August 14, 1948: The Australia national cricket team completes "The Ashes" series with England, drawing the Third Test and winning the other four. Having gone unbeaten in "test matches" since before World War II began 9 years earlier, they became known as "The Invincibles."
Each State of Australia has its own cricket team: New South Wales, which includes Sydney; Victoria, which includes Melbourne; Queensland, which includes Brisbane; South Australia, which includes Adelaide; Western Australia, which includes Perth; and the island State of Tasmania. The Northern Territory has its own team; but the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which includes Canberra, does not.
Captain Don Bradman started out in 1927, playing for New South Wales. In 1948, the national side also included these New South Wales players: Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Arthur Morris, Sid Barnes, Ernie Toshack and Ron Saggers. Since 1935, Bradman had played for South Australia. Also from South Australia on the 1948 Australian team was Ron Hamence.
Vice Captain Lindsay Hassett, Sam Loxton, Neil Harvey, Ian Johnson (no relation to Keith), Bill Johnston and Doug Ring played for Victoria. Bill Brown, Don Tallon and Colin McCool played for Queensland. They were managed by Keith Johnson, from New South Wales.
Bradman was turning 40 later that month, and was retiring. In cricket, a "batting average" is runs scored divided by number of times out. In the last of the five Tests of this series, Bradman was bowled between bat and pad for a duck -- in baseball terms, he struck out. Had he provided just 4 runs, he would have retired as the only man to have a lifetime batting average of at least 100. Instead, he retired at 99.94. He was known as the Babe Ruth of Cricket, and, as a citizen of the British Commonwealth, was knighted.
Among the defeated players for England was Denis Compton. He and his brother Leslie Compton, 6 years older, had both played cricket and football (soccer) for England, and had both played for North London's Arsenal Football Club. Les was better in football, while Denis was better in cricket.
Keith Johnson died in 1972, Sid Barnes in 1973, Don Tallon in 1984, Colin McCool in 1986, Ron Saggers in 1987, Lindsay Hassett in 1993, Ray Lindwall in 1996, Ian Johnson in 1998, Don Bradman in 2001, Ernie Toshack and Doug Ring in 2003, Keith Miller in 2004, Bill Johnston in 2007, Bill Brown in 2008, Ron Hamence in 2010, Sam Loxton in 2011, Arthur Morris in 2015. As of August 14, 2022, one member of the Australia Invincibles is still alive: Neil Harvey, now 93 years old.
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August 14, 1948 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 14-3 at Yankee Stadium. Vic Raschi went the distance for the win. Joe DiMaggio went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 4 RBIs. Yogi Berra went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs.
* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Walker Cooper hit a home run.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Boston Braves, 4-3 at Braves Field in Boston. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 4-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ted Williams went 1-for-5.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Stan Musial went 1-for-3 with a walk. Ralph Kiner went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 10-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
* And the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Cubs won the opener, 7-6. The Reds won the nightcap, 5-0. Ken Raffensberger pitched a 3-hit shutout.
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