July 14, 1967: For the 1st time, a major American soccer league holds a championship game.
There were 2 "major leagues" that season, both founded in the wake of the 1966 World Cup. The National Professional Soccer League would have its Final on September 18, at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, with the Oakland Clippers beating the St. Louis Stars, 6-3. Only 8,415 fans paid to see it.
But the United Soccer Association (USA) would have a shorter season, and thus beat them to a championship game. It was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The season had to be shorter, because the teams were imported from leagues around the world, whose seasons would start again in August:
Wolves, Sunderland and Stoke were from England; Dundee United, Hibs and Aberdeen from Scotland; Shamrock Rovers from the Republic of Ireland; Glentoran from Northern Ireland; Den Haag from The Hague, the Netherlands; Cagliari from the island of Sardinia, in Italy; Cerro from Montevideo, Uruguay; and Bangu from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I guess the league couldn't get any of the really big teams from Rio: Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo or Vasco da Gama.
As with the NPSL, attendance was a problem. The compressed 12-game season of May 28 to July 14 didn't help. Washington won the East by 1 point over Cleveland, 2 over Toronto, 3 over Detroit, 5 over New York and 8 over Boston. Los Angeles won the West by 2 points over both San Francisco and Chicago, 3 over Houston, 4 over Vancouver, and 6 over Dallas. Ironically, the Dallas Tornado would be the only USA team that would last more than a couple of seasons in the merged North American Soccer League, winning the title in 1971.
Only 17,842 fans came to the Coliseum for the Final. As an English team, the Wolves were all-English -- except for, oddly enough, their best player, Northern Irish forward Derek Dougan. As a Scottish team, the Whips were all-Scottish, with 1 exception: Jens Petersen, a midfielder from Denmark.
The Whips/Aberdeen were managed by Eddie Turnbull. In the early 1950s, he had been one of the "Famous Five" forwards for the Scottish League Champion Hibernian, known in this league as Toronto City. There was some irony in Wolves' manager: Ronnie Allen had been a star forward for their arch-rivals in England's "Black Country," outside Birmingham: West Bromwich Albion. In 1954, Wolves had beaten West Brom out for the Football League title, while West Brom beat Wolves in the FA Cup Final, each team denying the other the winning of both titles, known as "The Double."
Peter Knowles put Wolves on the board in only the 2nd minute. That lead held until the 21st, when Jimmy Smith equalized. About midway through the 2nd half came a wild sequence: Within 4 minutes, there was a penalty awarded to Wolves, converted by Frank Munro; 2 goals scored by Wolves' Dave Burnside; and a goal scored by Whips' Jim Storrie.
Burnside thought he had the game won with a goal in the 82nd minute, but Munro equalized in the 88th, and the game went to extra time. Dougan thought he'd won it with a goal in the 113th. But in the 119th and next-to-last minute of extra time, a penalty was awarded to Whips, and Munro converted it. It was 5-5.
Under the rules of the contest, the game went to a sudden-death overtime. The next goal would be what would later be called a "Golden Goal," ending the game.
In 1951, a Scottish-born, Staten Island-raised baseball player named Bobby Thomson hit a home run that won a Pennant. On this day, 16 years later, an Englishman of Scottish descent, named Bobby Thomson, recognized as the greatest left back in Wolves history, tried to pass toward the Whip goal in the 126th minute, drawing Whip goalkeeper Bobby Clark out of position.
But Thomson's pass never reached its intended player. Instead, it deflected off the leg of Whips' left back, Ally Shewan. And there was nothing Clark could do. Wolves 6, Whips 5.
For the 1968 season, the USA and the NPSL merged to form the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Los Angeles Aztecs would win that league's title in 1974, and the Los Angeles Galaxy have won the most MLS Cups, 5.
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July 14, 1967 was a Friday. Why that title game wasn't on a Saturday or a Sunday, I don't know. Baseball star Robin Ventura was born on this day. So was Patrick J. Kennedy, son of Senator Ted Kennedy and eventually a Congressman from Rhode Island.
And these baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium. They won the opener, 2-1. Al Downing outpitched John O'Donoghue. Joe Pepitone had an RBI double, and Elston Howard hit a home run.
The Yankees won the nightcap, 2-0. Fritz Peterson pitched a 5-hit shutout. Cleveland starter Sonny Siebert left the game after only 5 batters, walking Dick Howser, getting Mike Hegan to fly out, allowing a single to Pepitone, an RBI sacrifice fly to Mickey Mantle, 2 wild pitches, and walking Steve Whitaker. Over the 2 games, Mantle was 2-for-5 with a walk and an RBI.
* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 1-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Tony Pérez singled home the only run off Jack Fisher in the bottom of the 10th inning. Fisher had gone the distance, as had the Reds' Gary Nolan. Pete Rose went 2-for-4 with a walk. Jerry Buchek had 3 hits; the rest of the Mets combined, only 2.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 11-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski and Tony Conligliaro both hit home runs, in support of Jim Lonborg. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs, while Frank Robinson did not enter the game.
* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 at District of Columbia Stadium. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.) Al Kaline did not play for the Tigers in this game.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) Hank Aaron and Rico Carty both hit home runs, and Joe Torre went 1-for-3.
* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The California Angels won the 1st game, 3-2. The Chicago White Sox won the 2nd game, 8-0. Joe Horlen pitched a 6-hit shutout.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4, but rookie Rod Carew went 3-for-5.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Tommie Sisk of the Pirates held the Cards to just 3 hits, but 2 came in the 7th, singles by Ed Spiezio and Orlando Cepeda, the latter driving in a run, bracketing a walk to Julián Javier. Cepeda's hit was immediately followed by Pirate left fielder José Pagán dropping Dave Ricketts' fly ball, allowing Javier to score. Ironically, the Pirates' run had scored in the top of that inning, when the Cards' left fielder, Lou Brock, dropped a fly ball hit by José Pagán.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ernie Banks went 0-for-3, but he did draw a walk.
* And the Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Juan Marichal only lasted 5 innings. Willie Mays didn't start the game, but came in after Ty Cline was injured, and went 0-for-2.
Also, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts becomes the father of Patrick J. Kennedy, who later serves in the U.S. House of Representatives, as a Democrat from Rhode Island. Baseball star Robin Ventura was also born that day.
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