- Oct 1 Carolina Hurricanes lose franchise's debut NHL game, 4-2 to Tampa Bay Lightning at the Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida
- Oct 1 Minnesota Timberwolves NBA forward Kevin Garnett, just 2 years out of high school, signs a record 6-year, $123 million contract extension
- Oct 1 Zimbabwe and New Zealand tie their One Day International cricket match in Bulawayo; Black Cap tail-ender Gavin Larson is run out on last ball at 9/233 amidst crowd surging onto field; 13th ODI tie
- Oct 2 The Bruins beat the LA Kings, 6-5 in Boston to extend their NHL opening game unbeaten streak to 11-straight years (9-0-2)
- Oct 3 1st NHL game outside of North America: Vancouver Canucks beat Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-2 in Tokyo, Japan
- Oct 3 NHL Carolina Hurricanes lose in their 1st home game, 4-3 vs Pittsburgh Penguins at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina
- Oct 5 Federation Cup Women's Tennis, Den Bosch, Netherlands: Sandrine Testud wins both her singles to lead France to 4-1 win over the Netherlands; France's first title
- Oct 9 North Carolina's record winning college basketball coach Dean Smith retires
- Oct 9 NY Rangers are 1st NHL team to open with 4 straight ties
Sports History
Oct 11 Dennis Rodman returns from second longest NBA suspension (11 games)
Sports History
Oct 15 NY jury awards boxer Mitch Green $45,000 in civil lawsuit against Mike Tyson, for street brawl in 1988
- Oct 19 700th World Series home run (Sandy Alomar, Cleveland Indians)
- Oct 20 Richard Gnida, Limo driver in Detroit Red Wings crash, pleads guilty
- Oct 21 Cleveland outfielder Marquis Grissom records a hit in his 15th straight World Series game; second longest 9 inning WS game (4:12) as Florida Marlins beat Indians, 14-11
- Oct 22 Cleveland outfielder Marquis Grissom's World Series hitting streak ends after 15 games as Indians rout Florida 10-3 in coldest ever WS game (38°F)
Sports History
Oct 22 NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky's wife Janet is knocked unconscious and gets 2 stitches after plexiglass falls on her watching a game
- Oct 23 Les Alexander, owner of Houston Rockets buys NHL's Edmonton Oilers
- Oct 24 Marv Albert sentenced in assault case
- Oct 25 9th College Football Holy War: Notre Dame beats Boston College 52-20 in South Bend
- Oct 26 Baseball World Series: Florida beats Cleveland Indians, 3-2 in Game 7 at Pro Player Stadium, Miami for Marlins first-ever title; MVP: Florida pitcher Liván Hernández
F1 World Champion
Oct 26 Jacques Villeneuve finishes 3rd in European Grand Prix at Jerez, Spain; first Canadian to win F1 World Drivers Championship; wins by 39 points from Michael Schumacher
- Oct 28 NBA announces hiring of Dee Kantner & Violet Palmer as 1st women to officiate a major-league all-male sports league
Sports History
Oct 30 Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona announces his retirement from football on his 37th birthday
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions