- Jan 1 22nd Rose Bowl: Stanford beats SMU, 7-0
- Jan 1 2nd Orange Bowl: Catholic University beats Mississippi, 20-19
- Jan 1 2nd Sugar Bowl: TCU beats LSU, 3-2
Bradman's Scores 357
Jan 2 Australian master batsman Don Bradman scores 357 (424 minutes, 40 fours) for South Australia v Victoria in a Sheffield Shield match in Melbourne; his 5th 300+ score in first-class cricket
Quist Defeats Crawford
Jan 27 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Adrian Quist wins his first Grand Slam event; beats fellow Australian Jack Crawford 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 9-7
- Jan 27 Australian Championships Women's Tennis, Adelaide: Joan Hartigan Bathurst wins her 3rd Australian singles title; beats Nancye Wynne Bolton 6-4, 6-4
First Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 29 1st players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson
- Jan 30 New owners of baseball's Boston Braves survey newspaper journalists to pick a new team nickname; known as 'Bees' in 1940 but return to 'Braves' in 1941
- Feb 6 IV Winter Olympic Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
- Feb 8 1st ski jumping tournament at Red Wing, Minnesota
- Feb 8 First-ever NFL Draft: Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago is first pick by Philadelphia Eagles
- Feb 8 German alpine skier Christi Cranz wins the inaugural Olympic women’s combined gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games ahead of teammate Käthe Grasegger
- Feb 9 German skier Franz Pfnür wins the inaugural Olympic men’s combined gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games ahead of teammate Gustav Lantschner
- Feb 13 Ivar Ballangrud of Norway narrowly misses winning all 4 speed skating events at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Olympics; finishes 2nd in 1,500m just 1.0s behind teammate Charles Mathiesen
- Feb 14 Karl Schäfer of Austria wins his 2nd consecutive men’s figure skating Olympic gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games in Germany
- Feb 14 Norwegian speed skater Ivar Ballangrud sets Olympic record 17:24.3 to win the 10,000m at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games; his 3rd gold medal from 4 events and 4th career Olympic gold
Sports History
Feb 14 US female Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
- Feb 15 Great Britain’s 0-0 tie with the US is enough to clinch their first ever Olympic ice hockey gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games; breaks Canada’s 4 straight Games golden streak
Olympic Gold
Feb 15 Sonja Henie of Norway becomes the most successful Olympic figure skater ever by winning her 3rd consecutive gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games; beats Cecilia College of Great Britain by 6.4 points
- Feb 16 IV Winter Olympic Games close in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
- Feb 18 NHL record 32 points scored, NY Americans (28) & Mont Maroons (24)
- Feb 22 Sonja Henie of Norway follows up her Winter Olympics victory with an incredible 10th consecutive women’s World Championship figure skating gold medal in Paris, France
- Feb 27 Dutch swimmer Willy den Ouden sets new women's world 100m freestyle record (1:04.6) in Amsterdam; lasts 22 years until broken in 1956 by Dawn Fraser of Australia
- Feb 28 Karl Schäfer of Austria follows up his Winter Olympics victory with his 7th consecutive men’s figure skating World Championship title in Paris, France
- Feb 28 Olympic champions Ernst Baier and Maxi Herber of Germany win their 4th consecutive pairs figure skating gold medal at the World Championships in Paris, France
- Mar 2 Australian cricket's batting maestro Don Bradman scores 369 in 253 minutes (46 fours, 4 sixes) in South Australia's innings and 349 run win over Tasmania
- Mar 8 The first stock car race is held in Daytona Beach, Florida.
