April 23, 1955: Chelsea Football Club take the pitch at their West London home stadium of Stamford Bridge, and defeat Yorkshire side Sheffield Wednesday, 3-0. This clinches their 1st-ever League title, in their 50th season of play. It will be their only title in their 1st 99 years of play.
Their manager is Ted Drake, once a great striker for North London club Arsenal, who had helped them win the League in 1935 and 1938. This makes him the 1st man ever to win the League as a non-managing player and as a non-playing manager.
Roy Bentley was their leading scorer. One of their defenders, Ron Greenwood, went on to manage East London team West Ham United to the 1964 FA Cup. Outside left Frank Blunstone was the last surviving member of the team. (UPDATE: As of April 23, 2025, Blunstone is also the earliest surviving player for the England senior national team, having assisted Bentley on 2 of the 3 goals he scored in a 3-2 over Wales at Wembley Stadium on November 10, 1954.)
That same day, Manchester United beat Arsenal, 3-2 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London. Two weeks later, on May 7, Newcastle United beat Manchester City, 3-1 at Wembley Stadium in West London, to win the FA Cup for the 3rd time in the last 5 years. They haven't won it since.
In almost a century, without Russian oil money behind them and dirty tactics on the field, they won just one title, and they needed an Arsenal man to do it. They claim in song to be "Carefree, wherever we may be," but, no matter how big "the Famous CFC" get, they will forever, at heart, be a small club.
*
April 23, 1955 was a Saturday. Australian actress Judy Davis was born.
Football was out of season. The NHL season ended 9 days earlier, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup. The NBA season ended 13 days earlier, when the Syracuse Nationals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons for the Championship.
These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. Johnny Kucks is the winning pitcher. Bill "Moose" Skowron went 2-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs. Mickey Mantle goes 2-for-3. Yogi Berra goes 0-for-1... with 3 walks. As the man himself might have said, had he thought of it, "I did some hittin', even though I didn't do any hittin'." Ted Williams did not play.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the New York Giants, 3-1 at Ebbets Field. So, while all 3 New York teams weren't at home, they were all playing in the City at the same time. Carl Erskine outpitched Sal Maglie. Jackie Robinson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. Duke Snider went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Willie Mays went 1-for-4.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-0 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Murry Dickson pitched a 4-hit shutout. Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones and Stan Palys hit home runs. Roberto Clemente had made his major league debut on April 17, but did not play in this game.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 3-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Harry Byrd pitched a 3-hit shutout.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Billy Hoeft pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Mike Garcia. Ray Boone, father of Bob, and grandfather of Bret and Aaron, hit a home run.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Frank Baumholtz singled Jim Bolger home in the bottom of the 6th inning, making Jim Davis a winning pitcher in relief of Warren Hacker. Hacker pitched 5 2/3rds innings, allowing 3 hits; Davis, the rest of the way, allowing 2, for a 5-hit shutout, to beat Joe Nuxhall. Ernie Banks went 0-for-3.
* The Milwaukee Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Bobby Thomson, no stranger to winning a game with its last swing, singled Billy Bruton home with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning. Chet Nichols went the distance for the Braves. Hank Aaron, promoted to the major leagues the previous April when Thomson broke his ankle, and later moved from left field to right field, went 3-for-5 with a walk and an RBI. Stan Musial went 1-for-5 with a walk.
* And the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics, 29-6 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. That's not a typographical error (or a clean base hit): Twenty-nine to six. The Pale Hose scored 4 runs in the 1st inning, 7 in the 2nd, 3 in the 3rd, 2 in the 4th, none in the 5, 6 in the 6th, 3 in the 7th, 4 in the 8th, and none in the 9th. There were no ZIP Codes at the time, but that opening scoreline, 47320, would become the ZIP Code for Deputy, Indiana.
Twenty-nine runs in a single game? That's harsh, man. Actually, Jack Harshman was the winning pitcher for the South Siders. He went 3-for-5 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs. Sherm Lollar went 5-for-6 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 5 RBIs. Alfonso "Chico" Carrasquel went 5-for-6 with a walk. Orestes "Minnie" Miñoso went 4-for-6 with a home run, a walk and 5 RBIs. Bob Nieman went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 7 RBIs. Walt Dropo went 3-for-7 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Jim Rivera went 3-for-7 with 2 RBIs. George Kell went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Nellie Fox went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
For the A's, Bobby Shantz didn't get out of the 2nd inning, and no pitcher went more than 2 1/3rd innings.
No comments:
Post a Comment