Baseball

• May 7 - Chucho Ramos made his major league debut as first baseman and outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds. He was the third baseball player from Venezuela to play Major League Baseball.
• June 10 - 15-year old Joe Nuxhall becomes the youngest baseball player to pitch a game in major league history.
• World Series: St. Louis Cardinals defeats St. Louis Browns, 4 games to 2.
• Hall of Fame election: Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis is elected by the Hall of Fame Committee in December following his death the previous month. The long-delayed selection of at least 10 players from the 19th century is promised the following year.

Boxing

• August 4- The "War Bonds Fight", $36m is raised to fund the war effort as Beau Jack wins a ten round decision over arch-rival Bob Montgomery at New York's Madison Square Garden. A few weeks later, they were both drafted on the same day by the U.S. Army.

Football (American)

• Green Bay Packers14-7 New York Giants in New York City for the NFL title.

Football (russian)

• Victorian Football League - Fitzroy wins the 48th VFL Premiership (Fitzroy 9.12 (66) d Richmond 7.9 (51))

Golf

• Masters Tournament - not played due to World War II
• U.S. Open - not played due to World War II
• British Open - not played due to World War II
• August 20 - PGA Championship - Bob Hamilton

Men's amateur

• British Amateur - not played due to World War II
• U.S. Amateur - not played due to World War II

Women's professional

• Women's Western Open - Babe Zaharias
• Titleholders Championship - not played due to World War II

Horse Racing

• May 6 - Kentucky Derby - Pensive
• Preakness - Pensive
• Belmont Stakes - Bounding Home

Ice Hockey

• Stanley Cup - Montreal Canadiens sweep the Chicago Black Hawks in 4 straight games.

Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Byron Nelson, PGA golf
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Ann Curtis, Swimming

Births

January-March

• January 23 — Sergei Belov, Russian basketball player
• January 25 — Jacinto João, Angola-born Portuguese football (soccer) player (d. 2004)
• January 29 — Pauline van der Wildt, Dutch swimmer
• February 1 — Katsutoshi Nekoda, Japanese volleyball player (d. 1983)
• February 22 — Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh, Mongolian wrestler
• February 23 — John Ryan, Australian swimmer
• February 26 — Corrie Winkel, Dutch swimmer
• March 5 — Georges Chappe, French cyclist
• March 9 — Roger Gibbon, Trinidad and Tobago track cyclist
• March 13 — Nico van der Voet, Dutch water polo player
• March 15 — Chi Cheng, Taiwanese track and field athlete

April-August

• April 4 — Nelson Prudêncio, Brazilian athlete
• April 6 — Washington Rodríguez, Uruguayan boxer
• April 10 — Jørgen Jensen, Danish long-distance runner
• April 15 — Kunishige Kamamoto, Japanese football (soccer) player
• May 9 — Laurence Richon Owen, U.S. figure skating champion (d. 1961)
• June 23 — Clive Barker, South African football (soccer) coach
• June 25 — Prince Amartey, Ghanaian boxer
• June 28 — Luis Nicolao, Argentine swimmer
• July 14 — Vic Faulkner, British wrestler
• July 28 — James Wallington, American boxer
• August 28 — Marianne Heemskerk, Dutch swimmer

September-December

• September 7 — Bora Milutinović, Serbian-Mexican football (soccer) coach
• September 14 — Hans Parrel, Dutch water polo player
• September 19 — Colin Dibley, Australian tennis player
• October 2 — Willie Morgan, Scottish football (soccer) player
• October 10 — Petar Zhekov, Bulgarian football (soccer) player
• November 12 — Al Michaels, American sportscaster
• November 20 — Anthea Stewart, Zimbabwean field hockey player
• December 4 — Héctor Chumpitaz, Peruvian football (soccer) player
• December 4 — Lawrence Peckham, Australian high jumper
• December 17 — Ferenc Bene, Hungarian football (soccer) player (d. 2006)
• December 22 — Steve Carlton, American baseball player
• December 25 — Jairzinho, Brazilian football (soccer) player

Deaths

• September 9 — Robert Benoist (49), French racing driver
• October 22 — Arthur Blake, American athlete (b. 1872)