December 29, 2022: The Death of Pelé

He never won this trophy. He won the previous version 3 times.

December 29, 2022: Pelé dies in São Paulo, Brazil. He was 82 years old.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento was born on October 23, 1940 in Três Corações (Three Hearts), Minas Gerais, Brazil. His father, João Ramos do Nascimento, was a forward known as Dondinho. He was much-heralded, but a knee injury curtailed his career.

Like millions of Brazilians, he broke down in tears upon hearing his homeland's defeat, on home soil, to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup Final. The defeat, at the new Stadio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, became known as Maracanaço, "The Agony of Maracanã."

Edson, then 9 years old, told his father that, one day, he would win the World Cup for him. Dondinho would live to see Brazil win it 4 times, the 1st 3 with his son.

Edson, named for inventor Thomas Edison, whom Dondinho admired, grew up in Bauru, in the Brazilian State of São Paulo. Like his father, and most other Brazilian "futebol" players, he became known by a single name. Often it's the player's first name, but it would not be "Edson" by which he would be known. Nor would it be "Dico," which his family had called him.

As a boy, his favorite player was a goalkeeper for Rio de Janeiro team Vasco da Gama, known as Bilé. But in his accent, "Bee-LAY" became "Peh-LAY." The more he was called "Pelé," the more he complained, but the more it stuck. While the Hebrew word for "miracle" is pronounced "Peh-LAY," the word "Pelé" has no known meaning in Brazil's main language, Portuguese.

As a teenager, Pelé was among the earliest group of Brazilians to play indoor soccer, which he said forced him to think and act more quickly, making him better at the traditional outdoor version. In 1956, only 15 years old, he was signed to Santos Futebol Clube of Santos, an industrial and port city near the city of São Paulo.

He remained with Santos for 18 years, as the club refused all offers from the giants of South American, and eventually European, football. He helped them win the Campeonato Paulista, the State Championship, 10 times. He helped them win the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the National Championship, 6 times, including 5 in a row from 1961 to 1965.

Pelé in uniform for Santos

He helped them win back-to-back titles in the Copa Libertadores, the South American continental club championship. Each time, they beat the winners of the European Cup to win the Intercontinental Cup (now called the FIFA Club World Cup): Benfica of Lisbon, Portugal, featuring Eusébio, in 1962; and AC Milan of Italy, featuring Gianni Rivera, in 1963. (Like Pelé, Eusébio, a native of the African nation of Mozambique, then a colony of Portugal, is the greatest player his continent has ever produced. Also like Pelé, he was nicknamed "The Black Pearl.")

After the 1962 Intercontinental Cup, in which Pelé scored 3 goals, Benfica goalkeeper Costa Pereira said, "I arrived hoping to stop a great man, but I went away convinced I had been undone by someone who was not born on the same planet as the rest of us."

Not yet 18 years old, the Brazilian national team, O Seleção (The Selection), called him up for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. The Seleção was a mix of black and white players, and the very white Scandinavian people of Sweden were very intrigued by them. Pelé, away from his homeland for the 1st time, and his teammates essentially had their choice of whatever women were willing to throw themselves at them. Did I mention that he was not yet 18?

In the Group Stage, Brazil beat Austria 3-0 at Uddevalla, drew 0-0 with England at Gothenberg, and beat the Soviet Union 2-0 at Gothenburg. In the 66th minute of the Quarterfinal against Wales, also in Gothenburg, Pelé scored his 1st World Cup goal, and Brazil won, 1-0. (That's as far as Wales got: Northern Ireland also made it to the Knockout stage, but England didn't.) In the Semifinal at Solna, Pelé exploded onto the world stage with a hat trick, as Brazil beat a strong France team led by Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, 5-2.

The Final was held on June 29, 1958, at the Råsunda Fotbollsstadion in Solna, outside Stockholm. Brazil played the host nation -- which must have given some of their fans flashbacks to 1950, knowing that the home team could be beaten in the Final. Sweden had Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm, although Gunnar Nordahl, the other member of "Gre-No-Li," the Swedish trio who starred for AC Milan in the 1950s, never played in a World Cup.

But Brazil, managed by Vicente Feola, had Gilmar in goal; a defense of Djalma Santos, Orlando, Hideraldo Bellini and Nílton Santos (no relation to Djalma); halfbacks Zito and Didi, whom Pelé credited as his mentor; and a forward line of Garrincha (possibly the best player in the world at the time), Vavá, Pelé and Mário Zagallo.