- Mar 13 Irish-bred Golden Miller with Evan Williams aboard wins record 5th consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cup steeplechase at 21/20 favourite; only horse to complete Gold Cup-Grand National double
- Mar 14 Wales beats Ireland, 3-0 in Cardiff to clinch the Home Nations Rugby Championship with a 2-1-0 record
- Mar 24 Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Maroons, 1-0 in 16:30 of 6th period of OT; record Stanley Cup playoff game lasts 9 periods (176 minutes)
- Mar 27 95th Grand National: Fulke Walwyn scores back-to-back GN victories aboard Reynoldstown at 10/1
3rd Augusta National
Apr 6 3rd Augusta National Invitation Tournament (Masters) Golf: Horton Smith wins his second Masters, 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Harry Cooper, with defending champion Gene Sarazen 3rd
Red Wings 1st Championship
Apr 11 Stanley Cup Final, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON: Detroit Red Wings beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 for a 3-1 series win; Red Wings first SC Championship
Joe DiMaggio Debuts
May 3 NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio makes his major-league debut, gets 3 hits
- May 8 Jockey Ralph Neves unexpectedly revived after being declared dead after a fall. His wife faints when he returned to track
- May 16 61st Preakness: George Woolf aboard Bold Venture wins in 1:59
- May 24 Tony Lazerri 2 grand slams (11 RBIs); Ben Chapman sets record by reaching 1st 7 times safely, Yanks beat A's 25-2
- May 30 Indianapolis 500: Louis Meyer becomes first 3-time winner of the race; Lawson Harris is first 2-time riding mechanic; famous tradition of serving milk in victory lane commences
Cramm Wins Second Title
Jun 1 French Championships Men's Tennis: Gottfried von Cramm of Germany wins his 2nd French title; beats Englishman Fred Perry 6-0, 2-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-0
- Jun 1 French Championships Women's Tennis: German Hilde Sperling beats Simonne Mathieu of France 6-3, 6-4 for her second of 3 straight French titles
- Jun 6 68th Belmont: James Stout aboard Granville wins in 2:30
- Jun 6 US Open Men's Golf, Baltusrol GC: Relatively unknown pro Tony Manero wins by 2 strokes from runner-up Harry Cooper
- Jun 7 Yanks beat Indians 5-4 in 16; longest game without a strikeout
- Jun 12 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Topeka CC: Opal Hill scores a 3 & 2 win over Mrs. Charkes Dennehy to claim her second consecutive major title
- Jun 18 First bicycle traffic court in America established in Racine, Wisconsin
Schmeling KOs Louis
Jun 19 German boxer Max Schmeling KOs up-and-coming American heavyweight Joe Louis in 12 rounds at Yankee Stadium, New York
McCarthy All-Star Manager
Jun 19 Joe McCarthy is named to manage AL All-Stars, rather than high-strung Mickey Cochrane, who is very close to a nervous breakdown
Jesse Owens Sets 100m Record
Jun 20 American sprinter Jesse Owens sets a 100m world record of 10.2 seconds
- Jun 24 Rookie outfielder Joe DiMaggio ties 3 MLB records in New York's 10-run 5th inning against the White Sox, hitting 2 home runs for 8 total bases; Yankees beat Chicago, 18-4
- Jun 27 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Liverpool GC: Englishman Alf Padgham wins his only major title, 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Jimmy Adams of Scotland
- Jul 3 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Home favourite Fred Perry beats Gottfried von Cramm of Germany 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 for his third straight Wimbledon singles title
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
Jul 4 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: American Helen Jacobs wins her only Wimbledon title beating Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
- Jul 7 4th MLB All Star Game, Braves Field, Boston: After losing the first 3 AS Games, NL wins 4-3, 4 different Cubs players score the runs
Baseball Record
Jul 10 Phillies Chuck Klein becomes 4th to hit 4 HRs in a game
- Jul 16 NY Giants are 10½ games back in NL, & go on to win pennant
Baseball Record
Jul 17 NY Giants future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Carl Hubbell begins MLB record 24 game winning streak, beating Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0 at Forbes Field
Sports History
Jul 19 17-year-old Cleveland Indians future Baseball HOF pitcher Bob Feller makes his MLB debut in relief in 9-5 loss to Senators at Griffith Stadium, Washington
- Jul 22 Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Johnny Moore hits 3 straight home runs in a 16-4 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates
- Jul 28 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Wimbledon: 4 straight titles for GB as Fred Perry beats Australian Jack Crawford 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 for a 3-2 victory
- Jul 31 IOC awards Tokyo, Japan 1940 Summer Olympic Games (later cancelled, Second Sino-Japanese War)
