October 1949 in Sport

Events in Sport

  • Oct 2 For first time in 41 years pennant races in both MLB leagues are decided on the final day of the season; (AL) Yankees upend rival Boston Red Sox, 5-3; (NL) Dodgers beat the Phillies, 9-7 for 97-57 record; Cardinals 96-58
  • Oct 5 Sportswriter Robert Ruark first reports golfing great Bobby Jones's rare spinal disease (syringomyelia) would prevent him from playing form of golf again
  • Oct 9 NY Yankees beat Dodgers 4 games to 1 in 46th World Series
  • Oct 10 3rd NHL All-Star Game: All-Stars beat Toronto 3-1 at Toronto

Sport defeatBoxing Title Fight

Oct 14 Ezzard Charles TKOs Pat Valentino in 8 for heavyweight boxing title

Boxer and World Heavyweight Champion Ezzard Charles
Boxer and World Heavyweight Champion
Ezzard Charles
  • Oct 16 1st NASCAR Sprint Cup: Red Byron wins
  • Oct 19 A's trade 2nd baseman Nellie Fox to White Sox for Joe Tipton
  • Oct 29 White Sox trade Joe Tipton to A's for Nellie Fox

Birthdays in Sport


Person of interestBill James

Oct 5 Bill James [George William James], American baseball writer and statistician ( sabermetrics), born in Holton, Kansas

Baseball Writer and Statistician Bill James
Baseball Writer and Statistician
Bill James
  • Oct 7 Catherine Duggan, LPGA golfer
  • Oct 9 Shep Messing, American soccer goalkeeper (NY Cosmos), born in Bronx, New York
  • Oct 10 Lance Cairns, New Zealand cricketer (big-hitting NZ medium-pace bowler), born in Picton, New Zealand
  • Oct 11 Bobby Jones, American MLB baseball player, born in Elkton, Maryland
  • Oct 13 Tom Mees, American sports broadcaster, born in Springfield, Pennsylvania (d. 1996)
  • Oct 13 Patrick Nève, Belgian racing driver, born in Liège, Belgium
  • Oct 18 George Hendrick, baseball player
  • Oct 19 Lynn Dickey, American football player
  • Oct 20 Valery Borzov, USSR, 100m/200m dash (Olympic gold 1972)
  • Oct 20 Wayne Collett, American 400m runner (Olympic silver 1972)
  • Oct 21 Michel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1971)
  • Oct 22 Manfred Burgsmuller, WLAF kicker (Rhein Fire)
  • Oct 22 Arsène Wenger, French football manager (Arsenal 1996-2018), born Strasbourg, France
  • Oct 25 Réjean Houle, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Oct 28 Caitlyn Jenner [born Bruce Jenner], American decathalete (Olympic gold 1976), TV personality, and prominent transgender figure, born in Mt Kisco, New York

Deaths in Sport

  • Oct 27 Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)