Although Liedholm scored in the 4th minute, it was no contest: Vavá tallied in the 9th and the 32nd, Pelé in the 55th, and Zagallo in the 68th. Agne Simonsson got a consolation goal in the 80th, but Pelé put an exclamation point on the board in the 90th. Brazil won, 5-2.

With the Jules Rimet Trophy

It had been 8 years, minus 17 days, since Maracanaço. Pelé had kept his promise to his father, and the nation that, perhaps even more than England, loves soccer more than any other, was World Champions for the 1st time.

*

This win made Pelé world-famous and a hot commodity. Internazionale of Milan signed him to a contract, but, following a revolt by Santos' fans, the team's chairman tore up the contract. Another Italian team, Juventus of Turin, tried to sign him. So did Real Madrid of Spain. So did Manchester United of England, eager to rebuild their squad following the Munich Air Disaster of 1958.

Pelé was just getting warmed up. In an era where there was no merchandising and no TV money, playing games and taking in their share of the gate receipts as the only way for soccer teams to make money, so Santos were constantly touring and playing big-name teams. In 1959, they toured Europe, beating Inter 7-1 at the San Siro in Milan, and beating Barcelona 5-1 at the Camp Nou. In calendar year 1959 alone, he scored 126 goals.

Charlie George, who starred for North London team Arsenal in the early 1970s, said, "I was a scorer of great goals, not a great goalscorer." Pelé became renowned as both. Most of his goals were not preserved on film, including the one he said was his favorite, in a 1959 Campeonato Paulista match against Atlético Juventus of São Paulo. He asked a computer expert to simulate it, based on his description. This was the result, and if it happened just like that, I can see why he chose it.

In 1961, against Rio team Fluminense at the Maracanã, he took the ball on the edge of his own penalty area, and dribbled it all the way down the pitch past several defenders, before scoring. A plaque outside the stadium calls it "the most beautiful goal in the history of the Maracanã." It is known as the Gol de Placa: The goal worthy of a plaque. That same year, President Jânio Quadros of Brazil had him declared an "official national treasure," to prevent his being transferred out of the country. He was not yet 21 years old.

The 1962 World Cup was played in Chile. Brazil attempted to match Italy in 1934 and '38 as back-to-back winners. They played their Group Stage games in Viña del Mar. Zagallo and Pelé scored to give them a 2-0 win over Mexico. They only got a 0-0 draw against Czechoslovakia, led by Josef Masopust, Pelé was injured in the game, and would not play in the tournament again. But 2 goals by his replacement up top, Amarildo, got them a 2-0 win over Spain.

Still in Viña del Mar, 2 goals by Garrincha and 1 by Vavá gave them a 3-1 win over England. In the Semifinal, as they had in the 1958 Final, they had to play the host nation in their national stadium, in the capital of Santiago. Garrincha and Vavá each scored twice, and Brazil won 4-2. The Final was a rematch with Czechoslovakia. Masopust scored in the 15th, but Amarildo scored in the 17th, Zito in the 69th, and Vavá in the 78th. Brazil won 3-1, and were World Champions again. 

They hoped to make it 3 straight in England in 1966. They played their Group Stage games at Goodison Park, the home of Everton, the blue club of Liverpool. It didn't go so well. Pelé and Garrincha scored to give Brazil a 2-0 win over Bulgaria. But the Bulgarians decided to hack him to pieces. Hungary decided on the same tactic, and beat Brazil 3-1. Portugal also fouled Pelé relentlessly, with no sanction from the referees. With Eusébio scoring twice, Portugal beat their former colony 3-1.

Brazil were out. This remains the only time since the 1st World Cup of 1930 that they did not qualify for the Knockout Stage. To be fair, they were in something of a transition: Their 1958 and 1962 championship players were aging, and their 1970 players were still on their way in.

With both Santos and the Brazil team, Pelé continued to play all around the world. This included one of Brazil's warmup matches for the 1966 World Cup, a 2-0 loss to Arsenal at Highbury on November 16, 1965; and 4 games at the old Yankee Stadium for Santos: A 4-1 win over Internazionale Milano on June 5, 1966, during their "Grande Inter" era; a 4-2 win over Italian team Napoli on June 21, 1968; a 5-3 loss to the North American Soccer League's New York Generals on July 12, 1968; and a 3-3 draw with

Eusébio's Benfica on September 1, 1968.

The Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70 was very nasty. But the factions agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire, as Pelé led Santos into the capital of Lagos to play the national team on January 26, 1969. He scored both Santos goals in a 2-2 draw.

On November 19, 1969, still only 29 years old, he led Santos into the Maracanã to play Vasco da Gama. In all competitions to that point, he had been credited with 999 goals. Since this game featured one of the big clubs in the biggest city, against the man known as O Rei (The King), it was nationally televised.

He thought he had his 1,000th goal when he was brought down in the penalty area. "It had to be a penalty," he said later. "It had to come when the whole world could stop, and not miss it." He got it, and a crowd of 125,000 in the gigantic stadium erupted in cheers, enough of them rushing the pitch that the game could not continue. (With renovations, including being made all-seater, it now has a capacity of 78,838.)

Still, he and Brazil had a lot to prove in the 1970 World Cup, to be played in Mexico. This would be the 1st World Cup televised around the world in color, and the Seleção's yellow shirts really stood out. Their Group Stage games were played at Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, home of Chivas. The opener was a rematch of the 1962 Final against the Czechs, and Pelé had a goal in the 4-1 demolition. 

Next came England. A corner came Pelé's way, and as he headed the ball toward the net, he yelled, "Goal!" But it wasn't: England goalkeeper Gordon Banks knocked it away, for what became known as the Save of the Century. Still, Brazil would not be denied, and Jairzinho gave Brazil a 1-0 win.

The postgame photo of Pelé and England Captain Bobby Moore embracing, exchanging shirts -- the already-legendary yellow Number 10 and the white Number 6 --  became iconic: Each country's best player ever, one white, one black, coming together in a moment of sportsmanship.

The Group Stage concluded with Pelé scoring 2 goals in a 3-2 win over Romania. The Quarterfinal was also played in Guadalajara, and while Pelé didn't score, it was still a demonstration of what he called O Jogo Bonito: "The Beautiful Game": A 4-2 defeat of Peru. The Semifinal, too, was in Guadalajara, against another South American side. Pelé didn't score in that one, either, but it didn't matter, as his teammates came through, beating Uruguay 3-1.

The Final was held at the Estadio Azteca on June 21. The opponents were Italy, also with something to prove, after an ignominious exit in 1966. Brazil didn't give them a chance. In the 18th minute, Pelé found a Rivelino cross and headed it in. While the Azzurri (Blues) did tie it up, the 2nd half was all Brazil: Gérson, Jairzinho and Captain Carlos Alberto all tallied, the last 2 on assists by Pelé, and perhaps the greatest soccer team ever assembled completed their masterpiece, 4-1.

Celebrating his 1970 Final goal with Jairzinho (Number 7).

They became the 1st team to win the Jules Rimet Trophy 3 times, and got to keep it. A new trophy was commissioned for the 1974 World Cup, as shown in the photo at the top of the page. Also noteworthy: Mário Zagallo became the 1st man to win the World Cup as both a player and as a manager. He has since been joined by Franz Beckenbauer of Germany and Didier Deschamps of France.

Pelé played his last international match on July 18, 1971, in a friendly with Yugoslavia at the Maracanã, before 138,575 fans. He didn't score, and it ended in a 2-2 draw. With him, Brazil won 67 games, drew 14, and lost 11 -- with both him and his predecessor as their greatest player, Garrincha, in the lineup, they lost exactly none. After closing the 1973-74 season with Santos, he retired. The only man with 1,000 goals, and the only man with 3 World Cups, he seemed to have nothing left to prove.

*

The New York Cosmos did have something to prove. In 1971, they replaced the bankrupt New York Generals in the North American Soccer League. They wore green, yellow and white to capitalize on Brazil having those colors. It didn't work: They averaged just 4,517 fans per home game in the old Yankee Stadium. For the 1972 season, they moved to James M. Shuart Stadium, a 15,000-seat stadium on the campus of Hofstra University, across the Jericho Turnpike from the Nassau Coliseum in Hempstead, Long Island. They won the NASL Championship.

They played there again in 1973, before moving to Downing Stadium, a crumbling 22,500-seat horseshoe on Randalls Island in the middle of the East River for 1974. They were drawing fewer fans than ever. If a 2nd New York team failed within 2 years, the League was doomed.

So the team's owners, Warner Communications chairman Steve Ross and Atlantic Records boss Ahmet Ertegun, went fishing, and caught a bigger fish than Roy Scheider did in the year's biggest blockbuster, Jaws. Ertegun, a native of Turkey who knew the European game well, told Pelé, "In Madrid, you can win a cup. In New York, you can win a country." Intrigued, Pelé signed a contract that made him the highest-paid athlete in the world -- to be paid with money that the Cosmos didn't yet have.

On June 15, 1975, 21,278 paid their way into Downing Stadium for Pelé's debut, and another 50,000 were turned away, because there was no room for them. ABC broadcast the game live on Wide World of Sports. Knowing this, the Cosmos painted the patchy spots on the field green. If anything, that made it look worse. Pelé scored on his debut, but the game with the Dallas Tornado ended in a 2-2 draw. The Tornado included Kyle Rote Jr., probably the best American-born player at the time, and the son of a New York Giants legend.

Still, the Cosmos averaged only 10,450 fans per game. Pelé complained about the bad field, saying that, even in Brazil, he hadn't played home games on a worse one. The Cosmos made a deal to play in the new Giants Stadium once it was ready, but played their 1976 home games at a newly-renovated Yankee Stadium. So Pelé joined Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano as heroes of the big ballyard in The Bronx. Average attendance rose to 18,227.

The 1977 season was to be their 1st at the Meadowlands, and Pelé announced it would be his last. The Cosmos spared no expense: They brought in his Brazil teammate Carlos Alberto, German superstar Franz Beckenbauer, and Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia. Attendance rose to an average of 34,142, peaking at 77,691 for a Playoff game with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. This would remain a record for a soccer game in America until the 1994 World Cup.

The City, and the suburbs, really took to the Cosmos. They got the best tables in restaurants, and danced the night away at Studio 54, the discothèque of all discothèques. "We were as big as the Yankees," the Bronx-born, Long Island-raised goalkeeper Shep Messing said, "and bigger than the Giants." Pelé did TV commercials for Pepsi, even appearing in a print ad for the soda in the Yankees' Yearbook.

On August 28, 1977, at Civic Stadium (now Providence Park) in Portland, Oregon, the Cosmos beat the original version of the Seattle Sounders to win Soccer Bowl '77. In 21 seasons, Pelé had led his team to 7 national league championships.

On October 1, 1977, his testimonial match was held at a sold-out Giants Stadium. The Cosmos' opponent was Santos. He was to play the 1st half for the Cosmos, and the 2nd half for Santos. It was televised around the world, including on ABC's Wide World of Sports. His wife and father were in attendance. So was President Jimmy Carter, on his 53rd birthday. So was Bobby Moore. So was Muhammad Ali, the Heavyweight Champion of the World, who had survived a brutal fight with Earnie Shavers at Madison Square Garden across the Hudson River 2 days before.

 

When Pelé got the entire stadium to "Say it with me, three times: Love! Love! Love!" prior to the match, Ali, who liked to call himself "The Greatest" and generally refused to take a back seat to anyone, said, "Now I understand: He is greater than me."

Pelé, too, could "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

Pelé scored on a 30-yard free kick in the 1st half, but was unable to help Santos come back in the 2nd half. The Cosmos won 2-1. Late in the game, it started to rain, and a Brazilian newspaper printed the headline, "Even the sky was crying."

Without him, the Cosmos actually had a higher average attendance in 1978, 47,856, and made it back-to-back titles. They won another title in 1980, and another in 1982. But, despite their bringing in other European and South American stars,  the novelty began to wear off. From 1983 to 1984, attendance dropped from 27,242 to just 12,817.

The team folded. Without a New York team, the League folded, and that set American soccer back a generation. When Major League Soccer was founded in 1996, the Meadowlands team was named the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, because it couldn't get the legal rights to the Cosmos name. They became the New York Red Bulls in 2006, and moved to a new stadium in Harrison, New Jersey in 2010. That same year, a new New York Cosmos was founded, but in a minor league, and they "went back to their roots" by playing at Hofstra. They have since moved about a mile away to the Mitchel Athletid Complex. New York City FC began play at the new Yankee Stadium in 2015.

*

In 1981, Pelé appeared in the film Escape to Victory, set in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp in World War II. He played Corporal Luis Fernandez, from the Caribbean nation of Trinidad & Tobago, then still a British colony, and thus a soldier in the British Army. (Despite direction by John Huson, the movie was ridiculous, but maintained some historical accuracy: It takes place in 1941, and Brazil did not enter the war until 1943, so he couldn't play a Brazilian.)

