September 26, 1948: Israel Debuts Its National Soccer Team

September 26, 1948: Israel debuts its national soccer team, 3 months after independence. They play the team that represented the U.S. at the recent Olympics in London, in front of 35,000 at the Polo Grounds in New York, the most Jewish city in the world outside of the new independent state.

Goalkeeper Avraham Bendori, right back Shalom Shalomzon, center half Yosef Mirmovich, and left half Eliyahu Fuchs came from Maccabi Tel Aviv FC. Left back Avraham Bogdanov, inside right Ernst Weinberger, and substitute defender Itzhak Schneor came from Beitar Tel Aviv FC. Right half Shmuel Den Dror and inside left Elieezer Spiegel came from Maccabi Petah Tikva FC. Outside right Israel Weiss, center forward Shimon Zimmerman, outside left Avraham Felman, and substitute winger Itzhak Rosenboim came from Hapoel Tel Aviv FC. Substitute midfielder Naftaly Schwalb came from Hapoel Ramat Gan FC.

Ed Souza opened the scoring for the U.S., in the 13th minute. Ben Dror equalized in the 20th. Ben McLaughlin took the lead back in the 44th, and Souza scored again in the 57th. The U.S. won, 3–1, due to the Boston-area and St. Louis players who, within 2 years, would shock England at the World Cup.

Because of anti-Semitism, and the refusal of many Asian countries to play them following the 1978 Camp David Accords, Israel must compete in European competitions for continental purposes. They have only qualified for the World Cup once, in 1970. But they did win the 1964 Asian Cup, and reached the Final of the 1974 Asian Games.

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September 26, 1948 was a Sunday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The Boston Braves beat the New York Giants, 3-2 at Braves Field in Boston, and clinch the National League Pennant. Bob Elliott, the previous season's NL Most Valuable Player, and not to be confused with the comedian of the same name who had already formed a famed comedy duo with Ray Goulding, hits a home run.

Despite the refrain of "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain," it is Vern Bickford who starts and wins the clincher. Bill Voiselle was also a pretty good starter, although not a Hall-of-Famer like Warren Spahn, or having a Cy Young Award-worthy season like Johnny Sain. (That award wouldn’t start until 1956, after Young himself died.)

This is the 14th Pennant won by the team then calling itself the Boston Braves, the 10th in the National League. It will turn out to be the last: They later won 2 in Milwaukee, and, in 2021, won their 7th in Atlanta.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Ralph Branca outpitched Robin Roberts. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-4 with a stolen base. Roy Campanella hit a home run. Gil Hodges went 0-for-4, and Duke Snider did not play.

This was a transition year for the Dodgers, as the stars who led them to the 1941 and 1947 Pennants began to be traded away, like Dixie Walker, Eddie Stanky and Joe Hatten. Campanella and Carl Erskine had debuted in 1948, and they had traded for Preacher Roe and Billy Cox. The season before was the debut year of Robison and Snider, and the 1st full season for Hodges. The year before was the debut of Carl Furillo. The 1949 season would be the 1st for Don Newcombe. With holdover Pee Wee Reese as Captain, the team that became known as "The Boys of Summer" took shape, and, of the next 8 NL Pennants, won 5 and just missed 2 others.

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2 at Yankee Stadium. Tommy Byrne outpitched Mel Parnell. Ted Williams went 1-for-4. So did Joe DiMaggio, who also had an RBI. Tommy Henrich hit a home run.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds, 8-6 and 8-5. Pirate slugger Ralph Kiner went 0-for-3 with a walk in the opener, but 2-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs in the nightcap.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Bob Feller outpitched Hal Newhouser. The day's games left the Indians 1 game ahead of both the Yankees and the Red Sox, with each team having 5 games left. When the regular season was over, the Indians and Red Sox were tied, with the Yankees 1 game back. The Indians beat the Red Sox in a Playoff for the Pennant, thus preventing an All-Boston World Series. The Indians then beat the Braves in 6 games. Cleveland hasn't won a World Series since.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Stan Musial went 1-for-4 with an RBI. He was wrapping up perhaps his finest season, stat-wise, with career highs in batting average, .376; on-base percentage, .450; slugging percentage, .702; OPS+, 200; total bases, 429; home runs, 39; and RBIs, 131. He fell 1 home run short of the Triple Crown, as Kiner and New York's Johnny Mize each hit 40; and won the MVP.

It was in this season that he began to be called "Stan the Man," after a reporter overheard a fan at Ebbets Field say, "Uh-oh, that man is back in town."

* The Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Randy Gumpert pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* And the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators were not scheduled.

Only 2 games were played in the NFL. The Washington Redskins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-14 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. And the Chicago Bears beat the team that would become their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 45-7 at City Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

There were 3 games in the All-America Football Conference. The Baltimore Colts beat the football version of the Brooklyn Dodgers, 35-20 at Municipal Stadium in Baltimore. The Cleveland Browns beat the Chicago Rockets, 21-10 at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Buffalo Bills, 38-28 at Civic Stadium (later renamed War Memorial Stadium) in Buffalo.

All 3 games were won by teams that were admitted to the NFL in 1950. The Bills were not, but were reborn in the American Football League in 1960, and were admitted to the NFL in the merger.