June 30 (1968)

Pele pleases the 20,116 fans who endure 95-degree temperatures at Busch Memorial Stadium to watch the world’s greatest player. Pele saves Santos by scoring the winning goal in the 63rd minute to lead the heavily favored Brazilian club to a 3-2 victory over the NASL’s St. Louis Stars. Talent-laded Santos visits St. Louis after scoring a total of 15 goals in three victories over Italy’s Napoli in friendlies earlier in Santos’ U.S. tour. The Stars start quickly and stun Santos with two goals by Casey Frankiewicz in the game’s first eight minutes. Pepe, who will score 405 goals in 750 appearances for Santos from 1954-1969, draws Santos level with two goals, both on free kicks, in the 35th and 39th minutes. While the 32-year-old Pepe is near the end of his career, Pele is in his prime at age 27. He already is a veteran of three World Cups, including Brazil’s 1958 and 1962 championships. Pele scores the winner in St. Louis when he slips behind defender Mike Kalicanin for a long pass from Amauro. “Pele instantly controlled the ball and flipped a short shot over the onrushing (goalkeeper Barney) Vidinic,” Jeff Meyers will write in the next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis native Carl Gentile, normally a forward, surprisingly starts at left back, although he had not trained recently because he had been called to active duty with his Air Force Reserve unit at nearby Scott Air Force Base. “The first half was OK, but it was hot and I was dying,” Gentile tells Dave Lange in a 2010 interview. “They subbed this kid (Amauro) in at halftime and he got me. He nutmegged me once, sent a cross to Pele on (Pele’s) chest and on his foot into the back of the net.” The Stars are furious and argue that Pele is offside. Afterward, Pele diplomatically tells Meyers through an interpreter: “I don’t think I was offside. That is my opinion. But I’m not saying I wasn’t offside.”