August 22, 1964: "Match of the Day" Premieres

August 22, 1964: Match of the Day is first broadcast on BBC1. It becomes British television's most popular TV program -- or "programme," as it would be "spelt" over there.

The 1st game was at Anfield, home stadium of Liverpool Football Club, defending Champions of the Football League Division One, who beat Arsenal Football Club, of North London, 3-2.

The game is not broadcast live: It is filmed, so that it can be shown that night from the BBC's London headquarters. It will be many years before live games are shown, the reasoning being that it would hurt attendance, and thus gate receipts, by far the main source of teams' income. Eventually, they would figure out that TV broadcast rights would be more lucrative than gate receipts.

But, for many years to come, only a scattered few games would be broadcast live, including the annual FA Cup Final. And so, on Saturday nights, MOTD became what Americans would later call "must-see TV." In 1968, ITV, the BBC's main rival, would introduce a show for Sunday afternoons, The Big Match. It, too, becomes a must-watch for footie fans. Both shows are still run today.

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August 22, 1964 was a Saturday. Tennis player Mats Wilander was born. So was Trey Gowdy, right-wing fanatic Republican Congressman turned Fox News host. And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees and their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, split a doubleheader at Fenway Park in Boston. The Red Sox won the opener, 5-3. They scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th, off Al Downing, making a winner of Dick Radatz in relief of Bill Monbouquette. Elston Howard hit a home run for the Yankees, Lee Thomas for the Red Sox.

The Yankees won the nightcap, 8-0. Mel Stottlemyre pitched a 6-hit shutout. Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Johnny Blanchard hit home runs. Over the 2 games, Mantle went 2-for-7 with a walk and 3 RBIs, Maris went 2-for-6 with 2 walks and 3 RBIs, and Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-6 with a walk.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-4 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Roberto Clemente went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 6-2 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in 1969.)

* The Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the Los Angeles Angels, 1-0 and 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Sonny Siebert pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 1st game.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The Houston Colt .45s beat the Milwaukee Braves, 5-4 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Hank Aaron went 3-for-5, and Joe Torre went 2-for-4. The following year, the Astrodome opened, and the Colts became the Houston Astros.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Don Drysdale pitched 8 innings for the Dodgers, Joey Jay 10 for the Reds, and neither ended up as the winning pitcher. Frank Robinson went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Leo Cardenas drew a bases-loaded walk on Howie Reed in the top of the 15th inning.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Lou Brock went 1-for-5 with 2 stolen bases.

* And the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Twins won the 1st game, 6-5. The Tigers won the 2nd game, 5-2. Over the 2 games, Al Kaline went 1-for-7 with 2 walks, and Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-7 with 2 walks.