April 16, 1953: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 1-0 at the Montreal Forum, to win Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals and take the Cup. Elmer Lach scores the winning goal at 1:22 into overtime.
This was the 1st Cup-winning goal on television, albeit only the French broadcast seems to survive. What you can see is the Canadiens' biggest star, Maurice "the Rocket" Richard," nearly strangling Lach as he hugs him. What you can't see is that Richard inadvertently broke Lach's nose in the process. And Lach already had a big nose.
A native of Nokomis, Saskatchewan, Lach arrived at the Montreal Forum in 1940, and by 1942, was centering the "Punch Line," with former Montreal Maroons star Hector "Toe" Blake on the left and rising star Maurice Richard on the right.
They won the Cup in 1944 and 1946. In between, in 1945, Richard became the 1st player to score 50 goals in a season, which was then only 50 games. But it was Lach, with his 26 goals and 54 assists, who won the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer, and the Hart Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player. He would win the Ross Trophy again in 1948, despite losing Blake on his left wing to a career-ending injury.
The 1953 Cup was Lach's 3rd and last, and he retired after the next season, with 215 goals and 408 assists, big totals for the era. The Canadiens retired Number 16 for both him and Maurice's brother, Henri Richard. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and named one of the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. He died in 2015.
Maurice's brother and also a Canadiens Hall-of-Famer,
at the team's 100th Anniversary celebration in 2009
Forty years after Lach's painful title-winner, there would be a similar incident in English soccer. Steve Morrow scored the winning goal of 1993 Football League Cup Final for North London team Arsenal. In the celebrations after the match, his team's Captain, Tony Adams, tried to pick him up parade him on his shoulders, but Adams slipped, and Morrow awkwardly hit the ground. He broke his arm, and had to be rushed to hospital. Unable to receive his winner's medal on the day, he was eventually presented with it before the start of the FA Cup final the following month.
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April 16, 1953 was a Thursday. Peter Garrett, lead singer of rock band Midnight Oil and a former member of Australia's Parliament, was born.
Football was out of season. The NBA season had ended 6 days earlier, when the Minneapolis Lakers won Game 5 of the Finals over the New York Knicks.
And these baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 6-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. It was the 3rd game of the season for the Yankees, but the 1st for the Senators. As was custom, the new President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was invited to throw out the ceremonial first ball before the Senators' 1st game. But "Ike" had already booked a golf date for Opening Day. Then both Opening Day and his golf date were rained out, enabling him to do the honors at the opening game.
Johnny Sain outpitches Bob Porterfield. Yogi Berra went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. The next day, Mantle hit the longest home run in Griffith Stadium's official major league history -- though the Negro Leagues' Josh Gibson may have hit one longer -- and it got measured at 565 feet, though this figure is almost certainly an exaggeration.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 11-6 at the Athletics' home park, which had been named Shibe Park since its opening in 1909, but had just been bought by the Phillies' owner, Bob Carpenter, who honors the owner of the A's by renaming it Connie Mack Stadium.
George Kell went 4-for-5 with 4 RBIs, and Milt Bolling went 4-for-5 with 1 RBI. So, on this day, the Sox didn't exactly miss Ted Williams, who was still flying for the U.S. Marine Corps in the Korean War.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 14-12 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Yes, that's baseball, not football. For the Bucs, Pete Castiglione went 1-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs; Danny O'Connell when 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs; and Cal Abrams went 3-for-6 with an RBI. For the Phils, Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones had 1 hit, a solo home run; Connie Ryan went 6-for-6 with an RBI; Earl Torgeson went 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs; and Del Ennis went 2-for-6 with 2 RBIs.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-8 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Larry Doby went 2-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs. Ray Boone (father of Bob, grandfather of Bret and Aaron) went 2-for-4 with a solo home run. Jim Hegan went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. For the Tigers, Harvey Kuenn went 3-for-5, and Walt Dropo went 2-for-5 with 5 RBIs.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 1-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Billy Pierce allowed just 1 hit, a double to Bobby Young in the 7th inning. He also gave up 6 walks, including loading the bases in the 6th, but kept the shutout, outpitching Harry "The Cat" Brecheen. The only run scored without a hit: In the bottom of the 7th, the White Sox got a walk, an error, and a sacrifice fly by Sherm Lollar.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 3-0 at home. Like the home of the A's and the Phillies, the home of the Cardinals and Browns opened in 1909, and was the last of several ballparks to be named Sportsman's Park, but had just had its name changed by a new owner.
August Anheuser Busch Jr., a.k.a. Gussie Busch, bought the team and the ballpark, and wanted to rename it Budweiser Stadium, to promote his signature beer. Commissioner Ford Frick ruled that he couldn't do that, because it was promoting a brand. Gussie objected, saying the Cubs' park was named Wrigley Field. Frick pointed out that Wrigley was the name of the Cubs' owner, and he hadn't named the park Doublemint Stadium after his most famous product. So Gussie created the Busch brand of beer, and renamed Sportsman's Park "Busch Stadium," making it the 1st of, so far, 3 stadiums with that name.
In this game, Harvey Haddix -- nicknamed "The Kitten," because he had been a protégé of former Cardinal pitcher Harry "The Cat" Brecheen -- pitched a 4-hit shutout. Enos Slaughter hit a home run. Stan Musial went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* New York City's National League arch-rivals, the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, were rained out at the Polo Grounds. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Giants won the opener, 6-3. Johnny Podres made his major league debut, and pitched fairly well, but was outdone by the Giants' veteran Sal Maglie, who helped his own cause with a 2-RBI single. Wes Westrum hit a home run.
The Dodgers won the nightcap, 12-4. Billy Loes went the distance, while Jim Hearn didn't get out of the 5th inning. Carl Furillo hit a home run. Over the 2 games, Jackie Robinson went 5-for-7 with 2 walks and a stolen base, Duke Snider went 2-for-9 with a walk and 2 RBIs, Whitey Lockman went 4-for-8, and Willie Mays was serving in the U.S. Army for the Korean War, and was unavailable for the Giants.
* And the Milwaukee Braves, 2 games into their new city after moving from Boston, and the Cincinnati Redlegs saw their game at Crosley Field in Cincinnati postponed due to cold weather. This was the season the Reds changed their name because they were pussies in the face of McCarthyism. They changed back in 1959.
The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 30. The Redlegs won the 1st game, 6-3. Harry Perkowski outpitched Don Liddle. Andy Seminick, Jim Greengrass and Bob Borkowski hit home runs for Cincy; while Joe Adock hit one for Milwaukee.
The Braves won the 2nd game, 6-4. Eddie Mathews hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning to win it. It was his 2nd homer of the game, and Sid Gordon also homered for the Braves; while Gus Bell hit one for the Reds.
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