given one final homestand to earn his stay, the diminutive skipper kept the Yankees on course and won out. He walked off toward the clubhouse to a standing ovation. To his credit, the resiliency demonstrated by these Yankees is unquestionable. Even so, despite outlasting the so-called "heavy-hitting" defending World Series champions, many believe Tris Speaker's injury earlier this month helped facilitate Cleveland's demise. But try convincing Bob Meusel, Wally Pipp, or Babe Ruth, who each exceeded 100 runs batted in, or former Athletic catcher Wally Schang, who's presently batting .316, or battery mates the likes of Carl Mays, Waite Hoyt, or Bob Shawkey. The Yankees are winners of seven of their last ten while the Indians accumulated six losses over the same span with Tris Speaker back in the lineup.
GAME #151
POLO GROUNDS (site change)
Babe Ruth Gets Hammered in Questionable Pitching Appearance
With order restored, in an otherwise inconsequential game, the Yankees defeat Philadelphia in extra innings for the twin bill sweep and an insurmountable 3.5 game lead over Cleveland. Johnny Mitchell singles home Tom Rogers with the winning run with two outs in the home half of the eleventh inning. However, this game is not without controversy. Starter Waite Hoyt hurls four scoreless innings, followed by Jack Quinn's one-hit three-inning performance. Afterwhich, one of the more ponderous decisions this season is made. Babe Ruth is handed the ball to pitch the final four innings. He yields six runs on nine hits and three walks. However, that is not a concerning issue. He twirled in one other game this season. After all, pitching is well within the realm of the Babe's expertise. Does not Miller Huggins recall how Ruth spent the month of September playing through a leg and wrist injury, and on Thursday, missed his first game this season due to the flu? And therein lies the folly of this decision. Now a full-time left fielder, his muscle memory as a pitcher is effectively diminished. Having him face 24 batters strikes this opiner as a significant mistake.
- FINAL: PHI 6; NYY 7 11-innings
- RECORD: 97-55 (.638); FIRST PLACE, 3.5 GA of Cleveland
⚾ ⚾ ⚾ ⚾ ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
GAME #151
Baker Bowl
Make-Up: 6/28/1921
Twenty Hit Barrage Culminates in Ninth Inning Triumph For Phillies
Having already wrapped up the pennant, manager John McGraw puts out his regular lineup except for Mike Gonzalez, who starts behind the plate in place of Frank Snyder and Earl Smith. McGraw also leaves starter Phil Douglas on his own to handle the Phillies regardless of the outcome. Staked to a three-run lead, Douglas files through Philadelphia's lineup a first time with no issue. Phillie first baseman Ed Konetchy then homers in the fourth, and right fielder Cliff Lee follows with a two-run blast in the sixth, tying the game at three. George Burns helps the Giants retake a 4-3 lead in the visitor's seventh. Afterwhich, Phil Douglas clearly continues to tire. Philadelphia pushes across two runs on four hits in the home seventh. Although McGraw's men again seize the lead with four runs on five hits in the visitor's eighth, the Phillies rally for three tying the game at eight. Philadelphia starter Lee Meadows unleashes a wild pitch in the ninth, permitting the Giants a go-ahead run. That is until the Phillies again rally for a pair in the home ninth for the win.
GAME #152
Little Napoleon's Reserves Salvage Split at Baker Bowl
Not only does John McGraw have an eagle's eye for untapped talent, but he also inspires players unlike any other manager in baseball today. Hank Schreiber is merely the latest example. Plucked just days ago from Indianapolis of the American Association, Schreiber drives home two runs for the Giants, and the pitching combination of Red Causey and Claude Jonnard makes it stand. Getting the start in right field, Casey Stengel leads the Giants with three hits but twice gets caught attempting to steal second. Causey opens the game allowing no runs on four hits and one walk through the first five innings. Jonnard yields four hits and strikeouts seven over the final four innings to complete the shutout and salvage a twin-bill split at Baker Bowl.
- FINAL: NYG 3; PHI 0
- RECORD: 94-58 (.618); FIRST PLACE, 5.0 GA of Pittsburgh
