July 10, 1960: The 1st European Nations' Soccer Tournament

Igor Netto with the trophy. Lev Yashin behind him.

July 10, 1960: The Final of the 1st European Nations Cup (now called simply the European Championships or just "The Euros") is held at the Parc des Princes in Paris. It was a natural extension of the European Cup, the continental championship for soccer clubs, which started in 1955. (In 1992, it was renamed the UEFA Champions League.)

The Soviet Union beats Yugoslavia, 2-1 in extra time. The winning goal is scored in the 113th minute, by Viktor Ponedelnik. He is the last surviving member of this team, and the team for which he played his club soccer, SKA Rostov-on-Don, has a statue of him outside their stadium. But the star of the series is considered to be Lev Yashin of Dynamo Moscow, considered by some to be the greatest goalkeeper in the sport's history.

The tournament would be renamed "Euro (year)," starting with the next one, in 1964. It's been held every 4 years since, except for 2020, when Euro 2020 was delayed a year due to the COVID pandemic. (Like the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, it was still given the 2020 designation despite being played in 2021.)

The Soviets would lose the Final in Euro 64, and reach the Semifinals of the 1966 World Cup. Then the team got old: The best performance by a Soviet or Russian team since is reaching the Final of Euro 88.

Igor Netto, a left half of Italian and Estonian descent who played his club football for Spartak Moscow, was the Soviet Captain. But it would be Yashin that everyone remembered. He was a goaltender for both the soccer and ice hockey teams at Dynamo Moscow.

With their soccer team, he won 5 Soviet league championships and 3 Soviet Cups, and led the USSR to the 1956 Olympic Gold Medal. In 1963, he received the Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) as World Footballer of the Year, and he remains the only goalkeeper ever to receive this award.

His black hair, dark complexion, and black warmup tracksuit, and his dexterity, won him the nickname The Black Spider. He played for the Soviets at the 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970 World Cups, reaching the Semifinals in the latter 2, and winning the admiration of the entire world, even among those who despised Communism.

In 1967, while still an active player, he was awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1971, his testimonial match brought over 100,000 fans to the Lenin Stadium (now the Luzhniki Stadium), and Pelé, Eusébio and Franz Beckenbauer attended.

By an amazing coincidence, he shared a birthday with Western Europe's greatest goalkeeper of that era, Bert Trautmann, the German who starred for English team Manchester City: Trautmann was born on October 22, 1923; Yashin, on October 22, 1929.

Yashin died of cancer in 1990, only 60 years old. In 2000, FIFA named him the goalie on their World Team of the 20th Century. In 2003, in celebration of its 50th Anniversary, UEFA named a "Golden Player" for each member nation, designating them as that country's best-ever footballer, and Yashin was posthumously so awarded for Russia.

A statue of him was erected outside Central Dynamo Stadium in Moscow, and has been reinstalled at the new stadium on the site, the VTB Arena.

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July 10, 1960 was a Sunday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 9-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Neither starting pitcher, Ralph Terry or Frank Sullivan, was able to finish the 3rd inning. Billy Muffett ended up as the winning pitcher. Willie Tasby and Vic Wertz hit home runs for the Red Sox. Ted Williams went 0-for-2 with 3 walks and an RBI on a groundout. For the Yankees, Bill "Moose" Skowron went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. Yogi Berra went 1-for-5. Roger Maris went 0-for-4 with a walk. Mickey Mantle was injured, and did not play.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Harvey Haddix outpitched Robin Roberts. Roberto Clemente went 3-for-4.

* The Washington Senators beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 6-2. The Chicago White Sox won the nightcap, 6-4.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk. Wes Covington went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Athletics, 12-10 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Rocky Colavito hit 2 home runs, Eddie Yost hit a home run, and Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Sandy Koufax, who pitched to 2 batters, and failed to get either out. But the Cardinal bullpen collapsed, with Bob Gibson, also not yet a star, coming out of the bullpen and stopping the bleeding. Stan Musial went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago cubs, 5-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Giants scored all 5 runs in the 7th inning. Willie Mays went 0-for-3 with a walk. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

June 21, 1964: Fascist Spain Beats the Soviet Union to Win Euro 64

Spain manager Pepe Villalonga with the trophy

June 21, 1964: The European Nations' Cup Final is held in Madrid, Spain, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, named for the president of Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, whose home it was, and remains. The host nation defeat the Soviet Union, 2-1. The Soviets were the defending Champions, having won the tournament in 1960, beating Yugoslavia in the Final.

Spain were managed by José "Pepe" Villalonga, who had previously managed Real Madrid, leading them to the 1st 2 European Cups, in 1956 and 1957; and their local rivals, Atlético Madrid, leading them to the 1962 European Cup Winners' Cup. The Soviets were managed by Konstantin Beskov, who had both played for and managed Dynamo Moscow, and would later manage their arch-rivals, Spartak Moscow, to 2 Soviet Top League titles.

