September 10, 1985: The Death of Jock Stein

September 10, 1985: The Scotland soccer national team gets a late equalizer to tie Wales, in a World Cup qualifying match at Ninian Park in Cardiff. But at the end of the game, Scotland manager John "Jock" Stein suffers a heart attack and dies. He was 62 years old.

Stein -- pronounced "Steen," not "Stine" -- was born on October 5, 1922 in Burnbank, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Like many Scots, especially those named John, he was nicknamed "Jock." After years of playing centre half with Coatbridge side Albion Rovers, and an ill-fated season with Llanelli Town in Wales, in 1951 he signed with Celtic of Glasgow, and helped them win the Scottish Football League title in 1954.

He managed Dunfermline Athletic to the 1961 Scottish Cup, and spent some time at Hibernian of Edinburgh, before Celtic hired him as manager in 1965. He managed them to 9 consecutive Scottish Football League titles, 1966 to 1974, and a 10th in 1977. He led them to 8 Scottish Cups from 1965 to 1977. He managed them to 6 Scottish League Cups from 1966 to 1975.

In 1967, he became the 1st manager of a British team, and the 1st British manager, to win the European Cup, as Celtic beat Internazionale Milano in the Final, at Portugal's National Stadium in Lisbon, earning them the nickname the Lisbon Lions. As Celtic also won all 3 domestic trophies, they became the 1st, and remain the only, side in European history to win such a Quadruple.

Like Brian Clough, he was a successful manager who nonetheless managed very briefly at Leeds United -- each man managing the Yorkshire club for just 44 days. He managed Scotland briefly in 1965, and was hired to manage the national side again in 1978. He got them into the 1982 World Cup. In 1985, managing a Home Nations match against Wales at Ninian Park in Cardiff, which ended in a 1-1 draw, he suffered a heart attack, and died in the dressing room. He was only 62.

A stand at Celtic Park was named in his memory, and a statue of him holding the European Cup stands outside. He was posthumously elected to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

A stand at Celtic Park in Glasgow is named for him, and a statue of him stands outside. (And that's pronounced "Steen," not "Styne.")

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September 10, 1985 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 13-10 at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Yankees got home runs from Dan Pasqua, Ron Hassey and Ken Griffey Sr. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4. Don Mattingly went 1-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs. For the Brewers, Robin Yount did not play, but Paul Molitor went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Ed Whitson was the winning pitcher, but, due to manager Billy Martin being a psychopath, didn't win another game that season.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Ron Darling outpitched Danny Cox, and Howard Johnson hit a home run.

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Baltimore Orioles won the opener, 7-5. Mike Young hit 2 home runs for the O's. The Boston Red Sox won the nightcap, 5-3. Over the 2 games, Eddie Murray went 2-for-8 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs; Cal Ripken went 3-for-7 with 2 walks; and Wade Boggs went 6-for-8 with a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 5-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Atlanta Braves, 10-1 and 10-4 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4. Reds player-manager Pete Rose went 0-for-4, letting down a crowd of 51,045. The next day, he got his 4,192nd career hit, breaking what had officially been the all-time hits record.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 6-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Charlie Liebrandt pitched a 3-hit shutout. George Brett went 2-for-4. Neither Reggie Jackson nor Rod Carew, in his last full month as an active player, got into the game.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 10-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the Cleveland Indians beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-5 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

May 25, 1967: Celtic Win the European Cup

May 25, 1967: For the 1st time, a soccer team from Great Britain wins the highest trophy in Europe, the European Cup, the trophy given for the tournament of the same name from 1956 to 1992, and since then named the UEFA Champions League. But it's not a team in England.

The Celtic Football Club was founded on the East Side of Glasgow, Scotland in 1887 (though it says 1888 on their badge), to represent poor Irish Catholics in that city. Their rivalry with the West Side team Rangers F.C., a militantly Protestant team, is one of the most bitter in sports on planet Earth.

Rangers have won the top division of Scottish soccer, under its various names, more than any other team, a few times more than have Celtic. For winning more than 50 titles, they wear 5 stars above their crest. But Celtic have won the European Cup, and wear one star before their crest. Their fans say, "One star means more."

And in the 1966-67 season, they won more than just the Double, the League title and the Scottish Cup. They won more than just the Treble, those 2 and the Scottish League Cup. They won Europe's only Quadruple: Their country's national league, it's national cup, its league cup, and the European Cup.

Under the rules of the time, only a defending champion of a European national league, and the team that won the European Cup the season before (if they hadn't repeated as League Champions), qualified for the European Cup. Celtic qualified as 1965-66 Scottish league Champions.

In the 1st Round, consisting of 32 teams, they beat Swiss Champions FC Zurich, 2-0 at home, 2-0 and 3-0 away. In the 2nd Round, they beat French Champions FC Nantes, 3-1 away and then 3-1 at home. In the Quarterfinals, they played away to Yugoslav Champions FK Vojvodina, and lost 1-0; but came back to Celtic Park and beat them 2-0, to win 2-1 on aggregate. In the Semifinal, they faced Czech Champions Dukla Prague, beating them 3-1 at home, and gaining a 0-0 draw away.

For the Final, they would travel to the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal, and face Internazionale Milano, the Italian Champions, winners of the European Cup in 1964 and 1965. Manager Helenio Herrera could call upon such talents as right back Tarcisio Burgnich, left back Giacinto Facchetti, and the great central midfielder Sandro Mazzola.

