May 20, 1953: The Coronation Cup Final

May 20, 1953: The Final of the Coronation Cup, a soccer tournament celebrating the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, is held -- but not in England, as had been expected.

There were 8 teams invited, 4 from England and 4 from Scotland. This was an unusual chance for them to test themselves against a team from "another country," as the European Cup had yet to be instituted.

The Scottish teams were: Rangers Football Club of Glasgow, who had won Scotland's Division One and Scottish Cup, "The Double"; Hibernian Football Club of Edinburgh, who had finished 2nd to Rangers in the Scottish league, and had won it in each of the 2 preceding seasons; Aberdeen Football Club, who had lost the Scottish Cup Final to Rangers; and Celtic Football Club, Rangers' Glasgow arch-rivals, although the real reason they were invited is that they had won the Empire Exhibition Trophy in 1938, the closest thing this tournament had to a previous edition, making them, in a way, the "defending champions."

The English teams were: Arsenal Football Club of North London, who had just won England's Football League Division One; Manchester United Football Club, who had won it the season before; Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, who had won the League in 1951 and were runners-up to United in 1952; and Newcastle United, who had won the Football Association Cup in 1951 and 1952.

Each Quarterfinal featured an English team against a Scottish team. Many had hoped for a Final between the 2 newly-crowned Champions, Arsenal and Rangers. But both went down in the Quarterfinals: Celtic beat Arsenal, 1-0; and Man United beat Rangers, 2-1. Newcastle beat Aberdeen, 4-0; and Hibernian and Tottenham played to a 1-1 draw, with a replay going 2-1 to "Hibs" over "Spurs."

That left 2 teams from each country, and so the Semifinals were also set up to both be England vs. Scotland. But the Final would not be that way: Celtic beat United, 2-1; and Hibs beat Newcastle, 4-0. So the Final would be played not at England's national stadium, Wembley Stadium in West London; but at Scotland's national stadium, Hampden Park on the South Side of Glasgow.

Each team represented the Irish people, and, by extension, the Catholic people in their respective cities: Celtic against all-Protestant Rangers in Glasgow, and Hibernian, or "Hibs" in a far less controversial rivalry in Edinburgh with mostly-Protestant Heart of Midlothian, or "Hearts." Thus, the 117,060 people who crammed into Hampden on May 20 may have been the most Irish crowd ever on the island of Great Britain.

In those days, most teams used a 2-3-5 formation, with 5 forwards. And Hibs had a line known as "The Famous Five": Outside right Gordon Smith, inside right Bobby Johnstone, centre forward Lawrie Reilly (also their Captain), inside left Eddie Turnbull, and outside left Willie Ormond. They often dazzled opponents into submission.

But Celtic had a stout defense, led by centre halfback and team Captain John "Jock" Stein. (And that's pronounced "Steen," like Bruce, not "Stine," like R.L. and most Jewish people with the name "Stein.") Jock would lead Celtic to the next season's League title, and then win 10 of them, and the 1967 European Cup, as their manager.

And the defense he led completely shut the Famous Five down. In the 20th minute, Neil Mochan scored for Celtic. They hung on until inside right Jimmy Walsh put the game away in the 87th. Celtic won, 2-0. Until the 1967 European triumph, this was arguably their greatest victory, partly because it was unexpected.

This tournament was a one-off. There were no Coronation Cups for the Coronations of King Edward VII in 1902, King George V in 1911, or King George VI in 1937. (UPDATE: Nor was there one for that of King Charles III in 2023.)

*

May 20, 1953 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-8 at Yankee Stadium. They trailed 8-7, but tied the game in the 8th. In the 9th, Gene Woodling singled Billy Martin home with the winning run. Joe Collins hit a home run. Mickey Mantle went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Yogi Berra appeared as a pinch-hitter, reached base on a force play, and scored. Allie Reynolds was the winning pitcher, in relief of Eddie Lopat.

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 16-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The wind was blowing out: Home runs were hit by Monte Irvin, Alvin Dark and Davey Williams of the Giants; and Dee Fondy and Roy Smalley of the Cubs. (His nephew, also named Roy Smalley, would also become a major league shortstop.) Willie Mays was unavailable, due to serving in the Korean War.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Jackie Robinson went 2-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. This was the Braves' 1st season in Milwaukee, and, with County Stadium inside, but on the edge of, the City of Milwaukee, they had already surpassed their entire previous season's worth of home attendance in Boston.

Dodger owner Walter O'Malley had seen the future, and it was surrounded with 12,000 parking spaces, away from poor people who didn't go to ballgames anyway. (Except, many of them did.)

* The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Del Wilber won it with a home run in the bottom of the 14th inning. Ted Williams was unavailable, due to serving in the Korean War.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The former Shibe Park had just been renamed.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Former Yankee Frank "Spec" Shea outpitched Bob Feller.

* The Cincinnati Redlegs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 14-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. This was the 1st of 7 seasons in which the Reds officially used the Redlegs name, because they were cowed into submission by the "Red Scare."

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-6 at the original Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The former Sportsman's Park had just been renamed. Stan Musial went 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Ralph Kiner did the same thing, but in defeat.