1920 in sports.html



Baseball (Major League)

• World Series - Cleveland Indians defeat Brooklyn Dodgers, 5 games to 2
• January 3 - The sale of Babe Ruth: Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sells Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $350,000 loan. Ruth hits 60 home runs for the Yankees, nearly double the record of 29 he hit the season before.
• August 16 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in the head by a fastball from Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. He dies early next day, as of 2004 the only fatality of major league play.
• Chicago White Sox stars Eddie Cicotte and Shoeless Joe Jackson confess their roles in the Black Sox scandal

Baseball (Negro League)

• February 13 - The Negro National League is formed

• May 2 - The first game of the Negro National League is played in Indianapolis, Indiana, with the Indianapolis ABC's beating the Chicago American Giants

• The Chicago American Giants win the first Negro National League pennant

Field Hockey

• Olympic Games (Men's Competition) in Antwerp, Belgium
  • Gold Medal: Great Britain
  • Silver Medal: Denmark
  • Bronze Medal: Belgium

American Football

• The National Football League is formed as the American Professional Football Association in Canton, Ohio on September 17. The Akron Pros finished undefeated and are the first champions of the league. Of the teams in the league, only the Bears and Cardinals are left from the 1920 season.

Football (soccer)

England

• First Division - West Bromwich Albion win the 1919-20 title
• FA Cup - Aston Villa beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 (after extra time)
• The Football League expands with the addition of the 22 top Southern League sides to create a new Third Division; the League now has 66 members

Netherlands

• June 1, the Dutch football club FC Volendam is founded as Victoria

Golf

• June 29-July 1 - British Open - George Duncan
• August 11-13 - U.S. Open - Ted Ray
• August 21 - PGA Championship - Jock Hutchison
• British Amateur - Cyril Tolley
• U.S. Amateur - Chick Evans

Hockey (Ice)

• Ottawa Senators win their 3rd Stanley Cup, defeating the Seattle Metropolitans 3 games to 2

Horse Racing

• May 8 - Paul Jones wins the Kentucky Derby

Olympics

• 1920 Summer Olympics takes place in Antwerp, Belgium
  • During World War I the 1916 Summer Olympics planned for Berlin, Germany were cancelled. Afterwardar the next Games were awarded to Antwerp to "honor the suffering of the Belgian people".
  • United States wins the most medals (95) and the most gold medals (41)

Yacht racing

• The New York Yacht Club retains the America's Cup as Resolute defeats British challenger Shamrock IV, of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, 3 races to 2

Births

• February 8 — Sverre Farstad, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1978)
• March 25 — Howard Cosell, sports broadcaster (d. 1995)
• April 3 — Nida Senff, Dutch swimmer (d. 1995)
• May 14 — Knud Lundberg, Danish multi-talented sportsman (d. 2002)
• June 5 — Marion Motley, American football player (d. 1998)
• July 26 — Bob Waterfield, American football player (d. 1983)
• August 10 — Red Holzman, American pro basketball coach (d. 1998)
• October 31 — Dick Francis, Welsh jockey
• November 21 — Stan Musial, American baseball player
• December 12 — Josef Doležal, Czechoslovak race walker (d. 1999)
• December 28 — James Counsilman, American swimming coach (d. 2004)

Deaths

• December 14 — George Gipp, American football player (b. 1895)