October 1999 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Sports History

Oct 1 Edmonton Oilers retire Wayne Gretzky's #99 in a pre-game ceremony before a 1-1 tie v NY Rangers, the last team for which 'The Great One' suited up in an NHL game

Sports History

Oct 1 In a blockbuster NBA trade, the Houston Rockets move All Star forward Scottie Pippen to Portland Trail Blazers for Kelvin Cato, Stacey Augmon, Walt Williams, Carlos Rogers, Ed Gray and Brian Shaw

Oct 1 Sourav Ganguly smashes 11 fours and 5 sixes for a blistering 139 as India (277/6) dominates Zimbabwe (170) in the 6th cricket LG Cup ODI in Nairobi
Oct 2 #21 University of Alabama football team beats #3 Florida, 40-39 in overtime to snap the Gators' 30-game home win streak; future Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander crosses for 4 touchdowns for the Crimson Tide
Oct 2 Atlanta Thrashers play first regular-season game in franchise history, a 4-1 loss to the visiting NJ Devils, before a crowd of 18,545 at Philips Arena; Kelly Buchberger scores first goal in Thrashers history

NHL Record

Oct 2 Boston's Ray Bourque becomes highest goal-scoring defenseman in NHL history; 386th career goal in Bruins' 3-1 win v Carolina Hurricanes moves him 1 ahead of Paul Coffey

Oct 3 Chelsea scores massive upset when they humble English Premiership champions Manchester United, 5-0 at Stamford Bridge; Gus Poyet sets the tone scoring after just 27 seconds; Nicky Butt is sent-off for United

Baseball Record

Oct 3 St Louis 1st baseman Mark McGwire hits his 65th homer of the season in a rain shortened 9-5 win over Cubs at Busch Stadium; wins 2nd straight HR title over Sammy Sosa, who hits his 63rd HR in same game

Oct 4 Rain prevents play on the final day of the 3rd cricket Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in Colombo; despite 105 from Ricky Ponting, Sri Lanka wins first ever Test series v Australia

Sports History

Oct 12 Pat LaFontaine formally retires from the NHL due to lingering concussion problems

Oct 18 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 1
Oct 19 MLB National League Championship: Atlanta Braves beat New York Mets, 4 games to 2

Sports History

Oct 22 NHL goaltender Grant Fuhr wins his 400th career game (vs Florida Panthers)

Oct 27 Baseball World Series: New York Yankees beat Atlanta, 4-1 in Game 4 at Yankee Stadium to sweep Braves and retain title; MVP: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera
Oct 31 Finnish McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen wins season ending Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to clinch his second straight F1 World Drivers Championship; wins by 2 points from Irishman Eddie Irvine
Oct 31 Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted.

Birthdays in Sport

Oct 11 Patty Tavatanakit, Thai golfer (ANA Inspiration 2021), born in Bangkok, Thailand

NBA YoungBoy (23 years old)

Oct 20 American rapper ("Bandit"; Tyler the Creator -"WusYaName"), born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Deaths in Sport

Oct 8 John McLendon, American basketball coach (b. 1915)

Wilt Chamberlain (1936-1999)

Oct 12 American College / Basketball HOF center (4 x NBA MVP; 13 x All Star; NBA C'ship 1967, 72 [MVP]; Philadelphia/SF Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, LA Lakers), dies of heart failure at 63

Oct 20 Calvin Griffith, Canadian baseball team owner (Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins 1955-84), dies at 87
Oct 21 John Bromwich, Australian tennis player (Australian C'ship 1939, 46 / 13 Grand Slam doubles titles), dies at 80
Oct 22 Martin Donnelly, New Zealand cricket batsman (7 Tests, 1 x 100, 4 x 50, HS 206; Wellington, Canterbury) and rugby union centre (1 Test England 1947), dies at 82