Events in Sport
- 1860 1st British Open Golf, Prestwick GC: Willie Park Sr. wins inaugural event by 2 strokes from fellow Scot Tom Morris Sr
- 1885 Baseball sets all players salaries at $1,000-$2,000 for 1885 season
- 1920 Chicago Bears (as Decatur Staleys) play 1st NFL game, win 7-0
- 1927 Ban Johnson, in failing health, retires as AL President
- 1935 Pacific Association of AAU votes not to participate in Berlin Olympics
- 1964 In the first ever Olympic women's pentathlon Irina Press of the Soviet Union sets a world record 5,246 points to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Games
Event of Interest
1964 Yanks fire Manager Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra
- 1964 Australian athlete Betty Cuthbert takes her 4th career Olympic gold medal as she wins the women's 400m at the Tokyo Games in Olympic record 52.0
- 1964 US swimmers go 1-2-3 in the women's 400m individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics; Donna de Varona wins gold in Olympic record 5:18.7 ahead of team mates Sharon Finneran and Martha Randall
- 1968 Soviet athlete Viktor Saneev sets world record 17.39m to win the triple jump at the Mexico City Olympics; world record improved 5 times by 3 different athletes during competition
- 1968 US men's 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Zac Zorn, Stephen Rerych, Ken Walsh & Mark Spitz swim world record 3:31.7 to outclass the Soviet Union & Australia and win the gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics
- 1968 Björn Ferm of Sweden beats Hungary's András Balczó by just 11 points to take the gold medal in the modern pentathlon at the Mexico City Olympics
- 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 3 in 68th World Series
- 1972 1st time Islanders shut-out-5-0 vs Penguins
- 1974 NBA New Orleans Jazz begin a 28 game road losing streak
- 1974 Washington Capitals 1st NHL home victory, beating Chicago 4-3
- 1974 Oakland A's beat LA Dodgers, 4 games to 1 in 71st World Series makes A's only team other than Yanks to win 3 straight series
- 1976 Coldest World Series game Yankees vs Cincinnati, 39 degrees F (until 1997)
- 1978 NY Islanders start a streak of 23 undefeated games at home (15-0-8)
- 1978 NY Yankees beat Dodgers, 4 games to 2 in 75th World Series
- 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 3 in 76th World Series
- 1981 Brazilian Nelson Piquet driving for Brabham finishes 5th in the season ending Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Carlos Reutemann
- 1982 Robin Yount is 1st to have 2 4-hit games in a World Series
- 1985 Lou Piniella named NY Yankee manager
- 1987 1st indoor World Series game (Minnesota Metrodome)
- 1988 Dallas Green replaces Lou Pinella as manager of NY Yankees
- 1989 Earthquake in San Francisco (6.9) cancels 3rd game of World Series, kills 67
- 1991 Angel Cordero is 3rd jockey to win 7,000 horse races
Event of Interest
1991 Pitts Penguin Paul Coffey sets NHL defenseman scoring record with 1,053 career points (309 goals & 744 assists)
Paul Coffey
Event of Interest
2008 Sachin Tendulkar becomes the highest run-scorer ever in test cricket beating Brian Lara's record and passing 12,000 runs against Australia in Mohali
Sachin Tendulkar
Birthdays in Sport
- 1848 William "Candy" Cummings, American baseball player credited with creating the curveball, born in Ware, Massachusetts (d. 1924)
- 1859 William "Buck" Ewing, hall of fame catcher (NY Giants, Cincinnati Reds)
- 1890 Roy Kilner, English cricketer (d. 1928)
- 1906 Paul Derringer, American baseball player (d. 1987)
- 1908 Red Rolfe, American baseball player (d. 1969)
- 1917 Martin Donnelly, cricketer (brilliant lefty bat for NZ post-war)
- 1919 John Moroney, cricketer (Australian opener 1949-51)
- 1921 Maria Gorokhovskaya, Russian gymnast (Olympic Champion 1952), born in Yevpatoria, Soviet Union
- 1924 Don Coryell, American College Football Hall of Fame/NFL coach (SD Chargers), born in Seattle, Washington (d. 2010)
- 1928 James "Junior" Gilliam, Dodgers (NL rookie of year 1953)
- 1932 Paul Anderson, American light super heavyweight lifter (Olympic gold 1956)
- 1934 Johnny Haynes, English footballer (d. 2005)
- 1935 Alan Brown, cricketer (England opening attack Brown & White vs Pak 1961)
