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
Event of Interest
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

Bobby Jones
Boxing Title Fight
Oct 14 Ezzard Charles TKOs Pat Valentino in 8 for heavyweight boxing title

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

Bill James
- 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 player
- 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, 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, 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 (Arsenal 1996-2018), born in Strasbourg, France
- Oct 25 Réjean Houle, Canadian ice hockey player (Montreal Canadiens), born in Rouyn, Quebec
- Oct 28 Caitlyn Jenner [born Bruce Jenner], American decathlete (Olympic gold 1976), TV personality and prominent transgender figure, born in Mt Kisco, New York