Left: United players in red shirts. Right: Spurs players in white.
June 15, 1952: England's Football League comes to Yankee Stadium. Tottenham Hotspur, the 1951 League Champions, play Manchester United, the 1952 League Champions.
"Spurs" were then based in Middlesex, to the north of London proper. A 1963 redrawing of London's city limits placed them within the city for the first time, in postal district N17. "Man United" also played, and still do, outside the limits of Manchester, in Salford, postal district M16.
Manager Arthur Rowe's "Push-and-Run Spurs" had edged United for the League title in 1951, the 1st in team history. They featured goalkeeper Ted Ditchburn, future England manager Alf Ramsey at right back, and wing-half Bill Nicholson, who would go on to become the team's greatest-ever manager.
In 1952, United had beaten Spurs out for the League title, their 1st in 41 years. Manager Matt Busby's side included right back and Captain Johnny Carey, outside right Johnny Berry, left back Roger Byrne, and centreback Jackie Blanchflower, whose brother Danny would captain Spurs under "Bill Nick."
Soccer had never made it big in America. Maybe if American-style football had failed, which it had the chance to do, following President Theodore Roosevelt's order to college presidents to clean the game up in 1905; and with the early struggles of the NFL, in the 1920s and then with the Great Depression of the early 1930s.
Soccer also could have caught on in America following soldiers' return from being in England, France and Germany in World War I, and again in World War II. However, the American distaste for anything "foreign" led to attention to soccer being dropped for the gridiron game. Despite a shocking win over an England team that included Ditchburn at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, in America, soccer only survived at a minor-league level until 1967.
Still, there was enough interest that foreign teams could come to America and get decent crowds, especially in cities where there were enough people of their ethnic group to generate interest. Celtic, of Glasgow, Scotland, with its large Irish and Scots-Irish representation, got good crowds in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago. Despite the fact that most Americans of Italian descent trace that descent to Naples on south, especially Sicily, the two Milan teams, A.C. Milan and Internazionale, played each other on Summer tours of America, including at Yankee Stadium.
And so, in 1952, the last 2 English Champions came to America. Manchester United did fairly well:
* May 8, at Kearny High School in Kearny, New Jersey: 4-0 over New Jersey Stars. Despite its small size, because of its Scottish and Irish residents, Kearny has been an American soccer hotbed for decades.
* May 11, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia: 4-0 over Philadelphia Stars. The Philadelphia Americans had won the American Soccer League title, and the Philadelphia Nationals were recent Champions.
* May 18, at Molson Stadium in Montreal: 10-0 over Montreal Stars.
* May 21, at Downing Stadium on New York's Randall's Island: 5-1 over an all-star team from the American Soccer League.
* May 23, at Fall River, Massachusetts: 11-1 over Fall River Stars. Because of its Portuguese residents, leading to the success of semi-pro team Ponta Delgada, Fall River is New England's biggest soccer town.
* May 25, at Downing Stadium: 5-2 over Stuttgarter Kickers. There would be no national league in Germany until the Bundesliga was founded in 1963, but Kickers had won the south German regional league in 1951, and were also touring America in Spring and Summer '52.
* May 27, at Soldier Field in Chicago: 6-1 over Chicago All-Stars.
* June 1, at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles: 2-0 over Atlas F.C. of Guadalajara, Mexico.
* June 8, again at the western version of Wrigley Field: 4-3 over Atlas. This was the closest they had yet come to losing on this tour.
* June 12, at the University of Detroit Stadium: 4-2 over Ulster United. This Toronto-based team won the Canadian Championship that season.
So, 10-0, and only 1 team came within 2 goals of them. Pretty good. But look at Spurs' tour, which was entirely in Canada, except for the Yankee Stadium match with United:
* May 22, at Varsity Stadium in Toronto: 7-0 over Toronto & District Stars.
* May 28, at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon: 18-1 over Saskatchewan Stars.