- 1940 Jim Smith, English footballer and manager
- 1945 Dave Cutler, CFL place kicker (Edmonton Eskimos)
- 1946 Bob Seagren, American pole vaulter/actor (Olympic gold 1968, "Soap"), born in Pomona California
- 1958 Blaine McCallister, American golfer (5 PGA Tour titles), born in Fort Stockton, Texas
- 1960 Mandy Yachad, cricketer (South African ODI opening batsman 1991)
- 1962 John Dorge, Australian basketball center (Olympics 1996)
- 1963 Sergio Goycochea, Argentine footballer
- 1965 Pinnaduwage Aravinda De Silva, cricket (Sri Lanka's greatest batsman)
- 1966 Danny Ferry, NBA forward (Cleveland Cavaliers)
- 1966 Tommy Kendall, American race car driver and television personality
- 1967 Adrianne Werdel Witmeyer, tennis star (1990 Futures-Chiba), born in Los Angeles, California
- 1967 Marianne Werdel Witmeyer, tennis star, born in Los Angeles, California
- 1967 Mark Johnson, infielder (Pittsburgh Pirates), born in Worcester, Massachusetts
- 1967 Nathalie Tauziat, Bangui Cent Afr Rep, tennis star (1993 Quebec City)
- 1967 Reggie Clark, NFL linebacker (Jacksonville Jaguars)
- 1968 Heather McDermid, rower (Olympics 1996), born in Calgary, Alberta
- 1969 Alfred Pupunu, NFL tight end (San Diego Chargers)
- 1969 Joe Courtney, NBA forward (Cleveland Cavaliers)
- 1969 Ernie Els, South African golfer (US Open 1994, 97; British Open 2002, 12), born in Johannesburg, South Africa
- 1970 Anil Kumble, cricketer (great Indian leg-spinner since 1990)
- 1970 Jean-Paul de Young, soccer player (FC Utrecht)
- 1970 John Mabry, outfielder (St Louis Cardinals), born in Wilmington, Delaware
- 1970 Marciano Vink, soccer player (Genoa/PSV)
- 1970 Tasha Tsang, Saskatoon Saskatchwan, rower (Olympics 1996)
- 1971 Byron Chamberlain, American football tight end (Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings), born in Honolulu, Hawaii
- 1971 Ernest Dixon, NFL linebacker (New Orleans Saints)
- 1971 Henry McMillian, NFL defensive tackle (Seattle Seahawks)
- 1972 Joe McEwing, American baseball player
- 1973 Keith McKenzie, NFL defensive end (Green Bay Packers-Super Bowl 31)
- 1974 John Rocker, American baseball player
- 1975 Francis Bouillon, American hockey player
- 1976 Sebastián Abreu, Uruguayan footballer
- 1977 Dudu Aouate, Israeli footballer
Kimi Räikkönen
1979 Kimi Räikkönen, Finnish auto racer (F1 World Champion 2007), born in Espoo, Finland
Kimi Räikkönen
Deaths in Sport
- 1918 Gordon White, cricketer (WW I Superb South African batsman 1905-12), dies
- 1958 Charlie Townsend, English cricketer (2 Tests for England 1899), dies at 81
- 1965 Barton King, cricketer (America's greatest cricket all-rounder), dies
- 1972 Turk Broda, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
- 1977 [Robert] Cal Hubbard, American football and baseball player and umpire (only person in football and baseball Hall of Fame), dies at 77
- 1991 Piet van Est, The Vuurbal, cyclist (7x Tour de France), dies at 57
- 1994 Augustus John "Gus" Risman, rugby League Player, dies at 83
- 2000 Leo Nomellini, wrestler (b. 1924)
- 2002 Aileen Riggin, American springboard diver (Olympic gold 1920, 24), dies at 96
- 2015 Howard Kendall, English footballer and football manager (Everton), dies at 69
October in History
![Grim History of London's Speakers' Corner]()
Grim History of London's Speakers' Corner
Nowhere in England is the principal of free speech embodied more than at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park. But this right was won through death and protest.
October 14, 1855![Hurricane on the Way? Don't Worry]()
Hurricane on the Way? Don't Worry
A cosy assurance from a BBC weather forecaster for viewers not to worry about an impending storm has gone down as the most spectacular mis-forecast in history.
October 15, 1987![The Tragedy of Aberfan]()
The Tragedy of Aberfan
One hundred and sixteen young children died on this day when an avalanche of coal tip waste and debris thundered down a hillside and engulfed their school.
October 21, 1966![Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent]()
Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent
Daredevil André-Jacques Garnerin took to the sky in a hydrogen balloon on this day and after cutting himself adrift performed the first ‘parachute’ descent.
October 22, 1797