Spain wore dark blue, and the Soviets, as you might guess, wore red. This was fine for people in the stadium, not so much for people watching on television and in cinema newsreels. The way to tell them apart is that the Soviets had "CCCP" (Cyrillic alphabet for "SSSR," Russian for "USSR," Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) on their shirts, while Spain had only a small badge.

The game was 1-1 before some fans even reached their seats. Jesús María "Chus" Pereda, a midfielder formerly with Real Madrid, but now with their arch-rivals, FC Barcelona, scored in the 6th minute. But just 2 minutes later, the Soviets got a goal from Galimzyan Khusainov, a Tatar forward for Spartak Moscow.

The game remained 1-1, with the Soviets' Lev Yashin and Spain's José Ángel Iribar holding off all attackers. Iribar was a Basque who played for Athletic Bilbao, and was known as El Chopo, "The Poplar." Yashin, known for his dark hair, black kit, and dexterity as Chornyy Pauk, "The Black Spider," starred for Dynamo Moscow. In 1963, he was awarded the Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) as world player of the year, and he remains the only goalkeeper ever to receive it. Spain also had a player named Luis Suárez, who starred for Italian club Inter Milan, and had no connection besides name to the later Barcelona and Liverpool star from Uruguay.

In the 84th minute, Real Zaragoza star Marcelino Martínez broke through and scored, to give Spain the victory, in front of 79,115 fans, most of them ecstatic over the home win.

In spite of Spain's Fascist dictatorship under Francisco Franco, and the Soviets' devotion to Communism, there was no controversy about this match. Franco didn't seem to care about sports at all. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev cared enough to use Soviet athletic achievements as propaganda, but not to the extent that Adolf Hitler did when hosting the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. So there were no political overtones in either the previews or the aftermath of the match. Nor was the match itself the subject of any complaints by the Soviets: Referee Arthur Holland, an Englishman, was not criticized for his officiating.

This would be Spain's last major tournament title until Euro 2008 -- which would be the first of 3 straight that they would win, followed by the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.

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June 21, 1964 was a Sunday. This was also the day that members of the Ku Klux Klan murdered 3 men working to register black voters as part of "Mississippi Freedom Summer." I have a separate entry for that event.

As was often the case in that era, Sundays often featured baseball doubleheaders. These games were played:

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the New York Mets, 6-0 and 8-2 at Shea Stadium. In the opener, Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game for the Phillies, the 1st perfect game in the National League since 1880. It was Father's Day, and Bunning was already the father of 6 children. He would eventually have 9. It made him only the 2nd pitcher ever to pitch a no-hitter in each League: He had previously pitched one in the American League, for the Detroit Tigers in 1958. I have a separate entry for this event, too.

* The New York Yankees had one of their longest days, but a successful one, sweeping the Chicago White Sox, 2-0 and 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. In the opener, Jim Bouton pitched 3-hit shutout ball over 7 2/3rds innings, then Pete Mikkelsen went the rest of the way, completing a 4-hit shutout. Mickey Mantle and Elston Howard hit home runs.

The nightcap went 17 innings. With 1 out in the top of the 17th, Héctor López doubled of Don Mossi. White Sox manager Al López (no relation to Héctor) ordered that Howard be intentionally walked. But Mossi unintentionally walked Phil Linz to load the bases. Having no more available pinch-hitters, Yankee manager Yogi Berra sent pitcher Bill Stafford up to bat for himself. He hit a grounder to short, and future Met hero Al Weis bobbled it, allowing to Héctor to score. Stafford finished the South Siders off, getting the win. Al Downing had started, going 12 innings.

The games took a combined 26 innings to play, but, in time, just 6 hours and 42 minutes. To really show how times have changed, over those 26 innings, the Yankees used just 5 pitchers, although Mikkelsen pitched in both games. The Yankees ended up beating the White Sox for the Pennant by only 1 game, so this day may have decided the title.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-6 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 and 7-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Ernie Banks went 1-for-8 with a walk and 2 RBIs, and Roberto Clemente went 0-for-8.

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1st game, 4-2. Sandy Koufax outpitched Bob Purkey. The Cincinnati Reds won the 2nd game, 2-1. Over the 2 games, Frank Robinson went 3-for-8. Pete Rose only appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game, and did not reach base.

* The Houston Astros swept the Milwaukee Braves, 5-2 and 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rusty Staub hit 2 home runs in the 1st game. Bob Bruce outpitched Warren Spahn. Ken Johnson won the 2nd game, and helped his own cause with a homer. Hank Aaron went 2-for-9 with 3 RBIs, but none was on a home run.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Al Kaline went 0-for-3, but drew a walk. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Willie Mays and Hal Lanier hit home runs for the Giants, while the newly-acquired Lou Brock did so for the Cardinals. Gaylord Perry pinch-hit for Giants starter Jack Sanford in the 6th, and had a sacrifice bunt. He then pitched the rest of the way for the save.

* The Washington Senators swept the Kansas City Athletics, 13-2 and 5-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* And the Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels groundshared with the Dodgers until their stadium in suburban Anaheim could open.