* May 31, at Hastings Park in Vancouver: 9-0 over Mainland Stars.
* June 2, at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria, British Columbia: 7-0 over Victoria & District Stars.
* June 4, at Hastings Park: 8-2 over Mainland Stars.
* June 7, at Mewata Stadium in Calgary: 11-0 over Alberta Stars.
* June 9, at Osborne Stadium in Winnipeg: 5-0 over Manitoba Stars.
Spurs were 7-0, and nobody had come close to them. Up next: Games on back-to-back days with United, in 2 different countries, 500 miles apart, at each country's most famous stadium at the time. The 1st, at Varsity Stadium in Toronto on June 14, should have been a sign: Spurs won it, 5-0.
They regrouped at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, June 15. Attendance was 24,582, believed to be the largest crowd ever to see a soccer game (Sorry, forgot to speak English there: A football match) on American soil to that point. Each team wore its usual home colors: Spurs, white shirts (hence "The Lilywhites") and navy blue shorts; United, red shirts (hence "The Red Devils") and white shorts.
To those not familiar with the sport, Spurs' Len Duquemin must have seemed like the Babe Ruth of Soccer: He scored 4 goals, leading Tottenham to a 7-1 victory. In 11 seasons, "The Duke" (not to be confused with Edwin "Duke" Snider, then starring across town for baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers) scored 111 goals for Spurs.
The game was filmed for use by Movietone News, which included it in its newsreels, to be played before movies in those days. The commentary, by the great American radio commentator Ed Herlihy, was almost as laughable as United's performance. For one thing, he called the teams "the Tottenham Hotspurs" and "the Manchester Uniteds," even though, on the film, a fan can be seen holding a souvenir pennant that clearly reads: "MANCHESTER UNITED," with no S on the end. For another, neither team is anywhere near being the other's "old rival." For Tottenham, that would be North London's Arsenal Football Club. For United, that would be Manchester City, and eventually Liverpool Football Club.
This was the last game on United's tour. On June 18, back at Molson Stadium in Montreal, Spurs beat a team called Quebec Stars, 8-0.
The teams headed back home, to very different destinies. Maybe Spurs wore themselves out in North America, as they only finished 10th in the 1952-53 season. They nearly got relegated to the 2nd Division in 1956, rebounded to 2nd in 1957 and 3rd in 1958, then nearly got relegated in 1959.
Nicholson took over as manager, and got them to 3rd in 1960. In 1960-61, he led them to the League title, then the FA Cup: It was the 1st time since Birmingham team Aston Villa did it in 1897 that an English team had won "The Double."
In 1962, Spurs finished 2nd, repeated as FA Cup winners, and reached the Semifinal of the European Cup, the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League. This was the best performance any British, let alone English, team had yet had in the tournament. In 1963, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup, making them the 1st British team to win any European tournament. They won another FA Cup in 1967, before rebuilding, and winning the League Cup in 1971 and 1973, and the UEFA Cup (now the UEFA Europa League) in 1972.
But a disgraceful exhibition by Spurs fans at the 1974 UEFA Cup Final in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, made Nicholson quit in disgust. Spurs got relegated in 1977, although they bounced right back up the next year, and won the FA Cup in 1981, 1982 and 1991, and the UEFA Cup in 1984. But they have rarely been a factor in the Premier League since it replaced the old Football League Division One in 1992, and their only trophies since the 1991 FA Cup have been League Cups in 1999 and 2008, a disgraceful performance by an organization whose fans like to think of it as a "big club."
Back in Salford, Busby recognized that the '52 title was a bit of a last stand for a team that also had 4 2nd-place finishes since the restart of the League after World War II, a stretch that included winning the 1948 FA Cup. He rebuilt, and, after 3 comparatively quiet seasons, had a young team that became known as "The Busby Babes." They won the League in 1956 and '57, and nearly won "The Double" in '57 before losing the FA Cup Final to Aston Villa.
On February 6, 1958, United were returning from Yugoslavia, where they had played Red Star Belgrade in the Quarterfinal of the European Cup. After refueling in Munich, West Germany, their plane tried to take off, but crashed.
There were 23 people killed, including 8 United players, marking the end of the Busby Babes. One was Roger Byrne. Another was the man tapped to be the next great English superstar, Duncan Edwards. Jackie Blanchflower survived, but was so badly hurt, he never played again. Busby himself was hurt, and it was his assistant manager, Jimmy Murphy, who led the team the rest of the season, including reaching the FA Cup Final again, losing to a nearby team, Bolton Wanderers.
Busby rebuilt again, and by 1963, United had won the FA Cup again. They won the League in 1965 and 1967, and the European Cup in 1968, the 1st English team ever to win it. This team got old, and United were relegated in 1974, but, like Spurs in 1977-78, got right back up the next season. United won the FA Cup in 1977, 1983 and 1985.
In 1986, Alex Ferguson became their manager. He led them to the 1990 FA Cup, and ended a 26-year League title drought in 1993. Busby lived long enough to see this: Had he lived 4 more months, he would have seen "Fergie" do something he'd never done, lead United to The Double. United dominated English soccer from 1993 to 2013, winning 13 League titles, 4 FA Cups, and the Champions League in 1999 and 2008.
In contrast, Spurs became a joke. Many jokes, in fact. One is that Spurs won the League at their home stadium, White Hart Lane twice, in 1951 and 1961, winning the clincher against the same team each time, Sheffield Wednesday; while arch-rival Arsenal won the League at White Hart Lan, twice, in 1971 and 2004, winning the clincher against the same team each time, Spurs.
Of course, if you're a fan of both the Yankees and Arsenal, and you want to laugh... you could say that winning a game at Yankee Stadium is Tottenham's greatest achievement.
*
June 15, 1952 was a Sunday. These games were played in baseball that day:
* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. In the opener, the Yankees won, 8-2. Mickey Mantle hit a home run off Bob Lemon, and Eddie Lopat went the distance for the win.
In the nightcap, the Yankees won, 4-3. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. In the top of the 9th inning, Lou Brissie walked opposing pitcher Bob Kuzava with the bases loaded, then walked Phil Rizzuto as well. Kuzava allowed a run in the bottom of the 9th, and Casey Stengel had to bring Allie Reynolds in to finish the game off. (Which was weird: Kuzava nearly went the distance. Usually, it would have been the other way around: Reynolds starting, and Kuzava nailing down the save.)
* A doubleheader was split at the Polo Grounds. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 1st game, 14-12. Solly Hemus hit 2 home runs. The New York Giants won the 2nd game, 3-0. Dave Koslo pitched 7 shutout innings, before the game was called due to rain. Wes Westrum hit home runs in both games. Stan Musial went 3-for-9 with 3 RBIs on the day. Willie Mays was unavailable for the Giants, serving in the Korean War.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 7-4 at Ebbets Field. Duke Snider went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Jackie Robinson went 0-for-3, although he did draw a walk. Ben Wade started for the Dodgers, but got shelled in 5 innings.
* The Boston Braves swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs at Braves Field in Boston, 4-1 and 2-0. Max Surkont pitched a 2-hit shutout in the 2nd game. This might have been the highlight of the season for the Braves, in their last season in Boston. The next year, they moved to Milwaukee.
* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1st game, 6-0. Howie Pollet pitched a 5-hit shutout. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 2nd game, 6-3.
* A doubleheader was split at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) The Detroit Tigers won the 1st game, 6-3. The Washington Senators won the 2nd game, 4-2.
* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game, 7-2. The Boston Red Sox won the 2nd game, 3-2. Ted Williams was unavailable for the Red Sox: Like Mays, he was serving in the Korean War; unlike Mays, who remained stationed Stateside for the duration, he was actually in combat.
* And the St. Louis Browns swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Athletics at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, 6-3 and 7-6, the latter in 11 innings.
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