October 31, 1903: Hampden Park Opens

October 31, 1903: Hampden Park opens in Glasgow, and becomes Scotland's national stadium. The previous facility with the name had been home to Queen's Park Football Club, the 1st professional sports team in Scotland, since 1873.

Queen's Park have played on the current site since 1903, the Scottish Cup Final has been held there since 1904, the national team has used it as their main home since 1906, and the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe played there from 1998 to 2004.

The east and north stands of the stadium were redeveloped as all-seater in 1994, in time for Glasgow team Celtic to use Hampden while their own Celtic Park was redeveloped in the 1994-95 season. The rest of the stadium was upgraded by 1999. A record crowd of 149,415 saw a Scotland vs. England game in 1937, but the capacity is now 51,866.

Hampden hosted the Final of the European Cup in 1960 (Real Madrid beating Eintracht Frankfurt), 1976 (Bayern Munich beating Saint-Étienne), and 2002 (by which point the tournament had been renamed the UEFA Champions League, with Real Madrid beating Bayer Leverkusen). It was used as a venue for Euro 2020 (delayed until 2021 due to the COVID pandemic).

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October 31, 1903 was a Saturday. Baseball season was over. Basketball barely existed, and hockey hadn't yet turned professional. These other noteworthy games were played in college football:

* The universities of Michigan and Minnesota played to a 6-6 tie at Northrop Field in Minneapolis. This led to the rivalry known as "The Little Brown Jug." I have a separate entry for that event.

* The game that was supposed to be played between Indiana University and Purdue University was canceled, due to the Purdue Wreck. I have an entry for that event as well.

* Army beat Vermont, 32-0 on The Plain in West Point, New York.

* Penn State beat Navy, 17-0 at Worden Field in Annapolis, Maryland.

* Yale beat Columbia, 25-0 at the Polo Grounds.

* Harvard beat the Carlisle Indian School, 12-11 at Soldier's Field in Boston. Jim Thorpe was too young to play on the Carlisle varsity, but they almost didn't need him. Two weeks later, on November 14, Harvard Stadium opened, and Harvard lost to Dartmouth. They still play there today.

* The University of Pennsylvania beat Bucknell, 47-6 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. A new stadium by that name would be built on the same site in 1922.

* Lafayette beat New York University, 8-6 at Ohio Field in The Bronx.

* Princeton beat Cornell, 44-0 at University Field in Princeton, New Jersey.

* And Rutgers beat Stevens Institute, 36-6 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

May 20, 1953: The Coronation Cup Final

May 20, 1953: The Final of the Coronation Cup, a soccer tournament celebrating the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, is held -- but not in England, as had been expected.

There were 8 teams invited, 4 from England and 4 from Scotland. This was an unusual chance for them to test themselves against a team from "another country," as the European Cup had yet to be instituted.

The Scottish teams were: Rangers Football Club of Glasgow, who had won Scotland's Division One and Scottish Cup, "The Double"; Hibernian Football Club of Edinburgh, who had finished 2nd to Rangers in the Scottish league, and had won it in each of the 2 preceding seasons; Aberdeen Football Club, who had lost the Scottish Cup Final to Rangers; and Celtic Football Club, Rangers' Glasgow arch-rivals, although the real reason they were invited is that they had won the Empire Exhibition Trophy in 1938, the closest thing this tournament had to a previous edition, making them, in a way, the "defending champions."

The English teams were: Arsenal Football Club of North London, who had just won England's Football League Division One; Manchester United Football Club, who had won it the season before; Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, who had won the League in 1951 and were runners-up to United in 1952; and Newcastle United, who had won the Football Association Cup in 1951 and 1952.

Each Quarterfinal featured an English team against a Scottish team. Many had hoped for a Final between the 2 newly-crowned Champions, Arsenal and Rangers. But both went down in the Quarterfinals: Celtic beat Arsenal, 1-0; and Man United beat Rangers, 2-1. Newcastle beat Aberdeen, 4-0; and Hibernian and Tottenham played to a 1-1 draw, with a replay going 2-1 to "Hibs" over "Spurs."

That left 2 teams from each country, and so the Semifinals were also set up to both be England vs. Scotland. But the Final would not be that way: Celtic beat United, 2-1; and Hibs beat Newcastle, 4-0. So the Final would be played not at England's national stadium, Wembley Stadium in West London; but at Scotland's national stadium, Hampden Park on the South Side of Glasgow.

Each team represented the Irish people, and, by extension, the Catholic people in their respective cities: Celtic against all-Protestant Rangers in Glasgow, and Hibernian, or "Hibs" in a far less controversial rivalry in Edinburgh with mostly-Protestant Heart of Midlothian, or "Hearts." Thus, the 117,060 people who crammed into Hampden on May 20 may have been the most Irish crowd ever on the island of Great Britain.

