Basketball Rules Published
Jan 15 Basketball rules first published in Triangle Magazine, written by James Naismith
- Feb 2 Longest boxing match under modern rules; 77 rounds in Nameoki, Illinois between Harry Sharpe & Frank Crosby
- Feb 22 Manitoba Rugby Football Union forms
- Mar 11 1st public basketball game (Springfield, Massachusetts)
- Mar 18 Lord Stanley presents silver challenge cup for hockey (Stanley Cup)
- Mar 19 3 brothers Hearne play in same Test Cricket England v South Africa (Cape Town)
- Mar 20 54th Grand National: Capt. Roddy Owen wins aboard 20/1 chance Father O'Flynn
- Apr 17 1st Sunday NL baseball game, Reds beat Cards 5-1
- Apr 29 Charlie Reilly is baseball's 1st pinch hitter
- May 11 18th Kentucky Derby: Lonnie Clayton aboard Azra wins in 2:41½
- Jun 7 John J. Doyle of Clev Spiders is 1st to pinch hit in a baseball game
- Jun 9 26th Belmont: W Hayward aboard Patron wins in 2:12
- Jun 10 Baltimore catcher Wilbert Robinson sets MLB record by going 7-for-7 in a 9-inning game; Orioles rout St. Louis Cardinals, 25-4 at Oriole Park
- Jun 25 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Philadelphia Cricket Club: Defending champion Mabel Cahill beats Elisabeth Moore 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
- Jun 28 Phillies tie club record of 16 straight victories
Wimbledon Men's Championship
Jul 4 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Defending champion Wilfred Baddeley beats Joshua Pim 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
Jul 7 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Lottie Dod beats Blanche Bingley-Hillyard for a 4th time in a Wimbledon final 6-1, 6-1
- Aug 30 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport, R.I.: Three straight US singles titles to Oliver Campbell; beats Fred Hovey 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
Corbett KOs Sullivan
Sep 7 James Corbett KOs 4 to 1 favourite and defending champion John L. Sullivan in 21 rounds at the Olympic Club, New Orleans for world heavyweight boxing title; Sullivan's only defeat and his last fight
- Sep 16 Amsterdam swimming club renamed "The Y"
- Sep 23 British Open Men's Golf, Muirfield: Harold Hilton wins by 3 shots from amateur John Ball, Sandy Herd & Hugh Kirkaldy
- Oct 10 Entire Hong Kong national cricket team dies in shipwreck off Taiwan
- Oct 24 "World Championship" Baseball Series, South End Grounds, Boston: Boston Beaneaters beat Cleveland Spiders, 8-3 for a 5-0-1 championship victory; last of the pre-modern-era World Series
- Nov 12 Pudge Heffelfinger receives $500 to become first professional football player in the Allegheny Athletic Association's 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Athletic Club
- Nov 23 Pierre de Coubertin launches plan for modern Olympic Games at the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques AGM
- Dec 9 English football club Newcastle United founded
- Dec 16 Commencement of 1st Sheffield Shield cricket game, SA v NSW
- Dec 27 Biddle University beats Livingstone College 5-0 in 1st black college football game, in Salisbury, North Carolina