Among the other footballers in the film: American Werner Roth, a Cosmos teammate; England's Bobby Moore, Mike Summerbee and John Wark; Belgium's Paul Van Himst; Poland's Kazimierz Deyna, who had played in the NASL, as had Moore; and Argentina's Osvaldo Ardiles.

Michael Caine also starred, and Sylvester Stallone, cast to sell the film to the American market, played Captain Robert Hatch, an American serving in the Canadian Army (Pearl Harbor had not yet been attacked), who plays in goal. (Like I said: The movie was ridiculous.) Swedish actor Max von Sydow played the German camp commander.

Left to right: Stallone, Pelé, Caine

In 1994, Pelé was appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations, and did a commercial for MasterCard to promote the 1994 World Cup, which America hosted and Brazil won, their 4th title. (They won a 5th in 2002, which remains more than any other country: Germany and Italy have each won 4; Argentina, 3; Uruguay and France, 2; England and Spain, 1.) 

From 1995 to 1998, he served in the cabinet of the President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, as Extraordinary Minister for Sport. However, as during his playing days, which included a military dictatorship, his relationship with his homeland's government has frequently been complicated. It says something that both his country's hard right and its hard left believed he was against them. He did, however, help them gain the hosting of the 2014 World Cup (which, like their previous attempt at hosting in 1950, ended in competitive disaster for the team) and the 2016 Olympics.

Pelé married 3 times. He is known to have 2 sons and 5 daughters. He outlived his 1st child, daughter Sandra Machado (1964-2006). His son Edson Cholbi Nascimento was born shortly after the 1970 World Cup triumph. Under the name Edinho, he, too, played for Santos -- with some irony, as a goalkeeper. He later managed the team, with his brother Joshua playing. In 2014, Edinho was arrested for laundering money from drug trafficking. He maintains his innocence, but was convicted, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 2019, he was allowed to serve the remainder of his term under house arrest.

In 2012, Pelé had a hip operation, but his rehabilitation from it proved difficult. From 2017 onward, he did not appear in public without a wheelchair. In 2019, having already had a kidney removed, he was hospitalized to remove stones from his remaining kidney. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with colon cancer.

As the 2022 World Cup was played in Qatar, he fell into multiple organ failure, and was taken to Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo. He died there on December 29, 2022, at the age of 82.

*

December 29, 2022 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. There was 1 game in the NFL: The Dallas Cowboys beat the Tennessee Titans, 27-13 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

There were 3 college football bowl games:

* Minnesota beat Syracuse, 28-20 in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.

* Florida State beat Oklahoma, 35-32 in the Cheez-It Bowl at Camping World Stadium (formerly the Citrus Bowl) in Orlando, Florida.

* And Washington beat Texas, 27-20 in the Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 122-115 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio. Julius Randle scored 41 in defeat for the Knickerbockers.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 116-110 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 121-113 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Toronto Raptors, 119-106 at the Scotiabank Centre in Toronto.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Houston Rockets, 129-114 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* And the Indiana Pacers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 135-126 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

And there were 11 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1 in a shootout at the Amalie Arena (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The New York Islanders beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-1 at the UBS Arena.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Capital One Arena in Washington. Alex DeBrincat scored the winning goal with 3:29 left in overtime.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 7-2 at the FLA Live Arena in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida. (It's now named the Amerant Bank Arena.)

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-3 at the KeBank Center in Buffalo.

* The Dallas Stars, the former Minnesota North Stars, beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-1 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-4 in a shootout at the Ball Arena in Denver.

* The Arizona Coyotes beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3 at the Mullett Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 at the SAP Center in San Jose. Anthony DeAngelo scored the winning goal with 3:50 left in overtime.

* And the New Jersey Devils, the Boston Bruins, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Anaheim Ducks, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Nashville Predators, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken were not scheduled.

October 1, 1977: Pelé's Testimonial

October 1, 1977: Edson Arantes do Nascimento, a.k.a. Pelé, the greatest soccer player who ever lived, plays his last game at a sold-out Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It is his testimonial, and he plays the 1st half for the New York Cosmos, with whom he recently won the North American Soccer League Championship, and scores a goal; and the 2nd half for Santos, for whom he starred so long in Brazil's São Paulo State. The Cosmos win, 2-1.

When it's over, he stands at midfield with a microphone, and asks the crowd, "Please, say with me, three times: Love! Love! Love!" They do.

President Jimmy Carter attended. So did Muhammad Ali, the Heavyweight Champion of the World, who frequently called himself "the Greatest of All Time." This time, he says, "Now, I understand: He is greater than me."

