July 23, 1952: The Overthrow of King Farouk

July 23, 1952: King Farouk of Egypt and the Sudan is overthrown in a military coup, led by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, who becomes Egypt’s dictatorial President until his death in 1970.

 

Farouk had tried to hold this off, by abdicating in favor of his son, who was only 6 months old. It didn’t work, and Farouk began to hope he could be saved by his friends, the British royal family. Apparently, he forgot that they didn't help Czar Nicholas II of Russia, to whom they were actually related, 35 years earlier. And so, Farouk and his family fled Egypt.

Born in 1920, Farouk became King upon the death of his father, King Fuad, in 1936. Only 16, he took all the privilege a monarch could, becoming a free-spending, hard-drinking womanizer. This was in sharp contrast to his sister, Princess Fawzia, who became the 1st wife of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran.

Farouk had a capacity for languages: In addition to Egyptian, he came to fluently speak Arabic, English, French and Italian. But he excelled at little else academically, and came to be seen as lazy, his ever-increasing weight coming to cement this in the minds of the world, treated to sights of him and his extravagance on newsreels.

It wasn't just his personal habits that offended people, especially conservative Muslims in Egypt. It was the government under him, which had become hopelessly corrupt. By 1952, a military dictatorship came to be seen as preferable. Farouk and his family fled, and he died in exile in Italy in 1965.

 

Farouk's son, King Fuad II, was raised in Switzerland, and lived in Paris, where he married and had 3 children. Now 70 years old, he lives near Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, restored his Egyptian citizenship, allowing him to return to Egypt to visit. Rather than try to re-establish the monarchy, he has supported the democratic movement that followed the 2011 resignation of Sadat’s successor, Hosni Mubarak.

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July 23, 1952 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 7-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Al Rosen hit a home run in support of Bob Lemon, who went the distance. Phil Rizzuto hit a home run, but Mickey Mantle went 0-for-3 with a walk. Yogi Berra went 0-for-2 with 3 walks. In spite of this defeat, the Yankees won the American League Pennant by 2 games over the Indians.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4 at Ebbets Field. Carl Erskine only lasted 5 innings. Gil Hodges hit a home run. Jackie Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Braves, 6-2 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. (The ballpark was renamed Connie Mack Stadium the next year.) Del Ennis hit a home run in support of Robin Roberts.

* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (The ballpark was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Former Yankee Frank "Spec" Shea pitched 14 innings for the Senators, to outdo Hal Newhouser of the Tigers. But Sandy Consuegra, part of the Senators' Cuban Connection of the 1950s, turned out to be the winning pitcher when Dick Littlefield melted down in the top of the 16th inning.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ted Williams was serving in the Korean War, and was unavailable for the Red Sox.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. (The ballpark was renamed Busch Stadium the next year.)

* And, for a reason that Baseball-Reference.com does not explain, the New York Giants hosted the St. Louis Cardinals the day before, winning 3-2; and the day after, winning 9-5; but not on the 23rd. The Dodgers played a home game as well, just a few miles away, so it couldn't have been rained out. And there is no mention of a later game being a makeup of one on this day.