Estádio Nacional

Vying with Gianni Rivera of intracity (even intrastadium) A.C. Milan for the honor of the best Italian player of his generation, Mazzola was the son of Valentino Mazzola, a star for Torino F.C. of Turin in the 1940s, killed when most of the Torino team was wiped out in the Superga Air Disaster of 1949. That team was known as La Grande Torino. Now, Sandro was playing for the first team with the "Great" nickname since then: La Grande Inter.

But Celtic manager John "Jock" Stein -- and that's pronounced like the Scandinavian "Steen," even though it's spelled like the German/Jewish "Stine" -- knew he had the better team, and convinced them they were ready. It was truly a local team, with all of them having grown up within 30 miles of Glasgow:

* 1 Goalkeeper, Ronnie Simpson.

* 2 Right Back, Jim Craig.

* 3 Left Back, Tommy Gemmell.

* 4 Central Midfield, Bobby Murdoch.

* 5 Centreback and Captain, Billy McNeill.

* 6 Centreback, John Clark.

* 7 Right Wing, Jimmy "Jinky" Johnstone.

* 8 Centre Forward, Willie Wallace.

* 9 Centre Forward, Steve Chalmers.

* 10 Central Midfield, Bertie Auld.

* 11 Left Wing, Bobby Lennox.

Celtic were known as the "Hoops" because of their shirts, green and white horizontal stripes. Inter were known as the "Nerazzurri" because of their shirts, black and blue vertical stripes. Each team wore its usual uniform. A full house of 45,000 filled the National Stadium, and referee Kurt Tschenscher blew his whistle to start play at 5:30 PM local time -- which is also what it was in Glasgow, and in the rest of the British Isles. It was 6:30 in Milan, the rest of Italy, and most of Europe. It was 12:30 PM on the U.S. East Coast.

Inter were sharp at the opening. Mazzola nearly scored off a cross from Renato Cappellini in the 1st minute, then converted a penalty in the 7th minute after Craig fouled Cappellini in the box. Inter then switched to defensive mode, a mode known as catenaccio (meaning "padlock"), which had served them so well in the last few years.

Auld hit the crossbar with a shot, and goalkeeper Giuliani Sarti tipped a header from Johnstone over it. Sarti subsequently saved a free kick from Gemmell, who then hit the crossbar on the next shot. Although Celtic were in control for most of the 1st half, Inter were ahead, and it looked like Sarti would be Man of the Match and a legend.

In the 63rd minute, Gemmell fired from 25 yards out, and Sarti couldn't stop it. The game was tied, and the Hoops could feel the winning goal coming. Inter kept the catenaccio going, perhaps hoping for a lucky break. Instead, in the 84th minute, Murdoch took a shot. Sarti was ready for it. But it was deflected by Chalmers. Captain McNeill insisted that this play had been practiced. Sarti was not prepared for it, and Celtic were up, 2-1. Their defense held for the next 10 minutes, and they were Champions of Europe.

Celtic fans invaded the pitch, making it impossible to present the trophy there. A section of the stadium's stand was set aside for the presentation of the trophy. For the 1st 11 tournaments, the trophy presented was similar to that for the European Championship for national teams. This was the 1st time for the trophy that has become known as "Ol' Big Ears," and McNeill lifted it. A statue of him doing so now stands outside Celtic Park.

Football fans around the world admired La Grande Inter, but didn't like them, because catenaccio was considered boring. Celtic's win, based on attacking football, was considered a victory for fans. The Portuguese newspaper Mundo Desportivo (Sports World) wrote, "It was inevitable. Sooner or later the Inter of Herrera, the Inter of catenaccio, of negative football, of marginal victories, had to pay for their refusal to play entertaining football." Even Herrera agreed: "We can have no complaints. Celtic deserved their victory. We were beaten by Celtic's force. Although we lost, the match was a victory for sport."

Because of the location of the match and their refusal to give up, the '67 Celtic team quickly became known as the Lisbon Lions. Bill Shankly, manager of Liverpool and a fellow Scot, told Stein, "John, you're immortal now." Shankly was wrong: In 1985, managing the Scotland national team in a "Home Nations" tournament game against Wales, Stein suffered a heart attack and died. But Shankly was also right: Stein is the most admired manager in the history of Scottish football.

The question of who is the greatest soccer team in English history is hotly debated. Is it Manchester United's 1956 "Busby Babes," their 1968 team that was the 1st from England to win the European Cup, their 1999 team that remains the only English team to win a European Treble? Is it Liverpool's 1977 European Cup winners, their 1986 Double team, the 2005 Champions League winners? Is it Arsenal's 2004 team that went through the entire Premier League season unbeaten, the "Invincibles"? Is it Chelsea's 2005 team that won the League with the fewest goals allowed in history? Is it Manchester City's 2019 team that became the 1st team to win a domestic Treble?

The greatest soccer team in Scottish history is unquestionable. It is the 1967 Quadruple winners, the Lisbon Lions of Celtic.

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May 25, 1967 was a Thursday. Also on this day, the film A Guide for the Married Man premiered. Despite its appalling premise -- a man who would like to cheat on his wife gets advice from one who has -- my grandmother called this the funniest movie she'd ever seen. I didn't think it was all that funny.

Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. There were 5 games played in Major League Baseball:

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-0 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) Lou Brock and Curt Flood hit home runs. Hank Aaron did not: He went 1-for-4.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4. Pete Rose went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.

* And the Kansas City Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Rod Carew hit a home run off Catfish Hunter. Harmon Killebrew did not, but did go 1-for-4.

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.