*

October 1, 1977 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 10-7 at Yankee Stadium. Elrod Hendricks, briefly a Yankee in a long career mostly with the Baltimore Orioles, hit his only home run in Pinstripes. Reggie Jackson drew a walk in his only plate appearances, and was taken out for a pinch-runner.

The rain that fell on Pelé's testimonial at the Meadowlands comes down much harder on The Bronx, as the Yankees sit through a 2-hour, 42-minute rain delay. But the Yankees clinched the American League Eastern Division title anyway, because...

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Sox had eliminated the O's from the race the night before, and the Birds returned the favor on this day. Both teams would end up 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

* A doubleheader was split at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The New York Mets won the 1st game, 8-4. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2nd game, 4-2. Lou Brock went 2-for-8 with an RBI over the 2 games.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Expos scored 3 runs in the top of the 12th inning, and the Phillies could only come back with 2 in the bottom of the 12th. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-2 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-3, and did not finish the game. Johnny Bench did not start the game, and went 0-for-2.

* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The expansion Seattle Mariners won the opener, 5-3. The Chicago White Sox won the nightcap, 6-1.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rod Carew went 3-for-5 with an RBI, to raise his batting average to .386. He would finish the next day at .388, after having been above .400 in early September. Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-2 with a walk before being replaced by a pinch-runner. The Yankees would beat the Royals for the AL Pennant.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-5 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Dodgers would beat the Phillies for the National League Pennant, but lose the World Series to the Yankees.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 13-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Cleveland Indians and the expansion Toronto Blue Jays were rained out at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. They played a doubleheader the next day. The Jays won the 1st game, 2-1 in 11 innings. The Indians won the 2nd game, 5-4.

* The Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. They played a doubleheader the next day. The Pirates swept, 5-1 and 3-2.

There were also college football games played on this day, including the following:

* Number 1 Oklahoma beat Kansas, 24-9 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma won the Big Eight title. 

* The night before, Number 2 Southern California beat Washington State, 41-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 3 Michigan beat Number 5 Texas A&M, 41-3 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 4 Penn State were upset by Kentucky, 24-20 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

* Number 6 Ohio State beat Southern Methodist (SMU), 35-7 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* Number 7 Colorado beat Army, 31-0 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Number 8 Texas beat Rice, 72-15 at Memorial Stadium in Austin. While the Longhorns had running back Earl Campbell, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy, the big story in this game was placekicker and punter Russell Erxleben, who set a record with a 67-yard field goal. The record would be tied twice within the next year and change, but never broken, partly because kicking tees have been banned.

Erxleben remains the only punter to be a 3-time All-American, and played 5 seasons for the New Orleans Saints, plus 1 as a "scab" for the Detroit Lions during the 1987 strike. He went into the securities business, and has twice served time in prison for fraud. His son, Ryan Erxleben, went into the family business -- punting, that is, not securities (fraudulent or otherwise), at Texas Tech, although he didn't make it to the NFL. 

* Number 9 Florida were upset by Louisiana State, 36-14 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

* Number 10 Alabama beat Georgia, 18-10 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 'Bama won the Southeastern Conference title, and beat Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 11 Nebraska beat Indiana, 31-13 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* Number 12 Arkansas beat Texas Christian (TCU), 42-6 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. Arkansas went on to lose to Texas, costing them the Southwest Conference title, but beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

* Number 14 Notre Dame beat Michigan State, 16-6 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

* Number 20 Arizona State were upset by Missouri, 15-0 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The University of Washington lost to Minnesota, 19-17 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. But Washington rebounded to win the Pacific-8 title, and beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

* Duke beat Navy, 28-16 at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.

* Columbia beat Pennsylvania, 30-18 at Baker Field in Manhattan.

* Among New Jersey's teams, Rutgers beat Cornell, 30-14 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York. And Princeton lost to Brown, 10-7 at Brown Stadium in Providence, Thode Island.

Also on this day, the St. Louis Blues retired the Number 3 of Bob Gassoff, a defenseman who'd been with them since 1973. The preceding May 27, he was killed in a motorcycle accident in Gray Summit, Missouri. He'd been racing motorcycles with friends at a barbecue at the home of teammate Garry Unger, but had driven off the property, wasn't wearing a helmet, and was hit by a car. The native of Quesnel, British Columbia was only 26.

In high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick High School in Central New Jersey, beat Madison Central, 28-0 at Vince Lombardi Field in Old Bridge. Madison Central is now named Old Bridge.

And in English soccer, Arsenal of North London beat West Ham United of East London, 3-0 at Highbury in North London.

August 26, 1972: The Cosmos Win New York's 1st Soccer Title

August 26, 1972: The New York Cosmos beat the St. Louis Stars, 2-1 at Hofstra Stadium (now James M. Shuart Stadium) in Hempstead, Long Island, New York, across the Jericho Turnpike from the Nassau Coliseum complex. This wins the North American Soccer League title for the Cosmos, the 1st of 5 times they would win it.

Randy Horton scores in the 5th minute. In the 86th minute, with the score tied, the Cosmos are correctly awarded a penalty, and Josef Jelínek, who had played for Czechoslovakia in the 1962 World Cup Final, converts it to win the game.

Sadly, there appears to be no surviving footage. That's the kind of league the NASL was at the time.

This makes New York the 1st team to win World Championships in all 5 major North American sports: Baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer. They have been followed by Philadelphia (who completed the circuit with the 1974 Flyers), Chicago (1991 Bulls), Los Angeles (2007 Anaheim Ducks) and Washington (2018 Capitals).

The Cosmos would also win titles in 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1982. They went out of business after the 1984 season, and the NASL soon followed.

In 1996, Major League Soccer would be founded, with the New York/New Jersey Metro Stars. In 2005, they became the New York Red Bulls. In 2008, they reached the MLS Cup Final, but lost to the Columbus Crew. In 2013, 2015 and 2018, they had the league's best overall regular-season record, earning them the Supporters' Shield, but, in 27 seasons, they have made just the 1 trip to the MLS Cup Final.

New York City Football Club was established in 2015, and, head-to-head, have not gotten the better of the Red Bulls. But in 2021, in only their 7th season, they achieved what the Red Bulls, as yet, have not: They won the MLS Cup.

*

August 26, 1972 was a Saturday. There was top-flight soccer in England, including a 0-0 draw between Manchester United and North London team Arsenal, at Old Trafford, United's stadium in Salford, outside Manchester. Defending Football Champions Derby County lost 1-0 to Norwich City at Carrow Road in Norwich, East Anglia. And Liverpool FC, which would go on to win the League that season, beat East London team West Ham United, 3-2 at Anfield in Liverpool.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Kansas City Royals, 6-2 at Yankee Stadium. Yankee starter Rob Gardner got knocked out of the box in the 3rd inning. Bobby Murcer went 4-for-5 with an RBI, and Johnny Callison and Bernie Allen hit home runs for the Pinstripes, to no avail.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 7-6 at Atlanta Stadium (renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975). Hank Aaron went 1-for-4. Willie Mays did not play.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 7-6 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4. Roberto Clemente did not enter the game. Nor did Frank Robinson, in his only season with the Dodgers.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. It was "Win Day" for the Phils: Steve Carlton was pitching, and helped his own cause with an RBI single. Pete Rose went 1-for-5, Johnny Bench went 0-for-4 but had an RBI on a groundout, Joe Morgan went 2-for-5, and Tony Pérez hit a home run.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 10-9 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game was won in the bottom of the 10th when Giant pitcher Randy Moffitt, brother of tennis legend Billie Jean King, hit Joe Pepitone with a pitch with the bases loaded.

* A doubleheader was split at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Chicago White Sox won the opener, 3-1. Mike Andrews won it with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 13th inning. The Milwaukee Brewers won the nightcap, 4-0. Jim Colborn came within 2 outs of a 2 hit shutout, with Frank Linzy getting them.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Aurelio Rodríguez won it with a home run in the to of the 11th inning. Al Kaline and Harmon Killebrew only appeared as pinch-hitters; Kaline got a hit, while Killebrew did not reach base. Rod Carew went 0-for-3, but did draw 2 walks.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 9-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Bob Gibson helped his own cause with an RBI single. Lou Brock went 4-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a stolen base. Joe Torre went 0-for-3, but drove in a run with 2 bases-loaded walks.

* The Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos, 6-5 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The California Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-1 at Anaheim Stadium (renamed Edison International Field in 1997 and Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2004).

* And the Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Reggie Jackson also went 2-for-4. These 2 Hall-of-Famers share a birthday, May 18.

April 17, 1971: The New York Cosmos Debut

April 17, 1971: The New York Cosmos make their debut in the North American Soccer League. They lose to the St. Louis Stars, 2-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

The Cosmos were not the 1st "major league" soccer team in New York. The NASL was formed in 1968.  Essentially, it was a merger of 2 leagues that began play in 1967, trying to ride the wave of interest brought about by England's home-soil World Cup win the year before, and the subsequent documentary about it, Goal!

The United Soccer Association had teams that ran a summer schedule in between the European winter seasons, importing entire teams from elsewhere: England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, and Uruguay, whose Cerro became the New York Skyliners.

The USA did not do well. They couldn't sell out the facilities, as nearly every team played in an MLB or an NFL stadium. The Skyliners drew an average of 8,766 to the original Yankee Stadium, which in its pre-renovation configuration had 67,224 seats.

The other league was the National Professional Soccer League. Unlike the USA, the NPSL had mainly North American players. In most cases, the owners were owners of other local teams. The New York Generals were owned by RKO, which owned WOR-Channel 9 (now WWOR), and thus had an easy time getting TV rights.

Not much could be said for the Generals. Like the Skyliners, they couldn't sell out the old Garden, with its 18,496 seats, let alone the old Yankee Stadium, with 67,224. But they had 2 players whose names you should know. Cesar Luis Menotti played for a number of clubs in Argentina, including Buenos Aires giants Boca Juniors, and in 1978 would manage his country to win the World Cup on home soil. And Gordon Bradley, a midfielder from Sunderland, would play in New York again.

The NPSL had the advantage of not taking entire teams from elsewhere, teams that were emotionally committed to other places on other continents. So they could get the jump on the USA and start earlier, on April 16. But CBS didn't really know what they were doing on their TV broadcasts. There was also the issue of each league putting a team not just in one city, but in some cases both in one stadium. Both leagues' New York teams played at Yankee Stadium, both L.A. teams played at the Coliseum, and both Toronto teams played at old Varsity Stadium rather than the new Exhibition Stadium.

The Cosmos played their home games in the 1971 season at Yankee Stadium, making their home debut on May 5, beating the Washington Darts, 1-0. They finished 2nd in the Eastern Division, and lost to the Atlanta Chiefs in the 1st round of the Playoffs.

In 1972, they moved out to Hempstead, Long Island, playing at Hofstra University, at what would later be named James M. Shuart Stadium, across the Hempstead Turnpike from the Nassau Coliseum, the new home of the ABA's New York Nets and the NHL's New York Islanders. Led by Randy Horton, they won the title, beating the St. Louis Stars for the title.

In 1974, they moved to Downing Stadium, on Randall's Island in the East River. In 1975, they signed Pelé, the biggest sports star in the world. He hated playing on the lousy pitch in the crumbling old track & field stadium. In 1976, with Yankee Stadium renovated, they moved in. In 1977, with Giants Stadium open at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, they won another title. Pelé retired, but, led by Giorgio Chinaglia, they won titles in 1978, 1980 and 1982. Mismanagement brought the team and the league to an end after the 1984 season.

*

April 17, 1971 was a Saturday. A full slate of Major League Baseball games was played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Fritz Peterson won, in relief of Mike Kekich. This was 2 years before they swapped families. Frank Robinson went 2-for-4, but Brooks Robinson went 0-for-5. John Ellis hit a home run, and Felipe Alou and Danny Cater singled home runs in the top of the 10th inning.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-0 at Shea Stadium. Steve Blass pitched a 5-hit shutout. Willie Stargell hit a home run, and Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Pete Rose went 1-for-5, and Johnny Bench went 0-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at the new Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. They did this despite Hank Aaron going 0-for-4.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-9 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Al Kaline went 0-for-4, but drew 2 walks. The Tigers got home runs in the 7th inning from Jim Northrup, Norm Cash and Willie Horton. Horton singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Tom Bradley pitched a 4-hit shutout. Reggie Jackson got 1 of the hits. Rollie Fingers started this game, and ended up as the losing pitcher. He only started 6 more games the rest of his career, but became a Hall of Fame relief pitcher.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 4-0 at San Diego Stadium.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. In his last season, Ernie Banks did not play. In his last full season with the Giants, Willie Mays hit a home run.

This was an off-day in the NBA Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Two games were played in the ABA Playoffs. The Virginia Squires beat the Kentucky Colonels, 142-122 at The Scope in Virginia. And the Utah Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 121-108 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.

Also, Arsenal beat Newcastle United, 1-0 at home at Highbury, on their way to winning "The Double."