May 1, 1965: Canadiens 13, Maple Leafs 12

Jean Béliveau with 2 of his closest friends

May 1, 1965: In the 1st NHL game to be played after April, the Montreal Canadiens win their 13th Stanley Cup, taking the all-time lead from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had won their 12th the year before. They have never given that lead up. They beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-0, in Game 7 of the Finals at the Montreal Forum.

The first Conn Smythe Trophy for most valuable player of the Playoffs – the entire playoffs, unlike other sports where it’s given only to the MVP of the finals – is awarded in honor of the former head coach and general manager of the Maple Leafs, the very Canadian, and very English, World War I hero and World War II officer, Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe, who, though no longer in charge of the team, was still alive. (He lived until 1980.)

And it went to a player on the Montreal Canadiens. Their Captain. A native of Quebec City, the capital of the French-speaking Province in Canada, a man who did not speak English until he became a major leaguer. Joseph Jean Arthur Béliveau. Known as Jean Béliveau, he scored in this Game 7. So did former Maple Leaf Dick Duff; the very French "Roadrunner," Yvan Cournoyer; and Henri Richard, brother of the retired superstar Maurice "the Rocket" Richard, another proud Francophone, who would succeed Béliveau as Captain (and would, himself, be succeeded by Cournoyer).

This was not a good day to be a Maple Leafs fan -- especially Smythe. At least he did not have to hand over the Cup, or the new Trophy bearing his name. That was the duty of the President of the NHL, Clarence Campbell, a man often considered his subordinate.

Béliveau, Richard, Duff, Cournoyer, Jacques Laperrière, goaltender Lorne "Gump" Worsley, head coach Hector "Toe" Blake and general manager Frank Selke, are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Béliveau went on to play on 10 Cup-winning teams, and lived until 2015.

The Canadiens would win the Cup again in 1966. In 1967, the Leafs would beat them in the Finals, cutting the deficit to 14-13. But the Leafs have not been back to the Finals since. They are stuck on 13 Stanley Cups. The Canadiens now have 24.

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May 1, 1965 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-4 at Yankee Stadium. Whitey Ford was the winning pitcher. The losing pitcher was a former Yankee who managed to pitch a no-hitter for them, which was an achievement that eluded Ford. And it was a perfect game in the World Series. Yes, the losing pitcher was Don Larsen.

Tony Kubek hit a home run. Tom Tresh and Joe Pepitone each had 3 hits. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-1... with 3 walks, 1 with the bases loaded, giving him an RBI. For the Orioles, Brooks Robinson 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 9-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Vada Pinson went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Pete Rose went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 7-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-8 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.  Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly known as the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-4. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Athletics, 3-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The Houston Astros swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs, 6-4 and 6-1 at the brand-new Astrodome in Houston. Over the 2 games, Ernie Banks went 2-for-8 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ron Fairly hit a home run. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with a walk.

American football was out of season. The NBA season ended 6 days earlier, when the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals.

And the FA Cup Final was played at the old Wembley Stadium in London. Liverpool FC beat Leeds United AFC, 2-1. The Mersey Reds, under manager Bill Shankly, win the FA Cup for the 1st time. The game is scoreless after regulation, but Liverpool's Roger Hunt and Leeds' Billy Bremner trade goals in extra time, before Ian St. John wins it in the 113th minute. Liverpool captain Ron Yeats accepts the Cup from Queen Elizabeth.

Leeds thus do a "Runner-Up Double," finishing 2nd in the League and losing the FA Cup Final in the same year. While they do win some trophies in the 1960s and '70s, their pattern of being the era's "nearly men" has been set.

Leeds do, however, produce a notable first: Albert Johanneson, a left winger (in position, possibly also in politics) from South Africa, was the 1st black man to play in an FA Cup Final. By 1974, Bremner, as captain of both Leeds and Scotland, would seem to forget this, race-baiting the Zaire players at the World Cup.