September 16, 1937: For the 1st time, a soccer game is shown on TV. It is the Arsenal first team for the Arsenal Reserves, at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
Arsenal had won the Football League title in 1931, 1933, 1934 and 1935, won the FA Cup Final in 1930 and 1936, and lost it in 1932. But by 1937, they were in something of a transition. Manager George Allison saw his Captain, Alex James, retire. And Ray Bowden had been sold.
Allison still had legends like George Male, Eddie Hapgood, Jack Crayston, Herbie Roberts, Wilf Copping, Joe Hulme, Ted Drake and Cliff Bastin. And new players were brought up from the youth ranks, including the brothers Leslie and Denis Compton. Both had represented England at the senior level in cricket as well as in football (soccer), Les being better at football, Denis being better at cricket. Other new additions included Jack Crayston, Bernard Joy, and Alf Kirchen, who notably scored the goal in the 1938-39 League finale that was filmed for the movie The Arsenal Stadium Mystery.
But after winning their 1st 3 games easily, Arsenal went on a tailspin, winning only 2 of their next 12. And that 1937-38 season was hit hard by a rough Winter. In the 3rd Round of the FA Cup alone, snow caused 261 postponements, and that Round took 66 days to complete.
Arsenal got their act together: From January 29 to April 9, they won 7 games, drew 4, and lost only 2. But 1 of those losses was in the 5th Round of the Cup, to Lancashire team Preston North End, featuring Bill Shankly, who would lift Liverpool FC to glory in the 1960s and '70s.
Preston went on to defeat Huddersfield Town in the Final, the 1st Cup Final ever televised. The 93,000-strong Wembley crowd outnumbered British TV owners 10 to 1, but that didn't stop the Daily Herald from running the headline: "The day is not far off when you may be able to watch your favourite football team from your fireside."
Just 7 days later, the League had its final slate of games for the season. Birmingham-area team Wolverhampton Wanderers led Arsenal by 1 point, but lost away to defending Champions Sunderland, 1-0. Arsenal beat Manchester-area team Bolton Wanderers, 5-0, and had finished 1 point ahead of Wolves. Arsenal were Champions for the 5th time in 8 seasons, their 6th major trophy in 9. "Lucky Arsenal," the newspapers called them. Even then, the English media seemed to be aligned against the Gunners.
Arsenal finished 5th in 1938-39, and World War II began early in the 1939-40 season, causing the Football Association to suspend League and Cup play for the duration. By the time League play began for 1946-47, the older players from before were too old to contribute; and even the younger players brought up in 1937-38 seemed to have lost their touch during The War.
But a new manager, former Arsenal player and team physiotherapist Tom Whittaker, rebuilt quickly, and a new group won the League in 1948, won the Cup in 1950, finished 2nd in both in 1952, and won the League in 1953. (In the 1937-38 team photo above, Whittaker is in the suit in the upper right, while Allison is seated in the middle.)
However, football on English TV would not become common until the Premier League was started in 1992. Big games, like the FA Cup Final, would be shown live, but regular-season games would only be shown on tape delay, either hours later on the BBC's Match of the Day or the next day on ITV's The Big Match.
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September 16, 1937 was a Thursday. Vince Naimoli, the 1st owner of baseball's Tampa Bay Rays (Devil Rays) was born. And these baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-0 at Yankee Stadium. Lefty Gomez pitched a 3-hit shutout. Lou Gehrig went 0-for-3 with a walk, and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Cliff Melton pitched a 6-hit shutout. Mel Ott went 0-for-3 with a walk. For the Pirates, Paul Waner went 0-for-4, and Lloyd Waner went 1-for-4.
* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Brooklyn Dodgers won the opener, 8-5. The Cincinnati Reds won the nightcap, 5-1.
* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 4-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-6 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-4 with a walk.
* The Boston Bees (as the Braves were known from 1936 to 1940) beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Rookie Jim Turner pitched a 7-hit shutout. Known as "The Milkman," because he delivered (like later basketball star Karl "The Mailman" Malone), Turner went on to win 20 games and lead the National League in ERA. Had there been a Rookie of the Year award at the time, he would have won it easily. In 1941, the Reds converted him to a reliever, and he helped the Yankees win Pennants in 1942 and 1943. He later became a renowned pitching coach.
* The St. Louis Cardinals swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 and 8-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
* And the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. Given the lateness of the season, travel issues, and the fact that the Yankees were running away with the American League Pennant, the game was never made up.
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