- Aug 2 A Finnish trifecta in the 10,000m final at the Berlin Olympics; Ilmari Salminen beats teammates Arvo Askola and Volmari Iso-Hollo
- Aug 2 Americans Cornelius Johnson, Dave Albritton and Delos Thurber sweep the high jump medals at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 2 Tour de France: Sylvère Maes of Belgium wins his second title from Frenchman Antone Magne
- Aug 3 American sprinter Jesse Owens wins the 100m (10.3 seconds) in front of Adolf Hitler in a famous race at the Berlin Olympics, first of 4 gold medals at the Games
- Aug 3 Karl Hein (56.49 Olympic record) and Erwin Blask make it a German 1-2 in the hammer throw at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 4 American athlete Jesse Owens wins his 2nd gold medal at the Berlin Olympics; beats German Luz Long in the long jump final with an Olympic record
- Aug 4 American Helen Stephens runs 11.5 to win the 100m at the Berlin Olympics, beating controversial intersex athlete Stanisława Walasiewicz of Poland
- Aug 5 American athlete Jesse Owens wins 200m in world record time (20.7s), his 3rd gold medal of the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 5 Italian athlete Ondina Valla runs a world record 11.6 in the semi finals of the 80m hurdles at the Berlin Olympics; wins final the next day but can't match the time
- Aug 5 Ken Carpenter (50.48 Olympic record) and Gordon Dunn make it an American 1-2 in the men’s discus throw at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 6 American athlete Forrest Towns runs world record 14.1 in 110m hurdles semi finals at the Berlin Olympics; later can't match the time but wins the gold medal in the final
- Aug 6 Jack Lovelock of New Zealand runs a world record (3:47.8) to win the gold medal in the 1,500m at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 6 Japanese athletes quinella the triple jump at the Berlin Olympics; Naoto Tajima wins gold and Masao Harada silver
- Aug 7 A Finnish quinella in the 5,000m final at the Berlin Olympics; Gunnar Höckert runs an Olympic record to beat teammate Lauri Lehtinen
- Aug 7 Argentina wins the polo gold medal beating Great Britain 11-0 in the final at the Berlin Olympics; final time the sport is contested at the Olympics
- Aug 7 Twenty-two nations line-up as the first basketball competition in the Olympics Games starts in Berlin; Estonia beats France 34-29 in the first game
- Aug 8 A Finnish quinella in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Berlin Olympics; Volmari Iso-Hollo beats teammate Kaarlo Tuominen in world record time (9:03.8)
- Aug 8 American Glenn Morris' decathlon total of 7,254 points is a world record; teammates Bob Clark & Jack Parker complete US sweep in the gruelling event at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 9 Helen Stephens claims the women's sprint double at the Berlin Olympics having won the 100m and as part of the victorious American 4 x 100m relay team
- Aug 9 Hungarian swimmer Ferenc Csik wins 100m freestyle gold medal in 57.6 at the Berlin Olympics, beating Japanese pair Masanori Yusa & Shigeo Arai
- Aug 9 Jesse Owens is part of the American 4 x 100m relay team that wins gold in world record (39.8) at the Berlin Olympics; his 4th gold medal of the Games
- Aug 9 Korean nationals representing Japan earn medals in the marathon at the Berlin Olympics; Sohn Kee-chung won gold and Nam Sung-yong bronze
- Aug 10 First time the Olympic cycling road race is conducted as a mass start event with Frenchmen Robert Charpentier and Guy Lapébie taking gold and silver, and France winning the teams gold medal
- Aug 12 After 24 year absence a baseball demonstration game is played between 2 American teams at Berlin Olympics, World Champions beat US Olympics, 6-5
- Aug 12 American diver Marjorie Gestring wins 3m springboard gold at the Berlin Olympics, youngest Olympic gold medalist (13 years 268 days)
- Aug 12 The gymnastics competition at the Berlin Olympics concludes with Germany dominating, winning 6 of 9 gold medals including the men’s & women’s teams events
- Aug 13 Americans Dorothy Poynton-Hil and Velma Dunn take the gold and silver medals in the 10m platform diving at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 13 Nida Senff and Rie Mastenbroek make it a Dutch 1-2 in the women’s 100m backstroke final at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 13 Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands swims an Olympic record 1:05.9 to win the women’s 100m freestyle at the Berlin Olympics, beating Jeannette Campbell of Argentina by 0:05
- Aug 14 American swimmers Adolph Kiefer and Al Vande Veghe quinella the 100m backstroke at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 14 The Berlin Olympics rowing competition concludes with Germany winning 5 of 7 gold medals, although the United States wins the coveted eights gold
- Aug 14 United States beats Canada, 19-8 in poor conditions outdoors to win the gold medal in the inaugural men's basketball competition at the Olympic Games in Berlin
