- Jan 1 6th Rose Bowl: Harvard beats Oregon 7-6
- Jan 10 Montreal's Newsy Lalonde scores 6 goals as Canadiens beat Toronto St. Patricks, 14-7 at Mount Royal Arena, Montreal; combined 21 goals an NHL record
- Jan 12 Annual drafting of baseball players from minor leagues to be done in inverse order of the final standings, agreed to
- Jan 21 14th Davis Cup: Australasia beats Great Britain in Sydney (4-1)
- Jan 24 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Sydney: Englishman Algernon Kingscote beats Eric Pockley of Australia 6-4, 6-0, 6-3
Malone's Record 7 Goals
Jan 31 Quebec Bulldogs center Joe Malone sets NHL record with 7 goals in a 10-6 win against Toronto St. Patricks at the Quebec Arena
- Feb 9 Joint Rules Com bans foreign substances & alterations to baseballs
- Feb 10 Baseball outlaws all pitches involving tampering with ball
- Feb 12 NL votes 6-2 for a single baseball commissioner, AL votes 6-2 to keep group commission
- Feb 13 Baseball Hall of Famer “Rube” Foster and 7 other team owners create the first Negro National League (NNL) at a meeting in a Kansas City YMCA
- Mar 3 Montreal Canadiens scores NHL record 16 goals beating Quebec Bulldogs
- Mar 10 NHL's Quebec Bulldog Joe Malone scores 6 goals vs Ottawa Senators
- Mar 20 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Adelaide: Pat O'Hara Wood beats fellow Australian Ronald Thomas 6-3, 4-6, 6-8, 6-1, 6-3
Sherwin Badger US Champion
Mar 20 US Men's Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
- Mar 26 79th Grand National: legendary jockey Jack Anthony wins his record 3rd GN aboard 6/1 Troytown
- Apr 1 Stanley Cup Final, Mutual Street Arena, Toronto, ON: Jack Darragh scores a hat-trick as Ottawa Senators (NHL) beat Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA), 6-1 for a 3-2 series win
- Apr 19 24th Boston Marathon won by Peter Trivoulidas of Greece in 2:29:31
- Apr 20 Phillies manager Gravvy Cravath puts himself in as pinch hitter, his 3- run homer beats NY Giants 3-0
- Apr 25 Magda Julin of Sweden beats teammate Svea Norén for the gold medal in women's singles figure skating at the Antwerp Olympics
- Apr 26 Husband and wife team Ludowika & Walter Jakobsson representing Finland, win the pairs skating gold medal at the Antwerp Olympics; Ludowika is the only German-born athlete at the Games
- Apr 26 Ice hockey makes its Olympic debut at the Antwerp Games with center Frank Fredrickson scoring 7 goals in Canada's 12-1 drubbing of Sweden in the gold medal match
- Apr 27 Sweden takes the figure skating double at the Antwerp Olympics when Gillis Grafström wins his first of 3 consecutive men's gold medals; Magda Julin earlier wins the women's singles event
- May 1 Legendary slugger Babe Ruth records his first HR for the New York Yankees in 6-0 win over his former club, the Boston Red Sox
- May 1 Longest MLB game by innings - Brooklyn Robins tie the Boston Braves, 1-1, in 26 innings
- May 1 Roermond Football Club (1936 KNVB Cup) is established in Netherlands
- May 2 1st game of National Negro Baseball League played in Indianapolis
- May 8 46th Kentucky Derby: Ted Rice aboard Paul Jones wins by a head from Upset in 2:09
- May 14 Giants inform Yankees that the lease allowing them to play in the Polo Grounds will not be renewed at end of 1920 season
Johnson's 300th Win
May 14 Washington Senator Walter Johnson wins his 300th game vs Detroit
- May 15 Soccer team ADO '20 forms in Heemskerk
45th Preakness
May 18 45th Preakness: Clarence Kummer aboard Man o' War (regarded as greatest racehorse of all time) defeats Upset by 1+1⁄2 lengths in 1:51.6
- May 20 Policemen raid the Cubs' bleachers & arrest 24 fans for gambling
- May 31 Indianapolis 500: French driver Gaston Chevrolet accompanied by riding mechanic John Bresnahan wins the race without a single tire change, a remarkable feat at the time
- Jun 1 Dutch soccer club RKSV forms in Volendam; merges with FC Volendam in 1977
- Jun 5 Philadelphia Athletics's VP Thomas Shibe denies charges that baseballs are livelier
- Jun 8 Reds' Edd Roush falls asleep in center during long infield argument Heinie Groh goes to wake him, but umpire ejects Roush for delay of game
- Jun 12 52nd Belmont: Clarence Kummer aboard Man o' War wins by massive 20 lengths in world record 2:14.2
- Jun 15 De Zweef soccer team forms in Nijverdal
- Jun 20 Yanks win protest of 1-0 White Sox win & game is replayed
- Jul 1 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Cinque Ports GC: Scotsman George Duncan erases 13 stroke deficit after 36 holes to win his only major title; first Open played since WWII
- Jul 1 St Louis Cardinals become tenants of their AL rival St Louis Browns, as they abandon Robison Field midway through the MLB season and return to Sportsman's Park
- Jul 1 Washington Senators pitching legend Walter Johnson no-hits Boston Red Sox 1-0 at Fenway Park, the only no-hitter of his illustrious career
Wimbledon Women's Championship
Jul 1 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: French superstar Suzanne Lenglen beats Dorothea Chambers 6-3, 6-0 to complete a sweep after taking the women's & mixed doubles titles
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
Jul 3 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Bill Tilden, becomes first American male to win Wimbledon beating defending champion Gerald Patterson of Australia 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
- Jul 6 New York Yankees score MLB record 14 runs in 5th inning of a 17-0 rout of Washington Senators
Baseball Record
Jul 10 Cleveland's future Baseball HOF outfielder Tris Speaker has his then record hitting streak of 11 stopped by Tom Zachary; Indians beat Washington Senators, 8-4 at Griffith Stadium
- Jul 16 15th Davis Cup: USA beats Australasia in Auckland (5-0)
- Jul 19 Babe Ruth hits his 30th home run of the 1920 baseball season, breaking his own single-season record. He would attain 54 throughout the season, before breaking that record the next year.
