May 29, 1968: Manchester United Win the European Cup

Left to right: Bobby Charlton, George Best,

Matt Busby and Denis Law

May 29, 1968: Wembley Stadium in West London hosts the European Cup Final. Manchester United play Benfica of Lisbon, Portugal.

Matt Busby managed Manchester United to the Football League Division One title in 1956 and 1957. After the Munich Air Disaster of 1958, he had to rebuild his team almost from scratch. But they managed to finish 2nd in 1959. It was an outlier: The next 4 seasons, they finished 7th, 7th, 15th and 19th, barely avoiding relegation to Division Two in 1963, although they did manage to win the FA Cup.

By that point, the players known as "The Trinity" were in place: English forward Bobby Charlton, Scottish forward Denis Law, and Northern Irish winger George Best. In 1964, they finished 2nd. In 1965, they won the League again. In 1966, they finished 4th. In all 3 seasons, they reached the Semifinals of the FA Cup. In 1966, as his ill-fated "Busby Babes" did in 1957 and 1958, they reached the Semifinal of the European Cup. And in 1967, they won another League title, qualifying them for the European Cup again in the 1967-68 season.

All this success, both before and after the Air Disaster, made them a popular team beyond the Manchester area: Television coverage made them nationally popular, especially with Charlton having helped England win the 1966 World Cup; and Best's long hair, skill and personality making him the most popular player in the country. Man United were probably the most popular team in England.

This success did not necessarily transfer to their national teams: Although Charlton and midfielder Norbert "Nobby" Stiles were members of England's 1966 World Cup winners, Law's Scotland and Best's Northern Ireland did not qualify for that tournament. Scotland, with Law, did famously beat England, with Charlton and Stiles, 3-2 at Wembley Stadium in London on April 15, 1967, but the Scots' claim of being "Unofficial World Champions" was not taken seriously.

In 1967, Celtic F.C. of Glasgow became the 1st British team to win the European Cup. It was embarrassing for England's big clubs that a team from Scotland had beaten them to it. So English fans got behind United in their 1967-68 bid.

Their 1st Round match was against Hibernians -- not the one in Edinburgh, Scotland, but the Champions of the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. A 4-0 win at their home grand of Old Trafford was followed by a 0-0 draw in Malta. In the 2nd Round, they beat the Champions of Yugoslavia, FK Sarajevo, drawing 0-0 in Bosnia and winning 2-1 at Old Trafford.

In the Quarterfinal, they played Polish Champions Górnik Zabrze, winning 2-0 at home and losing 1-0 away, advancing on aggregate. In the Semifinal, they played 6-time Champions Real Madrid, winning 1-0 at home, and drawing 3-3 at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, advancing 4-3 on aggregate.

They would face the Champions of Portugal, Sport Lisboa e Benfica. led by Eusébio, one of the greatest players in the world. They had won the European Cup in 1961 and 1962, lost the 1963 Final to AC Milan, and lost the 1965 Final to Internazionale Milano.

In the Semifinal of the 1966 World Cup, England, with Charlton and Stiles, beat Portugal, with Eusébio. Now, their clubs were facing each other in the biggest team championship in European sports.

But Manchester United had fitness concerns. Stiles was recovering from a knee injury. Law was not: He underwent surgery on his knee on the Saturday before the Final, and would still be in hospital (as they would say in Britain) on Wednesday night. Brian Kidd, on his 19th birthday, would be replacing one of the greatest centre forwards the sport has ever known.

A crowd of 92,225 plowed into Wembley, and 250 million people watched on television all over Europe. Oddly, given their standard home color of red, United knew that Benfica also usually wore red. So United wore all blue for this contest. Knowing that United usually wore red, Benfica chose not to: They wore white with red trim. There were probably a lot of people, in the stadium and watching on TV, who were confused.

The game kicked off at 7:45 PM London time (2:45 on the U.S. East Coast). Otto Glória, the Brazilian who had managed Portugal in the '66 World Cup and was now managing many of the same players for Benfica, decided that, with Law out, the best way to keep United at bay was to get rough with Best, and he was knocked down 6 times in the 1st half, with only 1 yellow card being given.

Despite a Eusébio shot that beat goalkeeper Alex Stepney and hit the crossbar, the 1st half ended scoreless. Charlton struck first, in the 53rd minute. Jaime Graça scored in the 79th, to tie the game. Stepney had to make 2 saves on Eusébio in stoppage time, and the game remained 1-1 at the whistle. It went to extra time.

In the 92nd minute, Stepney took a long goal kick, which was headed on by Kidd, and collected by Best. The flamboyant Ulsterman, whose hair had gotten him nicknamed "El Beatle" by the Spanish-language press, dribbled past the Benfica defenders, and then around goalkeeper José Henrique, concluding by rolling the ball into an empty net. It was 2-1 United.

In the 94th, David Sadler launched a header at Henrique, who saved it. But the rebound came to Kidd, and the birthday boy headed it in, making the score 3–1. Benfica were finished, and, in the 99th, Kidd passed to Charlton, who scored a capper. United won, 4-1.

Kidd with the European Cup, a.k.a. "Ol' Big Ears"

They became the 1st English team to win the European Cup. Through the 2022 season, the trophy, and the tournament known since 1992 as the UEFA Champions League, has been won by the following teams: Liverpool, 6 times, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005 and 2019; Manchester United, 3, 1968, 1999 and 2008; Nottingham Forest, 2, 1979 and 1980; Chelsea, 2, 2012 and 2021; and Aston Villa, 1, 1982.

Four other English teams have reached the Final without winning. Leeds United lost to Bayern Munich in 1975, and Arsenal to Barcelona in 2006, both with accusations of dodgy officiating. Tottenham Hotspur lost to Liverpool in 2019. And Manchester City lost Chelsea in 2021. (UPDATE: Man City won in 2023, beating Inter Milan.)

*

May 29, 1968 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* A doubleheader was split at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The Chicago Cubs won the opener, 9-2. The Philadelphia Phillies won the nightcap, 8-3. Over the 2 games, Ernie Banks went 2-for-6 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Johnny Bench went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Joe Horlen outpitched Dave McNally. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4. Frank Robinson did not play.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 1-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Dave Boswell pitched a 3-hit shutout. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-3 with a walk, while Rod Carew went 1-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Willie Mays hit a home run.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 3-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Denny McLain pitched a 4-1 hit shutout, and was already 8-1 on the season. Al Kaline was injured, and did not play.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. Sal Bando hit a home run. Rookie Reggie Jackson entered the game as a defensive replacement, and did not come to bat. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* Both New York teams got rained out, even though they were not both at home. The New York Yankees and the Washington Senators were rained out at Yankee Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Yankees won the opener, 13-4. Stan Bahnsen was the winning pitcher. Mickey Mantle had perhaps his last big day at the plate, going 5-for-5 with 2 home runs (the 523rd and 524th of his career) and 5 RBIs.

The Senators won the nightcap, 6-2. Camilo Pascual, who pitched for the "old" Senators and, after their move, the Minnesota Twins, won this game for the "new" Senators, outpitching Fred Talbot, Jim Bouton, Fritz Peterson and, as Bouton called him, the Dooley Womack. Roy White hit a home run for the Yankees.

* The New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Mets swept a doubleheader from , 6-3 and 5-4  In the 1st game, Jerry Koosman outpitched Jim Bunning. In the 2nd game, Dick Selma outpitched Bob Veale. Over the 2 games, Roberto Clemente went 2-for-8 with an RBI.

* And the Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves were rained out at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 6. The Braves swept, 5-0 and 2-1. Phil Niekro pitched a 4-hit shutout in the 1st game. Hank Aaron went 0-for-4 in the 1st game, but 3-for-3 with a walk in the 2nd game.

April 28, 1965: The Birth of the Manchester United-Leeds Rivalry

April 28, 1965: Despite losing 2–1 to Aston Villa, at Villa Park in Birmingham, on the final day of the League season, Manchester United are crowned Football League First Division champions for the 6th time in their history -- and the first time since 1957, and thus the first time since the Munich Air Disaster -- on goal average, ahead of a Leeds United side who have yet to win the top division title.

On April 26, Leeds had completed their League season with a 3-3 draw with Birmingham City, at St. Andrews Stadium in Birmingham in the West Midlands. In contrast, Man United beat North London team Arsenal, 3-1 at Old Trafford, in Salford, west of Central Manchester. With a much greater goal average, it would have taken a truly massive Villa win, at Villa Park, also in Birmingham, to throw the title to Leeds. But with a 2-1 loss, Man U finished with 61 points and a goal average of 2.282; while Leeds finished with 61 points and a goal average of 1.596.

United had lost to Leeds, 1-0 at Old Trafford on December 5, 1964; but had beaten Leeds, 1-0 at Elland Road on April 17.

Sir Matt Busby's phoenixlike triumph is led by the men who will become known as the Holy Trinity: Fellow Munich survivor Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, and a 19-year-old superstar in the making, George Best. None yet have the hairstyles for which they will be known: Charlton doesn't yet need the combover, while Law and Bestie still have comparatively short hair.

