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
Sports History
Oct 5 Sportswriter Robert Ruark first reports golfing great Bobby Jones's rare spinal disease (syringomyelia) which prevent him from playing any form of golf again
Boxing Title Fight
Oct 14 Ezzard Charles TKOs Pat Valentino in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
- Oct 16 Red Byron in an Oldsmobile finishes 16th in the Wilkes 200 at North Wilkesboro Speedway to win NASCAR Strictly Stock C'ship in the inaugural season of pro stock car racing in the United States
- 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
Bill James
Oct 5 Bill James [George William James], American baseball writer and statistician (sabermetrics), born in Holton, Kansas
- Oct 9 Shep Messing, American soccer goalkeeper (NY Cosmos), born in Bronx, New York
- Oct 10 Lance Cairns, New Zealand cricket all-rounder (43 Tests, 130 wickets; 78 ODIs, 89 wickets), born in Picton, New Zealand
- 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 outfielder (4 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1972 Oakland A's, 1982 St. Louis Cardinals; Silver Slugger Award 1980, 83), born in Los Angeles, California
- Oct 18 Ed Farmer, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1980; Chicago WS) and broadcaster (Chicago WS radio 1991-2005), born in Evergreen Park, Illinois (d. 2020)
- Oct 19 Lynn Dickey, American NFL quarterback (All Pro 1983; Green Bay Packers 1976-85), born in Paola, Kansas
- Oct 20 Valery Borzov, Ukrainian sprinter (Olympic gold 1972), born in Sambir, USSR
- Oct 20 Wayne Collett, American 400m runner (Olympic silver 1972), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2010)
- Oct 21 Michel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player, born in Malartic, Quebec (d. 1971)
- Oct 21 Masao Ohba, Japanese boxer (WBA flyweight champion), born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1973)
- Oct 22 Arsène Wenger, French football manager (Nancy, Monaco; 3 x Premier League, 7 x FA Cup Arsenal 1996-2018), born in Strasbourg, France
- Oct 25 Réjean Houle, Canadian ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens), born in Rouyn, Quebec
- Oct 27 Robin Miller, American motorsports journalist (Indianapolis Star, Autoweek, Car and Driver, ESPN, Speed, NBCSN), born in Anderson, Indiana (d. 2021)
- Oct 28 Caitlyn Jenner [born Bruce Jenner], American athlete (Olympic gold decathlon 1976), TV personality ('Keeping Up with the Kardashians') and prominent transgender figure, born in Mt Kisco, New York
