April 29, 1939: Everton Football Club, the "blue club" in Liverpool, clinch the Football League First Division championship, defeating Birmingham team Aston Villa, 3-0 at their home ground, Goodison Park.
Known as the "Toffees," due to a pair of toffee shops near their original ground, in the Everton neighborhood of the north side of Liverpool, they got off to a fast start that season, winning their 1st 6 games. From January 14 to April 15, 1939, they won 12 games, drew 3, and lost only 1, to Birmingham-area team Wolverhampton Wanderers. "Wolves" also knocked them out of the FA Cup, in the Quarterfinal.
Everton lost again on April 22, away to South London team Charlton Athletic, but clinched the title at home on April 29. They put the game early, with Stan Bentham, Torry Gillick and Billy Cook all scoring in the 1st half-hour. Everton had won the title with a game to spare, and ended up beating Wolves by 4 points, at a time when a win was 2 points. Defending Champions Arsenal, of North London, were 5th, 12 points back.
The same day, the FA Cup Final was held, at the original Wembley Stadium in London. Wolves lost to South Coast club Portsmouth, who won with a pair of goals late in the first half, by John Anderson and Cliff Parker.
Stan Cullis, Wolves' Number 5 in that game, would later manage them to 3 League titles and 2 FA Cups between 1949 and 1960. Portsmouth would win the Football League in 1949 and '50, but would not win the Cup again for 69 years after this game -- and when they did, it was through moves by manager Harry Redknapp that bankrupted the club and nearly drove them out of business, damage from which they are still recovering.
This would be the last FA Cup Final until 1946, as the 1939-40 season was suspended shortly after its start due to World War II. Everton had also won the title in 1914-15, the last season before League competition was suspended for the duration of World War I. Throw in the fact that Everton won the League in 1985, right before the Heysel ban, and in 1987, during it, and they might be the unluckiest club in English football history.
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April 29, 1939 was a Saturday, as the FA Cup Final always is. Elsewhere in English football, Arsenal went to the East Midlands, and beat Derby County, 2-1 at The Baseball Ground in Derby. Derbyshire was one of the few places in England where baseball was popular, and while that didn't last long, and neither did the stadium's shape as a baseball-ready ground, the name lasted until it was replaced in 1997.
And these baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 3-1 at Yankee Stadium. Ken Chase outpitched Lefty Gomez. Joe DiMaggio singled and scored in the 1st inning, then left the game with an injury. Lou Gehrig drew a walk in the 2nd inning, and singled in the 4th. But his batting average fell to .167. These would be his last times reaching base in the major leagues. He went 0-for-4 the next day, took himself out of the lineup, and never played again.
* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Bees, 8-1 at National League Park in Boston. This was during the short-lived "rebrand" of the Boston Braves and Braves Field. "Milkman" Jim Turner outpitched "Prince" Hal Schumacher. Max West went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Mel Ott went 1-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0 at Ebbets Field. Whitlow Wyatt pitched a 7-hit shutout, defeating Hugh Mulcahy, who lost so many games pitching for the Phils that it became his nickname: Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy. Dolph Camilli went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Lefty Grove started against his former team, but it would be Jack Wilson who was the winning pitcher. Jimmie Foxx, another ex-Athletic, went 1-for-3 with a walk. Rookie Ted Williams went 1-for-4.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Harry Craft hit a home run for the Reds. For the Pirates, Paul Waner went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, and his brother Lloyd Waner went 1-for-5.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-1 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Bob Feller outpitched Lynwood "Schoolboy" Rowe. Julius "Moose" Solters went 2-for-6 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Lon Warneke, a 3-time 20-game winner for the Cubs, came within 2 baserunners of a perfect game: He hit Billy Herman with a pitch in the 4th inning, and allowed a single by Stan Hack in the 7th.
* And the Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 9-8 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
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