Three days later on May 1, Don Revie's Leeds completed that most frustrating of "achievements": The runner-up "Double," losing the FA Cup Final, to Liverpool, 2-1 in extra time, at the original Wembley Stadium in West London.

Over the course of 10 seasons, starting with this one, they will win 2 League titles, an FA Cup, a League Cup, and 2 Inter-Cities Fairs Cups (now known as the Europa League) -- but also finish 2nd in the League 5 times, lose 3 FA Cup Finals, a European Cup Final, a Fairs Cup Final and a European Cup Winners' Cup Final, and develop a reputation as the dirtiest team in the modern history of English football.

This season is also the beginning of the Man U-Leeds rivalry, which is one of the nastiest in Britain, with its roots in the Wars of the Roses of 1455 to 1485, with Greater Manchester having historically been part of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Leeds being in Yorkshire, run by the House of York. To this day, Leeds United wear the White Rose of the House of York on their crest. (United wear red shirts, which matches the Red Rose of the House of Lancaster, but this is not an intentional connection.)

*

April 28, 1965 was a Friday. This was also the day that President Lyndon B. Johnson sent U.S. troops as peacemakers to the Dominican Republic. I have a separate entry for that event.

Football was out of season. The NBA Finals ended 3 days earlier, with the Boston Celtics beating the Los Angeles Lakers in 5 games. The Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 5 and 6, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks in Game 7.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Athletics, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 12-9 at the Astrodome in Houston. Mets broadcaster Lindsey Nelson broadcast the game from the gondola suspended from the ceiling of the Astrodome, accompanied by a cameraman, 208 feet above 2nd base. "At first, I couldn't see anything except a lot of tiny figures. Everybody looked the same height... You couldn't tell a line drive from a pop fly." The dome had debuted on April 9, and they remained there through the 1999 season. The stadium hosted many other events over those years. And yet, no broadcaster, not even Nelson himself, ever copied the stunt.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 6-3 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.) Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4, but Jimmie Hall hit 2 home runs for the Twins, who knocked Jack Kralick out of the box in the 2nd inning. It was far from enough: The Indians knocked Jim Kaat out of the box in the 3rd, and Sonny Siebert pitched 7 2/3rds innings of strong relief.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4, but drew 2 walks. Pete Rose went 1-for-6. Ernie Banks went 1-for-5.

Ernie Broglio, whom the Cubs infamously traded Lou Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals for the season before, lost the game in the bottom of the 14th inning: Having gotten the 1st 2 outs, he walked Tommy Harper, allowed a single to Vada Pinson, and intentionally walked Robinson to set up the play at any base. But that loaded the bases, and, with Tony Pérez at bat, home plate umpire Doug Harvey called Broglio for a back, forcing Harper home. I wonder if Harper said, "'Preciate it. Thanks." (Ball Four reference.)

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Braves, 5-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Bob Gibson pitched a 3-hit shutout. Hank Aaron did not get any of those hits. The aforementioned Lou Brock went 2-for-4 with a walk, 2 stolen bases and 2 RBIs.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 5-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Bob Veale pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Claude Osteen. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays hit a home run.

* And the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were not scheduled.

February 6, 1958: The Munich Air Disaster

February 6, 1958. It may be hard to imagine a time when the English soccer team Manchester United was worthy of delight and sympathy, rather than disgust and loathing. But Manager Matt Busby had built a team that had won the English Football League in 1956 and 1957, despite an average age of 21 and 22, hence the nickname "the Busby Babes." By the standards of the time, they were producing not only great results, but "beautiful football."

They were returning from a European Cup Quarterfinal match against Red Star Belgrade, a team from the capital of Yugoslavia. After defeated them in the 1st leg, 2-1 at Old Trafford in Salford, the game at Partizan Stadium -- oddly, the home of Red Star's arch-rivals, Partizan -- ended in a 3-3 draw, allowing United to advance on aggregate.

They flew out of Belgrade, and stopped to refuel in Munich, in what was then called West Germany. The plane tried to take off in a snowstorm, and crashed.

There were 23 people killed, but, amazingly, 21 survived. Among the dead were Man United players Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Liam "Billy" Whelan, all killed instantly. An 8th player, Duncan Edwards, already the most-lauded of the Busby Babes, died in a hospital 15 days later.

Duncan Edwards

Two other players, Jackie Blanchflower and Johnny Berry, survived, but were hurt so badly that they never played again. Busby himself was badly injured. Goalkeeper Harry Gregg, despite his own injuries, managed to rescue some passengers before the plane exploded.

