April 28, 1951: The FA Cup Final is held at the old Wembley Stadium in London. It features two of the most popular players in the country, but neither has yet won a major trophy: Jackie Milburn of North-East side Newcastle United, in their black-and-white-striped shirts that got them nicknamed the Magpies; and Stanley Matthews, "the Wizard of Dribble," for Lancashire team Blackpool, whose fans like to say of their main color, “It’s not orange, it’s tangerine.”
The game was scoreless until early in the 2nd half, when Milburn, a local lad known as "Wor Jackie" -- "Our Jackie" in the Geordie dialect of English, and a cousin of later stars Bobby and Jack Charlton -- scored twice in a span of 5 minutes, giving Newcastle a 2-0 win. Captain Joe Harvey received the Cup from King George VI – who will be dead in less than a year.
Milburn would lead Newcastle to victory in the Cup again in 1952, and again in 1955, scoring 45 seconds, not minutes, into the game. But Football League success eluded them: Since their last title in 1927, they had been relegated from the First Division to the Second Division in 1934, promoted again in 1948, but never finished higher than 4th in the First Division in Milburn's tenure with them, 1943 to 1957, doing so in 1949 and 1951.
Along with later stars Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer, Milburn remains one of the most popular players in Newcastle history, with a statue on Strawberry Place, across from their stadium, St. James' Park.
Charlie Crowe was the last surviving player from the 1951 Newcastle team, living until 2010.
Matthews would lead Blackpool to the FA Cup in 1953, defeating Bolton Wanderers, including another longtime English star who had never won a trophy, Nat Lofthouse. He finally led Bolton to the Cup in 1958.
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April 28, 1951 was, like all FA Cup Final days, a Saturday. This baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 6-4 at Yankee Stadium. Tom Morgan outpitched Al Sima. Joe DiMaggio, in his last season, went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Mickey Mantle, in his 1st season, went 2-for-4. Yogi Berra, in his prime, went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the New York Giants, 8-4 at Ebbets Field. Preacher Roe outpitched Roger Bowman. Jackie Robinson and Carl Furillo hit home runs. Alvin Dark and Eddie Stanky hit them for the Dodgers.
On August 11, the Dodgers would be 13 1/2 games ahead of the Giants. In the end, things were different.
* The Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0 at Braves Field in Boston. Max Surkont allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout, outpitching Russ Meyer.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Dom DiMaggio (Joe's brother) and Lou Boudreau hit home runs. Ted Williams went 1-for-4.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Ralph Kiner went 0-for-4 with a walk.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-4 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium).
* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Hank Sauer and Andy Pafko hit home runs. Stan Musial went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
* And the Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 12-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
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