Events in Sports History in 1940

Free Agency to Tigers Players

Jan 14 MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis gives free agency to 91 Detroit Tigers minor league players

1st MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Jan 19 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Helen Hicks wins by 1 stroke ahead of Helen Dettweiler
Jan 28 Chicago's Les Cunningham scores 5 points in one period to set an NHL record that stands until 1978; records 2 goals & 3 assists in a 10:04 span during the 3d period of an 8-1 win over Montreal

Quist Defeats Crawford

Jan 29 Australian Championships men's Tennis: Australian Adrian Quist beats countryman Jack Crawford 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 for his 2nd Australian title

Jan 29 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Nancye Wynne Bolton wins her 2nd Australian singles titles; beats Thelma Coyne 5-7, 6-4, 6-0

Louis vs. Godoy

Feb 9 Joe Louis beats Arturo Godoy in 15 for heavyweight boxing title

Boxer and World Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis

Feb 10 US female Figure Skating championship won by Joan Tozzer

Sports History

Feb 13 Bradman scores 209* in 161 minutes for South Aust at the WACA

Feb 25 1st televised hockey game in US - New York Rangers defeat visiting Montreal Canadians 6-2 at Maison Square Garden; W2XBS broadcasts to up to 300 receivers in NYC
Feb 28 1st televised basketball game (U of Pitts beats Fordham U, 50-37)

Demaret's One Stroke Win

Feb 29 American golfer Jimmy Demaret wins his third PGA Tour event within an 8-day span, taking the St. Petersburg Open by one stroke from Byron Nelson

Feb 29 Detroit's Cecil "Tiny" Thompson becomes first goaltender in NHL history to play 40 (or more) games for 12 straight seasons; milestone comes in a 3-1 Red Wings loss at Toronto
Mar 7 Montreal Canadiens lose record tying NHL 15th straight game at home

Sauer Wrestling Champion

Mar 7 Peter Saur, fighting as Ray Steele, beats Bronko Nagurski in St Louis, to become National Wrestling Association Heavyweight Champion

Hall of Fame American Football Player Bronko Nagurski

Mar 29 American boxer Joe Louis KOs Johnny Paycheck in 2 rounds to retain heavyweight boxing title
Mar 30 2nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Indiana beats Kansas, 60-42; Hoosiers' forward Marvin Huffman is named tournament Most Outstanding Player
Apr 5 99th Grand National: 25/1 shot Bogskar ridden by Royal Air Force sergeant Mervyn Jones wins by 4 lengths from MacMoffat; last true Aintree GN before a 5-year break due to World War II

7th US Masters

Apr 7 7th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jimmy Demaret wins the first of his 3 Masters titles, 4 strokes ahead of runner-up Lloyd Mangrum

Apr 12 NFL cuts clipping penalty from 25 yards to 15 yards
Apr 13 American athlete Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam, using a bamboo pole, becomes 1st man to pole vault 15 ft, at University of California, Berkeley
Apr 13 Stanley Cup Final, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario: New York Rangers beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 for 4-2 series victory; Rangers last Cup win for 54 years
Apr 15 44th Boston Marathon won by Gérard Côté of Canada in 2:28:28.6; first of 4 wins in the event

Only Opening Day No-Hitter

Apr 16 Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller hurls the first and only Opening Day no-hitter in MLB history; beats Chicago WSWhite Sox, 1-0 at Comiskey Park

Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Bob Feller

Apr 23 NY Yankees dedicate a plaque to Jacob Rupert
Apr 30 Brooklyn Dodger Tex Carleton no-hits Cincinnati Reds, 3-0
May 1 Summer Olympics (scheduled for Helsinki) are cancelled by the Finnish OC because of WWII
May 4 66th Kentucky Derby: Carroll Bierman aboard Gallahadion wins in 2:05
May 11 65th Preakness: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 1:58.6

Foxx's Huge Home Run

May 14 Boston's Jimmie Foxx HR goes over Comiskey Park's left field roof

MLB Hall of Fame 1st Baseman Jimmie Foxx

May 20 Soccer team HZVV forms in Hoogeveen
May 24 1st night game at St Louis Sportsman Park (Indians 3, Browns 2)
May 24 NY Giants swat Boston Bees, 8-1, in 1st night game at Polo Grounds, NYC
May 29 Adolf Kiefer swims world record 100 yards backstroke (58.8 sec)
May 30 Indianapolis 500: Wilbur Shaw drives same Maserati 8CTF he had driven to victory in 1939; first driver in the history to win at Indy in consecutive years
Jun 4 1st night game at Forbes Field (Pirates 14, Braves 2)
Jun 4 1st NL night game at Sportsman's Park (Dodgers 10, Cardinals 1)
Jun 8 72nd Belmont: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 2:29.6