In those days, most teams used a 2-3-5 formation, with 5 forwards. And Hibs had a line known as "The Famous Five": Outside right Gordon Smith, inside right Bobby Johnstone, centre forward Lawrie Reilly (also their Captain), inside left Eddie Turnbull, and outside left Willie Ormond. They often dazzled opponents into submission.

But Celtic had a stout defense, led by centre halfback and team Captain John "Jock" Stein. (And that's pronounced "Steen," like Bruce, not "Stine," like R.L. and most Jewish people with the name "Stein.") Jock would lead Celtic to the next season's League title, and then win 10 of them, and the 1967 European Cup, as their manager.

And the defense he led completely shut the Famous Five down. In the 20th minute, Neil Mochan scored for Celtic. They hung on until inside right Jimmy Walsh put the game away in the 87th. Celtic won, 2-0. Until the 1967 European triumph, this was arguably their greatest victory, partly because it was unexpected.

This tournament was a one-off. There were no Coronation Cups for the Coronations of King Edward VII in 1902, King George V in 1911, or King George VI in 1937. (UPDATE: Nor was there one for that of King Charles III in 2023.)

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May 20, 1953 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-8 at Yankee Stadium. They trailed 8-7, but tied the game in the 8th. In the 9th, Gene Woodling singled Billy Martin home with the winning run. Joe Collins hit a home run. Mickey Mantle went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Yogi Berra appeared as a pinch-hitter, reached base on a force play, and scored. Allie Reynolds was the winning pitcher, in relief of Eddie Lopat.

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 16-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The wind was blowing out: Home runs were hit by Monte Irvin, Alvin Dark and Davey Williams of the Giants; and Dee Fondy and Roy Smalley of the Cubs. (His nephew, also named Roy Smalley, would also become a major league shortstop.) Willie Mays was unavailable, due to serving in the Korean War.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Jackie Robinson went 2-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. This was the Braves' 1st season in Milwaukee, and, with County Stadium inside, but on the edge of, the City of Milwaukee, they had already surpassed their entire previous season's worth of home attendance in Boston.

Dodger owner Walter O'Malley had seen the future, and it was surrounded with 12,000 parking spaces, away from poor people who didn't go to ballgames anyway. (Except, many of them did.)

* The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Del Wilber won it with a home run in the bottom of the 14th inning. Ted Williams was unavailable, due to serving in the Korean War.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The former Shibe Park had just been renamed.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Former Yankee Frank "Spec" Shea outpitched Bob Feller.

* The Cincinnati Redlegs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 14-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. This was the 1st of 7 seasons in which the Reds officially used the Redlegs name, because they were cowed into submission by the "Red Scare."

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-6 at the original Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The former Sportsman's Park had just been renamed. Stan Musial went 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Ralph Kiner did the same thing, but in defeat.

May 18, 1960: Five Straight European Cups

May 18, 1960: For the 5th time, the European Cup plays its Final. For the 5th time, Real Madrid win it.

In front of a record crowd for the event, 127,621 at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, Los Blancos defeated German champions Eintracht Frankfurt, 7-3. Hampden would also host the Final in 1976, with Bayern Munich winning; and in 2002, with Real Madrid winning again. Because of this 1960 performance, Real Madrid have been popular in Scotland ever since.

Hampden Park in the 1960s

Ferenc Puskás, known as the Galloping Major due to his service in the Hungarian Army, scored 4 goals. Alfredo Di Stéfano, known as the Blond Arrow although his hair was starting to go, scored the other 3.

Despite their association with the Fascist government of Francisco Franco, Real Madrid were the first true "United Nations" soccer team. Forward Raymond Kopa, who had helped them win the tournament in 1957, '58 and '59, had gone back to Stade de Reims in his native France. But inside left Puskás was from Hungary. Center forward Di Stéfano and goalkeeper Rogelio Domínguez were from Argentina. Outside right Darcy Silveira dos Santos, known as Canário, was from Brazil. Centerback José Emilio Santamaría was from Uruguay.

The rest of the team were natives of Spain. Captain and left half José María Zárraga and right half José María Vidal were from Madrid. Right back Marcos Alonso, known as "Marquitos," left back Enrique Pérez, known as "Pachín," and outside left Francisco "Paco" Gento were from Cantabria. And inside right Luis del Sol was from Andalusia.

Miguel Muñoz, a Madrid native, was Real's manager. He had won the European Cup as a player with Real Madrid in 1956, '57 and '58, and now he had become the 1st man to win it as a player and as a manager. He would lead them to it again in 1966. 

Through the 2021-22 season, he is 1 of only 7 to complete the feat. The others:

* Giovanni Trapattoni, as a player with AC Milan in 1963 and '69; and as a manager with Juventus in 1985.

* Johan Cruyff, as a player with AFC Ajax of Amsterdam in 1971, '72 and '73; and as a manager with FC Barcelona in 1992.

* Carlo Ancelotti, as a player with AC Milan in 1989 and '90; and as a manager with AC Milan in 2003 and '07, and with Real Madrid in 2014. (UPDATE: With Real again in 2022 and '24.)

* Frank Rijkaard, as a player with AC Milan in 1989 and '90 (as Ancelotti's teammate), and with Ajax in 1995; and as a manager with Barcelona in 2006.

* Pep Guardiola, as a player with Barcelona in 1992 (under Cruyff); and as a manager with Barcelona in 2009 and '11, (UPDATE He won again by managing Manchester City in 2023.)

* Zinédine Zidane, as a player with Real Madrid in 2002; and as a manager with Real Madrid in 2016, '17 and '18.

Gento was on Real's 1966 winners, becoming the 1st player to be on 6 European Cup winners. Through the 2021-22 season, he remains the only one. (UPDATE: In 2024, 4 Real Madrid players joined him: Luka Modrić, Dani Carvajal, Nacho Fernández and Toni Kroos. Kroos had won 1 at Bayern Munich, but all the others were won at Real Madrid.)

Since 1960, 3 straight European Cups -- the name of the trophy was kept after the tournament was rebranded as the UEFA Champions League in 1992 -- has been done by Ajax in 1971, '72 and '73; Bayern Munich in 1974, '75 and '76; and Real again in 2016, '17 and '18. Benfica of Lisbon fell just short by losing the 1963 Final.

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May 18, 1960 was a Wednesday. Hockey star Jari Kurri and tennis star Yannick Noah were born.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Ralph Terry outpitched Wynn Hawkins. Gil McDougald hit a home run. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-1 with 3 walks. Yogi Berra went 0-for-3 with 1 walk. Roger Maris went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Vern Law, on his way to the Cy Young Award, went the distance for the win. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4. Stan Musial singled as a pinch-hitter.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Ed Bailey singled Frank Robinson home in the bottom of the 12th inning to win it. Robinson had gone 2-for-3 with a home run, 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-0 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (The ballpark was renamed Tiger Stadium the next year.) Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Dave Sisler (son of George, brother of Dick and George Jr.) started the top of the 11th inning by walking Bob Allison, and then gave up a home run to Jim Lemon. He gave up another walk, and then 2 singles, for a 3rd run in the inning. Al Kaline went 2-for-5 for the Tigers.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ted Williams, in his last season, appeared as a pinch-hitter, and had an RBI as a sacrifice fly.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with a walk. Eddie Mathews went 1-for-4. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Willie McCovey went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Athletics, 5-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Jackie Brandt hit a home run in the top of the 9th inning. Hoyt Wilhelm, usually a reliever, started, and pitched 5 innings. Steve Barber pitched the last 4, for the win. Apparently, his arm was neither sore nor a little stiff. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 21. The Phils won each game by a score of 7-6. Tony Curry singled Alvin Dark home to win the opener in the bottom of the 13th inning. Ken Walters went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. Ernie Banks also had 2 homers and 3 RBIs. Each man had 2 more RBIs in the nightcap.

May 15, 2002: Bayer Leverkusen's Treble Failure

May 15, 2002: Real Madrid defeat Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, 2-1 at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, and win the UEFA Champions League. It is the 9th time that they have won this tournament, formerly known as the European Cup – more than any other club. But they haven’t won it since.

Their goals were appropriately scored by their two greatest players of the modern era, hometown hero Raul Gonzalez (usually known by just his first name) and French superstar Zinedine Zidane. They led a team of superstars known as "Los Galácticos," including Spaniards Iker Casillas, Guti and Míchel Salgado; Portuguese star Luís Figo (previously playing for arch-rival Barcelona), black Frenchman Claude Makélélé, and Englishman Steve McManaman, the former Liverpool star who is now a pundit for ESPN.

Real Madrid had built one of the greatest teams in the history of world club soccer. But this game is less remarkable for its winner than it is for its loser. Bayer Leverkusen, based in Leverkusen on the east bank of the Rhine River in western Germany, and founded by the Bayer pharmaceutical company, had failed in all three of its major competitions. In one of the closest races in the history of the Bundesliga, Germany's national league, Borussia Dortmund had defeated Bayer by 1 point, and Bayern Munich by 2 points.

Their manager was Klaus Toppmöller, a former star forward at FC Kaiserlautern, who helped the Dallas Tornado win the 1973 North American Soccer League title. He had previously managed top-flight sides, including Eintracht Frankfurt. His players included goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt; midfielders Michael Ballack, Zé Roberto from Brazil, Marko Babić from Croatia; forward Dimitar Berbatov from Bulgaria; and an American, right back Frankie Hejduk.

Leverkusen had a stretch from December 1, 2001 to February 6, 2022 where they lost 5 out of 7. But where they really lost the title came late, with a 1-1 draw away to Hamburger SV on April 13, a 2-1 loss at home to Werder Bremen on April 20, and a 1-0 loss away to FC Nürnberg on April 27. Given their superior goal difference to Dortmund (but not Bayern), just 1 more goal in any of those 3 games would have given Leverkusen the title.

If Leverkusen could win on the final day, May 4, while Dortumund did not, that would also have given Leverkusen the title. Bayer did their part, beating Hertha Berlin, 2-1 in Leverkusen; but Dortmund beat Bremen, 2-1 in Dortmund, and that was it.

On May 11, at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, they lost the Final of the DFB-Pokal, 4-2 to Schalke 04. ("DFB" for "Deutscher Fußball-Bund," or "German Football Association," and "Pokal" for "Cup," so this is Germany's version of England's FA Cup.) Leverkusen led the game 1-0 before Schalke scored on the stroke of halftime.

In the Champions League, Leverkusen survived defeats to Juventus and Arsenal to advance from the Group Stage, and went back to England and defeated Liverpool in the Quarterfinal and Manchester United in the Semifinal. But, as with the Pokal, a goal right before halftime, in this case by Zidane, doomed them, putting Los Galácticos up, 2-1, and that would be the final score.

In a space of 12 days, Bayer Leverkusen went from having a chance at all 3 major trophies to having lost them all. Such a crash had never happened in Europe before, nor has it since. (In 1987, North London team Tottenham Hotspur were eligible for a domestic Treble as late as March 4 -- Football League, FA Cup, and League Cup -- and lost them all. But, for reasons that had nothing to do with them, they were ineligible for European play.)

Toppmöller managed Leverkusen 1 more season, then 1 at Hamburger, and 2 with the national team of Georgia. He has not managed any team since 2008, and has never won a trophy as a manager.

Hejduk would help the Columbus Crew win the 2008 MLS Cup. Ballack (with Real star Makélélé) later starred for Chelsea, and Berbatov for Manchester United. While Zé Roberto had previously helped Real Madrid win a La Liga title, would later help Bayern Munich win 4 Bundesliga titles, he was not selected for Brazil's World Cup team following Leverkusen's 2002 defeats. Brazil won that World Cup. This may not have been a coincidence.

Bayer Leverkusen had previously won the UEFA Cup, now the UEFA Europa League, in 1988; and the DFB-Pokal in 1993. Through the 2021-22 season, those remain their only major trophies. In 2000, they went into the last game of the Bundesliga season in 1st place, but lost 2-0, away to 10th-place Unterhaching, with Ballack scoring an own goal, and lost the title to Bayern Munich on goal difference. This has led to discussions of whether there is a "curse" on the club.

UPDATE: In 2023-24, they finally won their 1st Bundesliga title, and became the 1st team ever to do so undefeated: Played 34, won 28, drew 6, lost exactly none. And they beat Kaiserslautern for the DFB-Pokal, winning "The Double." If there was a curse on them, it was broken.

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May 15, 2002 was a Wednesday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 10-7 at Yankee Stadium. Joe Kennedy outpitched Orlando "El Duque" Hernández. Steve Cox went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. For the Yankees, Bernie Williams and Nick Johnson hit home runs, Johnson had 4 RBIs, and Derek Jeter went 1-for-4.

* The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Jeff D'Amico pitched a 2-hit shutout. Mo Vaughn hit a home run.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-6 at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base and an RBI.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-1 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-4 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Todd Walker went 4-for-5 with an RBI. Ken Griffey Jr. was injured, and did not play.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-6 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Florida Marlins, 7-2 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Montreal Expos, 2-1 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Ryan Klesko singled D'Angelo Jimenez home with the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-1 at Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Greg Maddux outpitched Liván Hernández. Barry Bonds went 0-for-2 with a walk before leaving the game.

There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs: The New Jersey Nets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 103-95 

at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

There was also 1 game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Colorado Avalanche beat the San jose Sharks, 1-0 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.