Assistant manager Jimmy Murphy was not with the United team: A Welshman, he was also the manager of the Wales national team, who were also playing on February 5. They defeated Israel, 2-0 at Ninian Park in Cardiff.

An American newsreel covered the crash, suggesting that it was, for England, as if the Milwaukee Braves, who had won the World Series 4 months earlier, had crashed.

In spite of the crash, Murphy filled in for Busby, and signed some emergency acquisitions, and guided United to advance to the 1958 FA Cup Final, losing to Bolton Wanderers. Busby returned to managing duties for the 1958-59 season, and built a new group of Babes, which won the 1963 FA Cup and the League Championship in 1965 and 1967.

The only United players to survive the crash and to play for the '65 and '67 champions were Bill Foulkes, and the far better-remembered Bobby Charlton, who also went on to be a key member (along with his brother Jack, who played for Leeds United) of England's World Cup win in 1966. 

Along with Sir Bobby and Foulkes, that United team is remembered for the Scottish star Denis Law and the Northern Ireland superstar George Best. Charlton, Law and Best are remembered as "United's Holy Trinity," and a statue of them stands outside their stadium, Old Trafford.

Still, with several good players killed, the course of English football was changed: Without it, the subsequent return to glory of Wolverhampton Wanderers, a.k.a. Wolves, the team United dethroned as the defining team in England, might not have happened. Nor might the rise of Tottenham Hotspur (captained by Jackie's brother Danny Blanchflower), and the 2 Liverpool-based teams, Liverpool and Everton. And it might not have taken until United's win in 1968 for an English team to win the European Cup. (Glasgow, Scotland-based Celtic became the 1st British team to win it, in 1967.)

Matt Busby, after the 1968 European Cup win

Today, there are United fans, and English people in general, who are convinced that, had the crash not happened, and those United players (Whelan was from Ireland, and Blanchflower and Gregg were from Northern Ireland, but the rest were English) had been available to play, England would have won the 1958 and 1962 World Cups. No, they wouldn't have: They still wouldn't have been better than the Brazil of Garrincha and the young Pelé.

Instead, managed by Walter Winterbottom, England did not advance to the Group Stage. Murphy coached Wales to the Quarterfinals before losing to Brazil.

The Munich Air Disaster is commemorated at Old Trafford, with the Munich Tunnel, which the players walk through to get to the field; and the Munich Clock, with the date of the crash inscribed on it and the time permanently set to the time of the crash, 3:04 PM (in Manchester, 4:04 in Munich). It now stands above the front gate and a statue of Busby.

United fans, naturally, get sensitive when opposing fans talk or sing about airplanes, or call the team "the Munichs." But that's no excuse for United's fans, not exactly known for having class, to call Liverpool fans "murderers" because of the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters of the 1980s, neither of which were murders, or the fault of Liverpool fans.

Other plane crashes to wipe out nearly entire soccer teams include the Superga crash of 1949, which ended a decade of dominance of Italy's Torino FC (among those killed was Valentino Mazzola, a big star of the time, whose son Sandro Mazzola would be a legend with Internazionale Milano in the 1960s); a 1987 crash that killed the entire roster of Alianza Lima of Peru; a 1989 crash that killed 11 players from Suriname; and a 1993 crash in Gabon that killed several members of the national team of Zambia.

Crashes also wiped out, or nearly wiped out, the California Polytechnic State University football team in 1960, the football teams of both Wichita State and Marshall University in 1970 (the latter crash inspiring the recent film We Are Marshall), the 1977 crash that killed the University of Evansville basketball team; and, on February 15, 1961, a crash in Belgium that killed 73, including the entire U.S. figure skating team, men and women alike. U.S. figure skating would not even begin to recover from that until 1968, when Peggy Fleming won her Olympic Gold Medal.

*

February 6, 1958 was a Thursday. It was the off-season for Major League Baseball and the NFL. There were no NBA games played that day. But there were 2 NHL games played that day:

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Boston Garden. Bobby Hull scored twice, and was looking like he would be awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year. Instead, it went to Frank Mahovlich of the Toronto Maple Leafs -- who, like the New York Rangers, were not scheduled to play on this day.

In 1986, Hawks management found the team's original 1926 charter, and discovered that the team's name was officially spelled as one word, "Blackhawks," and that's how it's been ever since. Before that, it was always listed as two words, "Black Hawks."

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 1-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. Dickie Moore scored for the Habs, Nick Mickoski for the Wings.