44th US Men's Open

Jun 9 US Open Men's Golf, Canterbury GC: Lawson Little defeats Gene Sarazen by 3 strokes in an 18-hole playoff to win his only professional major title

Jun 20 Joe Louis TKOs Arturo Godoy in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
Jul 9 8th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 4-0 at Sportsman's Park, St Louis
Jul 25 American John Sigmund begins swimming for 89 hours, 46 minutes from St. Louis to Caruthersville, Missouri in the Mississippi River; 292 miles, longest solo swim of all time
Jul 28 Yankee Charlie Keller hits 3 HRs to beat White Sox 10-9
Jul 29 SV. Urk Dutch soccer team forms
Aug 5 St Louis Brown's pitcher John Whitehead no-hits Detroit Tigers, 4-0 in 6 innings (rain shortened)

Baseball History

Aug 24 Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams pitches the last 2 innings in a 12-1 loss to Detroit Tigers, Williams allows 3 hits & 1 run

Aug 26 RKC soccer team forms in Waalwijk
Aug 29 7th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Green Bay 45, All-Stars 28 (84,567)
Sep 2 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Hershey CC: Byron Nelson wins his first PGA C'ship, beating Sam Snead 1 up in the Monday 36-hole final

US Men's Tennis Open

Sep 9 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Donald McNeill beats fellow American Bobby Riggs 4-6, 6-8, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 for his second major singles title

Tennis Player and Three-Time Major Champion Bobby Riggs

US Open Women's Tennis

Sep 9 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Defending champion Alice Marble beats Helen Jacobs 6-2, 6-3 for her third US singles title

Sep 15 3rd American Football League plays 1st game (Milw 14, Columbus 2)
Sep 15 Chicago Tribune sponsors Ted Lyons Day (White Sox pitcher)

Leo Durocher Suspended

Sep 16 Leo Durocher suspended from Ebbetts Field for "inciting a riot"

Baseball Player and Manager Leo Durocher

Sep 27 MLB Detroit Tigers rookie pitcher Floyd Giebells throws 2-0 shut-out over Cleveland Indians Bob Feller to clinch the AL pennant at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio
Sep 27 Yankees, lose to A's & eliminated from pennant for 1st time since 1935

NFL History

Sep 28 Bud Brennan, a fan at Memorial Stadium, races out of stands and attempts to tackle Tom Harmon at 3-yard line, Harmon easily evades

American Football Player and Broadcaster Tom Harmon

Sep 28 Michigan's Tom Harmon runs 72, 86 & 94 yard touchdowns
Oct 3 Cincinnati Reds' win Game 2 of the Baseball World Series, 5-2 v Detroit Tigers at Crosley Field; snap 10-game losing streak for NL going back to Game 6 in 1937; Reds win series, 4-3
Oct 8 Baseball World Series: Cincinnati Reds beat Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Crosley Field for 4 games to 3 series win; Reds second championship
Oct 24 Japan eliminates US terms (strike, play ball) from baseball

Sports History

Nov 5 Walter Johnson, won 416 games for Washington Senators, loses Maryland congressional race (R)

Nov 10 Pittsburgh Steelers & Philadelphia Eagles play one of only 4 penalty free games in NFL history; Steelers win 7-3 at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh
Nov 17 Green Bay Packers become 1st NFL team to travel by plane
Nov 25 Football team University of Michigan retires Tom Harmon's #98
Nov 27 6th Heisman Trophy Award: Tom Harmon, Michigan (HB)
Nov 30 CFL Grey Cup (Game 1), Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Ottawa beats Toronto Balmy Beach, 8-2
Dec 1 Four sets of brothers play in one NHL game when Chicago Blackhawks beat NY Rangers, 4-1; Lynn & Muzz Patrick and Neil & Mac Colville (Rangers); Max & Doug Bentley and Bob & Bill Carse (Chicago)
Dec 7 CFL Grey Cup (Game 2), Lansdowne Park, Ottawa: Ottawa beats Toronto Balmy Beach, 12-5
Dec 8 National Football League Championship, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.: Chicago Bears beat Washington Redskins, 73-0; most one-sided victory in NFL history; first NFL title game broadcast on national radio
Dec 10 1941 NFL Draft: Tom Harmon from University of Michigan first pick by Chicago Bears
Dec 16 Joe Louis KOs Al McCoy in 6 for heavyweight boxing title in Chicago

Connie Mack Acquires Athletics

Dec 20 Connie Mack acquires controlling interest in the Athletics for $42,000

Dec 25 Cricket master batsman Don Bradman is dismissed for a Xmas Day first ball duck (0) for South Australia v Victoria in a Sheffield Shield match at the Adelaide Oval
Dec 26 1st-class cricket debut of Arthur Morris, who scores 148
Dec 28 Cricketer Arthur Morris scores 111 in 2nd innings of 1st game after 148
Dec 29 3rd NFL All Star Game: Chicago Bears beats NFL All-Stars, 28-14