May 13, 1902: A soccer game (football match) is played at the Hipódromo de la Castellana, a horse-racing track in Madrid, Spain. Futbol Club Barcelona defeated Madrid Football Club, 3-1.
The goals for Barça are scored by 2 of the club's founders, 2 by Udo Steinberg, who had also been present at the founding of German Football Association (DFB) in 1900; and 1 by Hans Max Gamper-Haessig, a Swiss man who adopted the Catalan name Joan Gamper when he moved to Barcelona. Madrid's goal was scored by Arthur Johnson, an Irishman who was one of his club's founding members.
This game was a Semifinal in the Copa de la Coronación, a tournament held to honor the Coronation of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, set for May 17, his 16th birthday. On May 15, the Final was held, and Barcelona were defeated by Club Bizcaya, a team made up of the best players of Athletic Club Bilbao and Bilbao Football Club. The Copa now rests Athletic Bilbao's club museum.
The May 13 match was the 1st match ever played by Madrid FC, whose co-founder and later club president, Carlos Padrós, came up with the idea for the tournament. The founders included some Englishmen, and their all-white uniforms were adopted from the famed English amateur side Corinthians.
In 1920, Alfonso XIII granted Madrid FC the honorific "Real," meaning "Royal." Ever since, they have been known as Real Madrid Club de Fútbol. In 1929, along with Barcelona, they were founding members of Spain's La Liga.
It is retroactively appropriate that Real's 1st match ever was against Barça: Their rivalry is known as El Clásico, the Classic, and it has become the biggest sports rivalry on planet Earth. Real have won La Liga 35 times, the Copa del Rey (King's Cup, Spain's version of the FA Cup) 20 times; and the UEFA Champions League a record 13 times, in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
In comparison, Barça have won La Liga 26 times, the Copa del Rey 31 times; and the Champions League 5 times, in 1992, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015. Not only do Real still have bragging rights over the Blaugrana, but these totals have led many to consider Los Blancos, a.k.a. Los Meringues, the greatest sports team in the world.
Personally, I would say they're not. In 2012, I saw Real Madrid play at the new Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, beating AC Milan of Italy, 5-1. Milan have won the Champions League 7 times, and, combined with Real's 13, makes a total of 20, still well short of the 27 World Series wins by the game's hosts, the New York Yankees. And if Real's 3 Intercontinental Cup wins over South America's champions and their 4 "Club World Cup" titles are treated as anything more than glorified friendlies, well, that's your issue, not mine.
(UPDATE: Real won a 20th Copa del Rey in 2023; a 36th La Liga title in 2024; and the Champions League for the 14th time in 2022 and the 15th time in 2024. Barça have won La Liga titles in 2023, 2025 and 2026, for a total of 29; and the Copa del Rey in 2025, for a total of 32.)
The Hipódromo de la Castellana opened in 1878, to celebrate the wedding of King Alfonso XII to his Queen, Maria Christina, a former Princess of Austria. It was demolished in 1933, due to the widening of the Paseo de la Castellana, and replaced as Madrid's main horse track by the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela. Buildings of the Nuevos Ministerios, housing several cabinet departments, now stand on the site of the Hipódromo de la Castellana.
Alfonso XII died on November 25, 1885, while Maria Christina was pregnant. She was proclaimed Queen Regent by Spain's parliament, the Cortes Generales (General Courts), until the baby was born on May 17, 1886, and was then Regent for King Alfonso XIII thereafter until 1902. In 1931, the Second Spanish Republic abolished the monarchy, and Alfonso lived in exile in Rome until his death on February 28, 1941.
By that point, the Spanish Civil War had been fought, and won by the Fascist Generalissimo Francisco Franco. He refused to restore the monarchy, and forced Alfonso's son and heir, Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, to renounce his claim to the throne.
But as Franco fell ill in the 1970s, with only daughters, and no sons, he recognized Juan's son as his successor, thinking him sufficiently conservative. With Franco's death in 1975, the Cortes recognized Juan's son as King Juan Carlos I. He turned out not to be as conservative as Franco would have liked, and he served as head of state over mostly liberal governments until abdicating in 2014, in favor of his son, King Felipe VI.
*
May 13, 1902 was a Monday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 at Robison Field in St. Louis. The Giants scored 2 runs in the top of the 10th inning to win the game. George Van Haltren and Frank Bowerman each had 3 hits.
* The Chicago Orphans beat the Brooklyn Superbas, 2-0 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. Walter "Pop" Williams left the game after only 2 innings, and John Menefee pitched the rest of the way, completing a 5-hit shutout.
The Chicago team, formerly known as the White Stockings and, for their youth, as the Colts, had long been led by 1st baseman and manager Adrian Constantine Anson. He was known as "Cap," for "Captain," until he got older, and became known as "Pop." He retired after the 1897 season, and the team became known as the "Orphans," because "they missed their Pop." They were renamed the Chicago Cubs in 1903. The Brooklyn team became the Dodgers in 1911.
* The Washington Senators were leading the Baltimore Orioles, 10-6 at Oriole Park in Baltimore, when the game was stopped due to rain after 6 innings. The Orioles folded at the end of the season, and were replaced by the New York team that would become the Yankees in 1913. The Senators became the Minnesota Twins in 1961.
* The Cleveland Blues beat the St. Louis Browns, 4-3 at League Park in Cleveland. The next season, the Blues renamed themselves for their best hitter and 2nd baseman, and even named him their manager: Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, who did not play in this game. They became the Cleveland Naps in 1903, the Cleveland Indians in 1915, and the Cleveland Guardians in 2022.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 24-2 at The Palace of the Fans, the Reds' new ballpark in Cincinnati. The Reds scored 8 runs in the 1st inning, and 7 in the 8th. Every Reds player got at least 2 hits, including pitcher Bill Phillips, who went 4-for-5 with a walk and 4 RBIs.
Jake Beckley went 4-for-6 with a walk and 3 RBIs. Tommy Corcoran went 4-for-6 with 2 RBIs. Harry Steinfeldt, later to be the 3rd baseman in the Cubs' "Tinker to Evers to Chance" infield, went 3-for-6 with 3 RBIs, including the game's only home run. Sam Crawford went 3-for-7 with 3 RBIs. And deaf center fielder Billy "Dummy" Hoy went 2-for-5 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Stockings, 7-3 at Bennett Park in Detroit. The White Stockings became the Chicago White Sox in 1904.
* The Boston Beaneaters and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 26. The Pirates swept, 8-1 and 3-0. Ed Doheny pitched a 2-hit shutout in the nightcap. Over the 2 games, Honus Wagner went 4-for-8 with 2 RBIs. The Beaneaters went through some name changes before becoming the Braves in 1912.
* And the Boston Americans and the Philadelphia Athletics were rained out at Columbia Park in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 22. The Americans, who became the Boston Red Sox in 1908, won the opener, 5-1. Bill Dineen outpitched Andy Coakley. The A's won the nightcap, 5-3. Rube Waddell outpitched Nick Altrock.
No comments:
Post a Comment