- Jul 20 Dutch soccer club Sportclub Heerenveen is formed; initially known as Athleta; KNVB Cup Champions 2008–09
- Jul 27 14th Tour de France: Belgian rider Philippe Thys becomes first to win the race 3 times
- Jul 27 Resolute beats Shamrock IV (England) in 14th running of America's Cup
- Aug 8 Tigers beat Yanks 1-0 in shortest AL game, 73 minutes
US Golf Open
Aug 13 US Open Men's Golf, Inverness GC: Isle of Jersey native Ted Ray pars the 18th, giving him a 1-stroke win over runners-up Harry Vardon, Jock Hutchison, Leo Diegel & Jack Burke Sr
- Aug 14 VII Summer Olympic Games open in Antwerp, Belgium; first time Olympic Oath voiced, doves released to symbolise peace, and Olympic Flag flown
- Aug 16 Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in head by NY Yankees pitcher Carl Mays; he dies the next day in only MLB game related fatality
- Aug 17 New York Yankees cancel game with Cleveland Indians in memory of Ray Chapman who dies after being hit by a pitch the previous day
- Aug 18 1st class cricket debut of Walter Hammond
Sports History
Aug 20 American Professional Football Association forms; Jim Thorpe installed as president; later to become the National Football League (NFL)
PGA Championship
Aug 21 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Flossmoor CC: American based Scotsman Jock Hutchison beats J. Douglas Edgar of England, 1-up; first of Hutchinson's 2 majors
- Aug 23 American swimmer Warren Kealoha wins first of 2 consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100m backstroke, beating teammate Ray Kegeris at the Antwerp Games
- Aug 25 American swimmer Norman Ross wins his first of 3 gold medals at the Antwerp Olympics in dominating men's 1,500m freestyle; also wins 400m freestyle and 4 x 200m freestyle relay
1st US Female Olympic Champion
Aug 25 Ethelda Bleibtrey leads an American medal sweep of the Antwerp Olympics women's 100m freestyle with a world record 1:13.6; first US female Olympic champion
- Aug 25 Swedish divers sweep the medals in the men's plain high diving event at the Antwerp Olympics; Arvid Wallman wins gold ahead of teammates Nils Skoglund & John Jansson
- Aug 26 Surrey cricket all-rounder Percy Fender scores 100 in 35 minutes [113no] in a county match vs Northamptonshire at the County Ground, Northampton
- Aug 27 American diver Louis Kuehn leads a US medal sweep in the men's 3m springboard event at the Antwerp Olympics; teammates Clarence Pinkston & Louis Balbach take the minor medals
- Aug 28 American swimmer Norman Ross wins his 2nd of 3 gold medals at the Antwerp Olympics; beats teammate Ludwig Langer in the men's 400m freestyle; also wins 1,500m and 4 x 200m freestyle relay
- Aug 28 Ethelda Bleibtrey leads an American medal sweep of the Antwerp Olympic women's 300m freestyle with a world record swim of 4:34.0
- Aug 29 An American sweep of the medals in the men's 100m freestyle at the Antwerp Olympics; Duke Kahanamoku sets world record 1:00.4 in defending his 1912 gold medal
- Aug 29 An American sweep of the medals in the women's 3m springboard diving event at the Antwerp Olympics; Aileen Riggin wins gold ahead of teammates Helen Wainwright & Thelma Payne
- Aug 29 Ethelda Bleibtrey wins her 3rd gold medal of the Antwerp Olympics; teams with Irene Guest, Frances Schroth & Margaret Woodbridge in American 4 x 100m freestyle relay team; world record 5:11.6
- Aug 29 Swedish swimmer Håkan Malmrot completes the breaststroke double at the Antwerp Olympics beating teammate Thor Henning in the 200m; also beats Henning for gold in the 400m
- Sep 4 Man o' War wins the 1 5/8-mile Lawrence Realization Stakes at Belmont Park by 100 lengths, the largest winning margin in modern thoroughbred racing history; world record time 2.40.8
Dempsey KOs Miske
Sep 6 Jack Dempsey KOs Billy Miske in 3 for heavyweight boxing title 1st radio broadcast of a prizefight
- Sep 6 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Forest Hills NY: Bill Tilden wins first of 6 straight US singles titles; beats Bill Johnston 6-1, 1-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3
