224: The House That Ruth Built: 3of4: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923 Hardcover

Published: July 23, 2020, 1:27 a.m.

(Photo:English: Panorama of Polo Grounds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polo_Grounds) . The Morris-Jumel Mansion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris-Jumel_Mansion) is on the upper right on top of Coogan's Bluff. Original title: "Deciding game bet. Nationals & American Leagues B.B." Date | circa 1905 Source | Copyright deposit; Pictorial News Co.; October 27, 1905; DLC/PP-1905:42753.268. ) http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/contact http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/schedules http://johnbatchelorshow.com/blog Twitter: @BatchelorShow The House That Ruth Built: 3of4: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923 Hardcover https://www.amazon.com/House-That-Ruth-Built-Championship/dp/B007K4GR4M/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= The untold story of Babe Ruth's Yankees, John McGraw's Giants, and the extraordinary baseball season of 1923. Before the 27 World Series titles -- before Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Derek Jeter -- the Yankees were New York's shadow franchise. They hadn't won a championship, and they didn't even have their own field, renting the Polo Grounds from their cross-town rivals the New York Giants. In 1921 and 1922, they lost to the Giants when it mattered most: in October.  But in 1923, the Yankees played their first season on their own field, the newly-built, state of the art baseball palace in the Bronx called "the Yankee Stadium." The stadium was a gamble, erected in relative outerborough obscurity, and Babe Ruth was coming off the most disappointing season of his career, a season that saw his struggles on and off the field threaten his standing as a bona fide superstar.  It only took Ruth two at-bats to signal a new era. He stepped up to the plate in the 1923 season opener and cracked a home run to deep right field, the first homer in his park, and a sign of what lay ahead. It was the initial blow in a season that saw the new stadium christened "The House That Ruth Built," signaled the triumph of the power game, and established the Yankees as New York's -- and the sport's -- team to beat.  From that first home run of 1923 to the storybook World Series matchup that pitted the Yankees against their nemesis from across the Harlem River -- one so acrimonious that John McGraw forced his Giants to get to the Bronx in uniform rather than suit up at the Stadium -- Robert Weintraub vividly illuminates the singular year that built a classic stadium, catalyzed a franchise, cemented Ruth's legend, and forever changed the sport of baseball.