Sports History
Sep 2 US Men's Amateur Golf Championship, Canterbury GC: Mark O'Meara wins 8 & 7 over John Cook
Cricket History
Sep 4 Sunil Gavaskar scores his third double century in Test cricket (221) to guide India to a famous draw against England in the 4th Test at The Oval
US Men's Tennis Open
Sep 5 American Roscoe Tanner fires 11 aces, breaks the net with his bullet serve and upsets top-seed Björn Borg 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 in the US Open Tennis quarterfinals
- Sep 5 Oakland A's pitcher Matt Keough beats Milwaukee Brewers, 6-1 for first win after 14 straight losses, ended 1978 with 18 defeats (1 shy of the MLB record 19)
- Sep 7 The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) makes its debut.
US Open Women's Tennis
Sep 8 US Open Women's Tennis: Tracy Austin becomes youngest US champion (16 years, 9 months); beats Chris Evert 6-4, 6-3
- Sep 9 South African Ferrari driver Jody Scheckter wins the Italian Grand Prix at Monza to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; first RSA champion
US Men's Tennis Open
Sep 9 US Open Men's Tennis: John McEnroe wins first Grand Slam title; beats fellow American Vitas Gerulaitis 7-5, 6-3, 6-3
Baseball Record
Sep 12 Boston Red Sox Carl Yastrzemski gets his 3,000th hit off NY Yankee Jim Beattie
- Sep 12 Indiana Pacers cut Ann Meyers, 1st woman on an NBA club
- Sep 15 Red Sox Bob Watson is 1st to hit for cycle in AL & NL (Astros)
- Sep 16 Catfish Hunter Day at Yankee Stadium
- Sep 16 Ryder Cup Golf, The Greenbrier: US wins, 17-11; new Team Europe replaces Great Britain & Ireland as official opposition to the United States
Baseball Record
Sep 17 Royals' George Brett is 6th to have 20 doubles/triples/HRs in a season
- Sep 22 Montreal Expo Larry Parrish HRs off Phillies Rawly Eastwick in DH
Boxing Title Fight
Sep 28 Larry Holmes beats Earnie Shavers by TKO in 11th round in Las Vegas for WBC heavyweight boxing title