October 3, 1953: The Montreal Canadiens Buy a Whole League to Get One Player

Jean Béliveau and two of his closest friends:

The Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup.

October 3, 1953: The Canadian Arena Company buys the entire Quebec Senior Hockey League, and converts it to a professional minor league. The CAC also owns the Montreal Canadiens, and this allows them to call up the best player in the QSHL, Jean Béliveau of the Quebec Aces.

Béliveau hadn't wanted to officially turn pro, despite brief callups with the Canadiens in the 1950-51 and 1952-53 seasons. The Aces, despite their amateur status, had taken good care of him; while the Canadiens, while paying, didn't pay much. But now, he has no choice: It's either play for the Canadiens, or don't play hockey at all.

(Distance was not an issue: His hometown of Trois-Rivières, Quebec was almost halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.)

So the Canadiens bought an entire league, just to get the rights to one player. The gamble paid off better than they could have ever imagined: For the next 18 seasons, Béliveau was one of the best and classiest players in hockey, winning 10 Stanley Cups with the Canadiens, the last 5 as Captain, still a record. He scored 507 goals, making him only the 4th player to reach the 500 mark, following his ex-teammate Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull.

He played in 13 NHL All-Star Games. In 1956, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the regular-season Most Valuable Player, and the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer. In 1964, he won the Hart again. In 1965, he was awarded the 1st-ever Conn Smythe Trophy for MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Hockey Hall of Fame waived its eligibility requirement to elect him just 1 year after his retirement. In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him 7th on its list of the 100 Greatest Players, behind Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Howe, Mario Lemieux, Richard, and another former teammate, Doug Harvey.

Until his death in 2014, he was a Canadiens "Ambassadeur," representing the club at many functions. He participated in ceremonies honoring the club's 75th Anniversary in 1985 (it actually should have been in 1984), the closing of the Montreal Forum and the opening of the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in 1996, Richard's funeral in 2000, and the team's 100th Anniversary in 2009.

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October 3, 1953 was a Saturday. Game 4 of the World Series was played at Ebbets Field. Duke Snider hit a home run off Whitey Ford in the 1st inning, and the Brooklyn Dodgers evened the Series by beating the New York Yankees, 7-3.

The game ended strangely. Gene Woodling opened the top of the 9th inning with a single, Billy Martin singled, and Gil McDougald, who homered earlier, drew a walk to load the bases. Dodger manager Walter Alston pulled pitcher Billy Loes, and brought in Clem Labine. He struck Phil Rizzuto out. Yankee manager Casey Stengel sendt Johnny Mize up to pinch-hit for pitcher Art Schallock (no designated hitter in those days), and he flew to center. Then Mickey Mantle singled Woodling home, but Martin was thrown out trying to score and make it 7-4.

This was Mize's last major league appearance. He did not play in Game 5 or Game 6, and retired after the Series.

It was also a college football Saturday. The night before, Number 7 University of Southern California beat Indiana, 27-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a rare matchup between the leagues that would become the Big 10 and the Pac-12 that wasn't in a Rose Bowl game; Number 10 Baylor beat the University of Miami at Burdine Stadium in Miami, the stadium later renamed the Orange Bowl; and New York's Fordham beat the University of Detroit, 21-7 at Titan Stadium Detroit. On the Saturday, among others, these games were played:

* Number 1 Notre Dame beat Purdue, 37-7 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. Despite not accepting bowl invitations, Notre Dame were named the National Champions at the end of the season.

* Number 2 Michigan State beat Minnesota, 21-0 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. State won the Big 10 title.

* Number 3 Maryland beat Clemson, 20-0 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. Maryland went on to win the 1st-ever Atlantic Coast Conference title.

* Number 4 Michigan beat Tulane, 26-7 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 5 UCLA beat Oregon, 12-0 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, UCLA won the Pacific Coast Conference title, but lost the Rose Bowl to Michigan State.

* In other "Big 10" and "Pac-12" crossover games, Number 6 Ohio State beat the University of California, 33-19 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California; Illinois beat Stanford, 33-21 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois; and Iowa beat Washington State, 54-12 at Iowa Stadium (later Kinnick Stadium) in Iowa City.

* Number 8 Oklahoma and the University of Pittsburgh played to a 7-7 tie, at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh. The week before, Oklahoma had lost to Notre Dame.

For the Sooners, this was the 1st of 48 straight games unbeaten, and the next week the start of a 47-game winning streak, both still records in college football. It was Notre Dame that became the next team to beat them, in 1957. Notre Dame's basketball team would also be the last, and the next, team to beat UCLA with their record streak of 88 straight wins, from 1971 to 1974.

At any rate, Oklahoma won the Big Seven Conference title, and beat Maryland in the Orange Bowl.

* Number 9 Georgia Tech beat Southern Methodist University, 6-4 at Grant Field in Atlanta. Yes, six to four. SMU must have gotten two safeties. Since Southeastern Conference Champions Alabama accepted a bid to the Cotton Bowl, the SEC's bid to the Sugar Bowl fell to Tech.

* Number 13 West Virginia beat Waynesburg College, 47-19 at the original Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. WVU went on to the Sugar Bowl, where WV beat them.

* Number 14 Rice made a rare visit to the North, and beat Cornell, 28-7 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York. Rice shared the Southwest Conference title with Texas, but beat them head-to-head, and went to the Cotton Bowl.

* In what was never really a rivalry, despite both being in the same State, one in the capital and the other in the largest city, Number 16 Wisconsin beat Marquette, 13-11 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

* Number 17 Texas beat the University of Houston, 28-7 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

* Army lost to Northwestern, 33-20 at Dyche Stadium in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois.

* Navy beat Dartmouth, 55-7 at Thompson Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* Alabama beat Vanderbilt, 21-12 at Dudley Field (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville. Alabama won the Southeastern Conference title, and were invited to the Cotton Bowl, but Rice beat them. I have a separate entry for this game.

* In a result that wouldn't have been shocking then, but sure would be now, the University of Pennsylvania beat Penn State, 13-7 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* Rutgers beat Virginia Tech, 20-13 at Rutgers Stadium in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

* And Princeton beat Columbia, 21-19 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

May 1, 1965: Canadiens 13, Maple Leafs 12

Jean Béliveau with 2 of his closest friends

May 1, 1965: In the 1st NHL game to be played after April, the Montreal Canadiens win their 13th Stanley Cup, taking the all-time lead from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had won their 12th the year before. They have never given that lead up. They beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-0, in Game 7 of the Finals at the Montreal Forum.

The first Conn Smythe Trophy for most valuable player of the Playoffs – the entire playoffs, unlike other sports where it’s given only to the MVP of the finals – is awarded in honor of the former head coach and general manager of the Maple Leafs, the very Canadian, and very English, World War I hero and World War II officer, Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe, who, though no longer in charge of the team, was still alive. (He lived until 1980.)

And it went to a player on the Montreal Canadiens. Their Captain. A native of Quebec City, the capital of the French-speaking Province in Canada, a man who did not speak English until he became a major leaguer. Joseph Jean Arthur Béliveau. Known as Jean Béliveau, he scored in this Game 7. So did former Maple Leaf Dick Duff; the very French "Roadrunner," Yvan Cournoyer; and Henri Richard, brother of the retired superstar Maurice "the Rocket" Richard, another proud Francophone, who would succeed Béliveau as Captain (and would, himself, be succeeded by Cournoyer).

This was not a good day to be a Maple Leafs fan -- especially Smythe. At least he did not have to hand over the Cup, or the new Trophy bearing his name. That was the duty of the President of the NHL, Clarence Campbell, a man often considered his subordinate.

Béliveau, Richard, Duff, Cournoyer, Jacques Laperrière, goaltender Lorne "Gump" Worsley, head coach Hector "Toe" Blake and general manager Frank Selke, are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Béliveau went on to play on 10 Cup-winning teams, and lived until 2015.

The Canadiens would win the Cup again in 1966. In 1967, the Leafs would beat them in the Finals, cutting the deficit to 14-13. But the Leafs have not been back to the Finals since. They are stuck on 13 Stanley Cups. The Canadiens now have 24.

*

May 1, 1965 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-4 at Yankee Stadium. Whitey Ford was the winning pitcher. The losing pitcher was a former Yankee who managed to pitch a no-hitter for them, which was an achievement that eluded Ford. And it was a perfect game in the World Series. Yes, the losing pitcher was Don Larsen.

Tony Kubek hit a home run. Tom Tresh and Joe Pepitone each had 3 hits. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-1... with 3 walks, 1 with the bases loaded, giving him an RBI. For the Orioles, Brooks Robinson 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 9-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Vada Pinson went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Pete Rose went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 7-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-8 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.  Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly known as the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-4. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Athletics, 3-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The Houston Astros swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs, 6-4 and 6-1 at the brand-new Astrodome in Houston. Over the 2 games, Ernie Banks went 2-for-8 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ron Fairly hit a home run. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with a walk.

American football was out of season. The NBA season ended 6 days earlier, when the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals.

And the FA Cup Final was played at the old Wembley Stadium in London. Liverpool FC beat Leeds United AFC, 2-1. The Mersey Reds, under manager Bill Shankly, win the FA Cup for the 1st time. The game is scoreless after regulation, but Liverpool's Roger Hunt and Leeds' Billy Bremner trade goals in extra time, before Ian St. John wins it in the 113th minute. Liverpool captain Ron Yeats accepts the Cup from Queen Elizabeth.

Leeds thus do a "Runner-Up Double," finishing 2nd in the League and losing the FA Cup Final in the same year. While they do win some trophies in the 1960s and '70s, their pattern of being the era's "nearly men" has been set.

Leeds do, however, produce a notable first: Albert Johanneson, a left winger (in position, possibly also in politics) from South Africa, was the 1st black man to play in an FA Cup Final. By 1974, Bremner, as captain of both Leeds and Scotland, would seem to forget this, race-baiting the Zaire players at the World Cup.