- Aug 15 Americans make a clean sweep of the 3m diving medals via Marjorie Gestring, Katherine Rawls and Dorothy Poynton-Hill at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 15 Annibale Frossi scores twice as Italy beats Austria 2-1 in extra time in the soccer final at the Berlin Olympics
A Kiss For Adolf Hitler
Aug 15 Carla de Vries, an American tourist at the swimming event of the Berlin Olympics finds Adolf Hitler “so friendly and gracious” she shakes his hand and gives him a kiss
- Aug 15 Marshall Wayne and Elbert Root make it an American 1-2 in the 10m platform diving at the Berlin Olympics
- Aug 15 The Berlin Olympic fencing competition concludes with Italy winning 4 of the 7 gold medals and Hungary taking the other 3
- Aug 16 The Berlin Olympic equestrian competition concludes with Germany winning all 6 gold medals in an unprecedented team achievement
- Aug 16 XI Summer Olympic Games close in Berlin
- Aug 23 17-year-old Cleveland Indians future Baseball HOF pitcher Bob Feller's first MLB game as a starter; strikes out 15 St Louis Browns in 4-1 win at League Park, Cleveland
- Aug 25 3 Braves hit twice in an inning getting 2 hits each
- Sep 1 Belgian boxer Gustave Roth beats Heinz Lazek of Austria in a 15 round points decision to win the EBU and vacant IBU world light heavyweight title in Vienna
- Sep 2 NFL Chicago College All-Star Game: All-Stars 7, Detroit Lions 7; 76,000 at Soldier Field
- Sep 3 For the first and only time in the history of the Walker Cup golf event, there is a shutout; the United States routs Great Britain, 9-0 at Pine Valley GC in New Jersey
- Sep 9 New York Yankees beat Cleveland Indians, 12-9 at League Park to clinch AL pennant on the earliest date in history
- Sep 11 A's pitcher Horace Lisenbee gives up 26 hits in a game
US Open Women's Tennis
Sep 12 50th US National Championship Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: #3 seed Alice Marble beats top seeded fellow American Helen Jacobs 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Sep 12 US National Championship Men's Tennis: Englishman Fred Perry wins his 8th and final Grand Slam event before turning pro; beats American Don Budge 2-6, 6-2, 8-6, 1-6, 10-8
- Sep 13 17-year-old Cleveland Indians future Baseball HOF pitcher Bob Feller strikes out then record 17 Philadelphia A's in 5-2 win at League Park, Cleveland
Baseball Record
Sep 14 Pittsburgh Pirates' future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Paul Waner ties Rogers Hornsby's NL record of 200 MLB hits for 7th time
- Sep 27 Boston Redskins and Brooklyn Dodgers play one of only 4 penalty free games in NFL history; Boston wins 14-3 at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn
Baseball History
Sep 27 First baseman Walter Alston plays in his only major league game for the St. Louis Cardinals; later manages Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers for 23 years
- Oct 2 New York Yankees score Baseball World Series record 18 runs in an 18-4 rout of rival NY Giants in Game 2 at the Polo Grounds; Yankees win series 4-2
- Oct 3 NY Yankees set new attendance record of 64,482 in Game 3 of World Series at Yankee Stadium; 66,669 following day Game 4; win series v NY Giants, 4-2
- Oct 4 Record crowd 66,669 packs Yankee Stadium for Game 4 of Baseball World Series; Yankees beat Giants, 5-2; win series, 4-2
- Oct 6 Baseball World Series: Yankees beat Giants, 13-5 at the Polo Grounds to win all-New York series, 4-2
Dodgers Fire Stengel
Oct 7 7th-place Brooklyn Dodgers fire manager Casey Stengel
Sports History
Oct 16 Lou Gehrig, is voted AL MVP by BBWAA
- Oct 20 Carl Hubbell, 26-6, edges out Dizzy Dean, 24-13, for MVP honors in NL
- Nov 14 More than 21,000 watch Don Bradman score 192 for South Australia v Victoria in a drawn Sheffield Shield match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Denny Shute's 1st PGA
Nov 22 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Pinehurst CC: Denny Shute wins first of his consecutive PGA titles, defeating Jimmy Thomson, 3 & 2
- Dec 1 2nd Heisman Trophy Award: Larry Kelley, Yale (E)
- Dec 5 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Sarnia Imperials defeat Ottawa Rough Riders, 26-20 for their 2nd Championship
- Dec 9 AL OKs night baseball for St Louis
- Dec 9 England embarrasses Australia in the 1st Test in Brisbane; home side all out for 58 as England wins by 322 runs; Don Bradman out for a duck (0)
- Dec 12 1937 NFL Draft: Sam Francis from University of Nebraska first pick by Philadelphia Eagles
Packers Defeat Redskins
Dec 13 National Football League Championship, Polo Grounds, NYC: Green Bay Packers beat Boston Redskins, 21-6; Packers 4th title; Redskins move to Washington, D.C. for 1937 season
- Dec 18 Queensland cricket all out for 49 v Vic, Fleetwood-Smith 7-17
- Dec 21 Master batsman Don Bradman has a rare embarrassment - a 2nd consecutive Test duck (0), as England dismisses Australia for 80 in the 2nd Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions