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."

April 16, 1967: "Major League" Soccer Begins In America

The 1967 Oakland Clippers

April 16, 1967: For the first time, the United States of America has what European countries would consider a "top flight football league." We call the sport "soccer," and the league was called the National Professional Soccer League.

There were 10 teams, most owned by men who already owned major league sports teams, as you can see in this table:

Franchises	Stadiums (Capacity)	Owners
Atlanta Chiefs	Atlanta (Fulton County) Stadium (50,893)	William Bartholomay (Atlanta Braves)
Baltimore Bays	Memorial Stadium (52,185)	Jerold Hoffberger (Baltimore Orioles)
Chicago Spurs	Soldier Field (100,000)	William B. Cutler, Michael Butler
Los Angeles Toros	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (93,000)	Dan Reeves (Los Angeles Rams -- not the later Denver Broncos coach)
New York Generals	Yankee Stadium (67,000)	RKO General Inc., Elser Enterprises Inc.
Oakland Clippers	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (53,000)	Joseph O'Neill, H.T. Hilliard
Philadelphia Spartans	Temple University Stadium (20,000)	John Rooney (Pittsburgh Steelers)
Pittsburgh Phantoms	Forbes Field (35,714)	Peter Block, Richard George (Pittsburgh Penguins)
St. Louis Stars	Busch Memorial Stadium (50,000)	Bob Hermann/Bill Bidwill (St. Louis Cardinals-football)
Toronto Falcons	Varsity Stadium (25,000)	Joseph Peters

The NPSL refused to pay a $25,000 entry fee to the governing body of American soccer, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). As a result, FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, branded the NPSL an "outlaw league."

The United Soccer Association (USA) did pay the fee, and was recognized by both the USSF and FIFA. But they started later, and imported entire teams from Britain, Europe and Latin America to represent cities that many of their players had never heard of.

The NPSL kicked off on Sunday, April 16 with a full slate of 5 matches attended by a total of 46,547 fans. The largest crowd of the day was found at Temple University Stadium in Philadelphia, where 14,163 cheered the hometown Spartans to a 2–0 victory over the Toronto Falcons.

The most notable game however, was Baltimore's 1–0 victory over Atlanta in front of a crowd of just 8,434 at Memorial Stadium. It was televised by CBS, which had signed a two-year contract to broadcast a game every Sunday afternoon live and in color. The announcing team was Jack Whitaker and former Tottenham Hotspur and Northern Ireland captain Danny Blanchflower, who was not impressed with the standard of play, and did not hesitate to say so.

The NPSL was also criticized after Pittsburgh's 2–1 triumph over Toronto in the Falcons' home opener at Varsity Stadium on Sunday, May 14. Of the 21 fouls that afternoon, eleven were called to allow CBS to insert commercials into its telecast. Referee Peter Rhodes also admitted that he had forced players to fake injuries to serve the same purpose. This raised many questions about whether the TV networks and their sponsors were having too much influence over televised sporting events.

The NPSL did however attract some notable players including three former Aston Villa players Phil Woosnam, Vic Crowe and Peter McParland, who, together with another veteran of England's Football League, Ron Newman, all turned out for Atlanta Chiefs.

Two ex-Real Madrid players, Juan Santisteban and Yanko Daucik, turned out for the Baltimore Bays and Toronto Falcons respectively. Santisteban made the NPSL All-Star team, and Daucik finished as the league's top scorer.

The Oakland Clippers laid claim to the regular season title, boasting both the best record and the most total points in either division. In the NPSL Finals, the Western Division champion Clippers defeated the Bays, winners of the Eastern Division for the NPSL Championship by virtue of a 4–2 aggregate. Former Manchester United star Dennis Viollet gave Baltimore a 1–0 win on Sunday, September 3 before a home crowd of 16,619. Six days later, in the second leg at Oakland, Dragan Đukić scored a hat trick as the Clippers won 4–1, in front of 9,037.

On the same day as the second leg of the NPSL final, the St. Louis Stars defeated Philadelphia, 2–1, in a battle of division runner-ups held in St. Louis before a crowd of 9,565. The victory gave the Stars a birth in the Commissioner's Cup versus Oakland. On September 18, the Clippers completed the NPSL "treble," by defeating the Stars for the Commissioner's Cup in front of 8,415 fans at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, by the score of 6–3.

*

April 16, 1967 was a Sunday. American-style football was out of season, but a full slate of Major League Baseball games was played:

* The New York Yankees played one of the longest games in their history, beating the Boston Red Sox, 7-6 in 18 innings. Eventual Cy Young Award winner Jim Lonborg and eventual Seattle Pilot Fred Talbot started, and neither got through the 6th inning.

Al Downing pitched innings 14 through 18 for the win. In spite of the game being as long as 2 games, no home runs were hit. Joe Pepitone went 4-for-9 with 3 RBIs. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-3, then drew a walk, and was replaced by a pinch-runner, Ray Barker, who also took over for him at 1st base. For the Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski went 5-for-8 with an RBI, Tony Conigliaro went 5-for-7 with 3 RBIs, and Rico Petrocelli went 4-for-8 with an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) Hank Aaron went 0-for-1 with 3 walks, 1 of them intentional.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4, and Ernie Banks went 1-for-5.

* The Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the San Francisco Giants at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Reds won the 1st game, 4-1; and the 2nd game, 6-0, with Mel Queen pitching a 6-hit shutout. Willie Mays did not play in either game, Pete Rose went 1-for-8 with 2 RBIs, and Johnny Bench's major league debut was still 4 months away.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators at Comiskey Park. The Pale Hose won the opener, 7-3. They won the nightcap, 4-3, when Jerry Adair drew a walk with the bases loaded... in the bottom of the 16th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 11-8 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* A doubleheader was split at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The Detroit Tigers won the 1st game, 6-3. The Kansas City Athletics won the 2nd game, 11-7. Al Kaline went 4-for-8 with a home run and 2 RBIs in the twinbill.

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

* A doubleheader was split at Anaheim Stadium. The California Angels won the 1st game, 5-4. Jim Fregosi singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Baltimore Orioles won the 2nd game, 3-0. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-8, and Frank Robinson went 3-for-9 with 2 RBIs.

Game 2 of the NBA Finals was played at the Convention Hall of the Philadelphia Civic Center. The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, 126-95, to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Rick Barry scored 30 points for the Warriors, who had played in Philadelphia from 1946 to 1962. But for the Sixers, who debuted in 1963 after having been the Syracuse Nationals, Hal Greer scored 30, Billy Cunningham had 28, and, while he only had 10 points, Wilt Chamberlain also had 38 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but this was a day off in them. The Toronto Maple Leafs led the Chicago Black Hawks 3 games to 2, and would win that series 3 days later. The Montreal Canadiens had already swept the New York Rangers in 4 straight. On May 2, the Leafs would beat the Canadiens in Game 6, to take their 13th Cup, their 4th in the last 7 years. They have never made the Stanley Cup Finals again.