- Sep 12 VII Summer Olympic Games close in Antwerp, Belgium
- Sep 17 National Football League is born in Canton, Ohio; 12 teams pay $100 each to join American Professional Football Association; renamed the NFL in 1922
- Sep 22 Chicago grand jury convenes to investigate charges that 8 White Sox players conspired to fix the 1919 World Series
- Sep 24 Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth becomes first to hit 50 home runs in a MLB season with a 1st inning blast off Jose Acosta in a 2-1 loss to the Washington Senators
- Sep 25 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Philadelphia CC: Molla Bjurstedt Mallory beats Marion Zinderstein 6-3, 6-1 for her 5th US singles crown
- Sep 28 8 Chicago White Sox baseball players are indicted by a grand jury, charged with fixing 1919 World Series; infamous "Black Sox scandal"
- Sep 29 Yankees slugger Babe Ruth sets then-MLB home run season record at 54 with a 9th inning shot off Dave Keefe in New York's 7-3 win at the Philadelphia A's
- Oct 2 Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates play first and only MLB triple header in the 20th century; Reds win the first two games, 13-4 and 7-3; Pirates avoid the sweep in the finale, 6-0
- Oct 3 American Pro Football Association (later the NFL) plays 1st full round of games; Dayton Triangles beat Columbus Panhandles, 14-0 in first official game at Triangle Park, Dayton
- Oct 3 St Browns 1st baseman George Sisler collects his 257th hit of the season to set MLB record that lasts until the 21st century.; Browns beat White Sox, 16 - 7
- Oct 6 1st brothers oppose each other in World Series, Cleveland's Wheeler Johnston pinch-hits as brother Jimmy plays 3rd base for Brooklyn
- Oct 10 Cleveland Indians outfielder Elmer Smith hits baseball's first ever World Series grand slam and teammate Bill Wambsganss makes the 1st unassisted World Series triple play (Game 5)
- Oct 10 Phoenix Cardinals (then in Chicago) play 1st NFL game, a 0-0 tie
- Oct 12 Baseball World Series: Cleveland Indians beat Brooklyn Robins, 8-1 at League Park for a 5 games to 2 series victory; Indians first Championship
- Oct 13 World Series celebration in Wade Park brings out 50,000+ Clevelanders
- Oct 17 Decatur Staleys, later known as Chicago Bears, play 1st American Professional Football Association game against an affiliated APFA team; beat Rock Island Independents, 7-0 at Douglas Park, Rock Island, Illinois
- Oct 23 Chicago grand jury indicts Abe Attell, Hal Chase, & Bill Burns as go-betweens in "Black Sox" 1919 World Series Baseball scandal
- Oct 29 Ed Barrow appointed GM of NY Yankees
- Nov 1 American fishing schooner 'Esperanto' defeats Canadian yacht 'Delawana' in the first International Fishing Schooner Championship Races off Halifax, Nova Scotia
Ban Johnson
Nov 8 Baseball meeting to depose Ban Johnson is set for Nov 12th
First Baseball Commissioner
Nov 12 Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis elected first baseball commissioner by team owners
- Dec 4 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: U of Toronto Blues win 4th title; beat Toronto Argonauts, 16-3
- Dec 14 Jack Dempsey KOs Bill Brennan in 12 for heavyweight boxing title in NYC
- Dec 17 AL votes to let spitball pitchers to continue using it
- Dec 19 1st US indoor curling rink opens (Brookline, Mass)
- Dec 20 Bert Collins scores 104 on Test Cricket debut v England SCG
- Dec 31 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Auckland, NZ: Bill Johnson & Bill Tilden (US) beat Norman Brookes & Gerald Patterson (Australasia) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 for an unassailable 3-0 lead; ends 5-0
- Dec 31 Victorian all-rounder Roy Park makes Test cricket debut for Australia v England in 2nd Test in Melbourne; bowled by Harry Howell for a first ball 'golden duck' in his first and only Test innings
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions