Baseball
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World Series:
(in 7 games) Brooklyn Dodgers (4 games) over New York Yankees (3 games)
the Dodgers win comes after seven previous attempts at a World Series Championship
Kansas City Athletics are added to the American League in an expansion,
their third game however turned out to be the worst loss in baseball this year with the Chicago White Sox destroying them (29 - 6)
All Star Game: (in extra innings) National League (6), American League (5)
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Basketball
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NBA Championship:
(in five games) Philadelphia Warriors (4 games) over the Fort Wayne Pistons (1 game)
there were allegations that certain Fort Wayne players had conspired with gamblers and thrown the game, no charges were ever filed
Most Valuable Player goes to Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks, this is the first year for this award
he also led the league in total points, free throws and rebounds All Star Game: Eastern Division (100) over the West (91), game MVP is Bill Sharman of the Boston Celtics
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Football
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NFL Championship Game:
Cleveland Browns (38) over the Los Angeles Rams (14)
This is the Browns second Championship in two seasons having lost in the previous three seasons
NBC is awarded the contract to televise the game but at a cost of $100,000.
this is the most ever paid to carry an event by a network
Yet another rule change: a play is blown dead if a player is in contact with a defending player and any part of his body, except hands and feet, touches the ground
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Golf
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The Masters: Cary Middlecoff shot a (279) seven strokes better than Sam Snead who finished second, played at Augusta Ga as always
This was the first appearance for Arnold Palmer, who finished in 10th place
PGA Championship; Doug Ford won by two strokes (match play), played at Meadowbrook Country Club
Ford won three tournaments this year and received the Player of the Year award
U.S. Open : Jack Fleck shot (287), played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California
Fleck was 9 strokes behind runner up Ben Hogan and in the last round closed that gap and wound up beating Hogan by 3 strokes
British Open : Australian Peter Thomson shot a (281) at St Andrews Club in Scotland
this is Thompsons second consecutive win, he will go on to win one more
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Tennis
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Wimbleton: Men's Singles
(American) Tony Trabert defeated (Danish) Kurt Nielsen in straight sets (6-3, 7-5, 6-1)
Wimbleton: Women's Singles
(American) Louise Brough Clapp over (American) Beverly Baker Fleitz (7-5, 8-6)
U.S. (Open) National Championship: Tony Trabert over Ken Rosewall (9-7, 6-3, 6-3)
Davis Cup: Australia recaptured the Inter Zonal Challange Cup defeating the current champ the United States (5 - 0)
this would bring Australias Challange total to five wins in six years
Italy triumphed over Sweden in the Europe Zone and Japan defeated the Philippines in the Eastern Zone
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Hockey
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Stanley Cup: (in 7 games) Detroit Red Wings (4 games) over the Montreal Canadiens (3 games)
this is a repeat of last years championship and Detroits fourth cup win in six seasons
Gordie Howe was once again the leading scorer and scored the series winning goal at the end of the second period in game 7
Detroit was forced to play without their leading scorer Maurice "Rocket" Richard who was suspended for the remainder of the season
for a fight which escalated and wound up stopping a late season game oddly enough aaginst Detroit
World Ice Hockey Championships: Canada after losing to the Soviet Union last year came back to defeat them (5 - 0)
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Boxing
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The World Heavyweight Championship was defended by Rocky Marciano
who increased his undeafted record to 49 fights
by defeating Don Cockell in a ninth round knock out and
Archie Moore (the current light heavyweight champion) also in a ninth round KO
Three months before fighting Marciano, Archie Moore defended his light heavyweight title
by scoring a third round knock out of (the current middleweight champ) Carl (Bobo) Olson
Tony DeMarco in a world welterweight champion bout defeated champion Johnny Saxton in a fourteenth round TKO
DeMarco would however lose the title to Carmen Basilio in a twelveth round knockout just over two months later
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Auto Racing
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Indianapolis 500: Bob Sweikert wins, his average speed was 128.209 mph
Bill Vukovich, who had won the last two Indy 500s, was killed in a chain-reaction crash while holding a 17-second lead on the 57th lap
Vukovich had led the race for 50 of the 56 laps that he completed and was thought to be the absolute forerunner in this race
The Chrysler 300 makes its debut in Daytona, driven by Tim Flock, who last year had his win at Daytona taken away on a technicality,
the car was part of outboard motor manufacturer Carl Kiekhaefer's team who went on to win 22 of the 37 scheduled races in 1955
Tim Flock would also be crowned the Grand National Champion accumulating enough points by winning 18 races interestingly his brother Fonty Flock also won 3 races
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Horse Racing
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Kentucky Derby: Swaps, Jockey - Willie Shoemaker
The following year (1956) Swaps would break his leg, extrordinary means would be taken and lead to his partial recovery
he would of course never race again but he did make it to stud and be proclaimed Horse of the Year for 1956
Preakness Stakes: Nashua, ridden by Eddie Arcaro
Belmont Stakes: Nashua, Jockey - Eddie Arcaro
after the death of Nashua's owner he was auctioned off for $1,251,200 the highest price ever paid for a horse
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Sports