1923 World Series - Background

Background

The Yankees opened their new Yankee Stadium in April on a home run by Babe Ruth, setting the tone for the season and this Series, in which Ruth hit three home runs along with drawing eight walks. In Game 2, second baseman, Aaron Ward hit a home run. The Giants' one bright spot was "Old Casey" Stengel, who hit game-winning homers in each of the two Giants' victories. In typically eccentric Stengel fashion, one of them was inside-the-park at the cavernous Yankee Stadium, and his shoe came loose during his run around the bases. Stengel was traded after the season, leading him to quip later in life, "It's a good thing I didn't hit three homers in three games, or McGraw would have traded me to the Three-I League!". A quarter century later, Stengel would take on the role of Yankees manager, and would guide the Bronx Bombers through one of their most successful eras.

In Game 6, The Yankees overcame the 4–1 deficit by staging a five-run rally in the eighth inning to clinch the series.

The three consecutive matchups between the Yankees and Giants (1921–1923) marked the only time (as of 2012), that three straight World Series featured the same two clubs.

Thanks to the large seating capacity of the new Yankee Stadium, coupled with expansion of the Polo Grounds the same year, the 1923 Series was the first to eclipse 300,000 in total attendance (301,430), averaging over 50,000 per game (50,238), with gate receipts over $1 million dollars ($1,063,815.00).

This was the third time that a team had inaugurated a new stadium with a World Series win, and would be the last until the St. Louis Cardinals victory in their new ballpark in 2006 and the New York Yankees again won the World Series in 2009 in their new Yankee Stadium

Babe Ruth had a great series, his first great one as a Yankee, batted .368 and hit three home runs in the series.

Neither Lou Gehrig, Bill Terry nor Hack Wilson played in the Series. These future Hall of Famers were each in their first season and had played no more than thirteen games in the regular season. Gehrig had been called up from Hartford to play for the Yankees that year. In that time, however, a team had to have the permission of both the commissioner and the opposing team's manager to make a roster change so late in the season eligible for postseason play. The Yankees gained the permission of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis who then told them to get John McGraw's permission. McGraw and the Yankees had a long history of disdain after both teams had shared a stadium and the Giants had won both the 1921 and 1922 World Series from New York. Therefore he declined permission and Gehrig would not be allowed to participate in the series which otherwise would have been his first World Series. As noted baseball historian John Thorn said, "As if the Yankees needed any more reason to hate John McGraw."