May 3, 1975: The Last All-English Team to Win the FA Cup

May 3, 1975: The FA Cup Final is held at the old Wembley Stadium in London. It's an all-London affair, with West Ham United from the East End taking on West London's Fulham. West Ham had previously won the Cup in 1964. This was Fulham's 1st appearance in any cup final, and it remains their only appearance in the FA Cup Final.

Alan Taylor scores both goals for the Irons, within 4 minutes of each other after the hour. Ironically, West Ham's biggest hero, Bobby Moore, was playing for Fulham, reaching the Final in his 1st season away from his local club. Also ironically, Moore, the only man ever to captain England to a World Cup win, was not Fulham's captain in this game: Alan Mullery was.

Because of their collective age, the Cottagers were nicknamed Dad's Army, after a sitcom then running on British television. It was time for a new generation of Hammer heroes, including Taylor, Captain Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking, and Frank Lampard -- father of the later English soccer star of the same name.

No one knew it at the time, but this West Ham squad was the last all-English team to win the FA Cup. In fact, Ireland-born Jim Conway of Fulham is the only player on either side not from England.

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May 3, 1975, like all FA Cup Final days, was a Saturday. Actress Christina Hendricks and journalist Willie Geist were born.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rudy May started, but Sparky Lyle blew it in the 8th inning. Hank Aaron, running out the string with the Brewers, went 0-for-1, and Robin Yount went 2-for-2, and each had 3 walks.

* The New York Mets lost to the Montreal Expos, 3-0 at Shea Stadium. Woodie Fryman allowed only 1 hit, a double to John Stearns in the 5th inning, to outpitch Hank Webb. A rookie catcher for the Expos went 1-for-3 with a walk. He would have better days at Shea. His name was Gary Carter.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 12-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rick Wise went the distance for the win. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 and 4-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Tom Underwood outpitched Jim Rooker in the opener. Willie Stargell did not play. In the nightcap, Dave Cash singled Terry Harmon home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Stargell went 1-for-4. Over the 2 games, Mike Schmidt went 2-for-9 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Frank Robinson, in his 1st season as MLB's 1st black manager, put himself into the game as a pinch-hitter, and had an RBI single against his former team. Another former Oriole, Boog Powell -- who said the Indians' all-red uniforms made him "look like the world's largest Bloody Mary" -- went 0-for-2, but drew 2 walks, 1 with the bases loaded to give him an RBI. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-2 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. George Foster hit a home run. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Johnny Bench also went 1-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Bill Melton doubled Carlos May home in the bottom of the 10th inning. Melton had homered earlier. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 14-5 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Bert Blyleven went the distance for the win, while Paul Splittorff couldn't get out of the 3rd inning. Rod Carew went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Steve Brye went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs. Eric Soderholm went 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 3 RBIs. Twins legend Harmon Killebrew, running out the string with the Royals, did not play.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Jerry Morales went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.For the Cards, Ted Sizemore went 4-for-5, but had no RBIs; and Lou Brock had an RBI single as a pinch-hitter.

* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Nolan Ryan only pitched 6 innings, but struck out 9, and got the win.

* And the San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. In the top of the 15th inning, a Fred Kendall ground ball should have become a double play, but Lee Lacy made an error, allowing Steve Huntz and Johnny Grubb to score. For the Padres, Willie McCovey went 1-for-4, while Dave Winfield went 0-for-6, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

American-style football was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs: The Boston Celtics beat the Washington Bullets, 101-90 at the Boston Garden. The Bullets would win the series, but got swept in the Finals by the Golden State Warriors.

There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association's Playoffs: The Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Nuggets, 104-96 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. This was a Game 7, so the Pacers advanced to the ABA Finals, where they lost to the Kentucky Colonels.

There was 1 game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 8-2 at the Montreal Forum. But the Sabres won the next 2 games and won the series, before losing the Stanley Cup Finals to the Philadelphia Flyers.

And there was 1 game in the World Hockey Association Playoffs: The Houston Aeros beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-2 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.