1939 in sports
About 4 pages (1,054 words)
Many sporting events did not take place because of World War II .
Auto racing
January 24 : Hall of Fame election : The goal of 10 initial inductees from the 20th century is finally met as voters select George Sisler , Eddie Collins , and Willie Keeler .April 23 : Pitcher Alejandro "Alex" Carrasquel made his major league debut with the Washington Senators . He became the first baseball player from Venezuela to play Major League Baseball .May 2 : Cap Anson , Buck Ewing , Charles "Hoss" Radbourn , Albert Spalding , Charles Comiskey , and Candy Cummings are named to the Hall of Fame by a special committee, just weeks before the Hall opens. Along with the previous selections of Cy Young and Keeler in the writers' elections, Anson, Ewing and Radbourn arguably complete the 5 initial inductees from the 19th century which were promised but long delayed; Spalding, Comiskey and Cummings were largely elected as pioneers and contributors.May 2: Lou Gehrig 's streak of 2130 consecutive Major League Baseball games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks it.
June 12 : The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is dedicated in Cooperstown, New York .July 4 : Lou Gehrig announces his retirement from the game at Yankee Stadium.August 26 : The first televised major-league baseball game is Brooklyn 's 6-1 victory over Cincinnati at Ebbets Field .World Series : New York Yankees defeat Cincinnati Reds , 4-0.The Winnipeg Maroons win the Northern League championship.
December: A special election results in Lou Gehrig being selected to the Hall of Fame; he had announced his retirement after the Hall's June opening.
England
Awards
Births
January 3 — Bobby Hull , Canadian ice hockey playerJanuary 6 — Valeri Lobanovsky , football player and manager (d. 2002 )January 6 — Murray Rose , Scotland-born swimmer from Australia
January 18 — Tsuyoshi Yamanaka , Japanese swimmerFebruary 27 — Peter Revson , Formula 1 race car driver (d. 1974 )March 8 — Lidia Skoblikova , Soviet ice speed skaterMarch 19 — Hilário , Mozambique-born Portuguese football (soccer) playerApril 4 — JoAnne Carner , American female golferApril 10 — Alan Rothenberg , American soccer presidentMay 9 — Ralph Boston , American track and field championMay 9 — Ion Ţiriac , Romanian tennis player
May 19 — Jānis Lūsis , Latvian athleteMay 29 — Al Unser Sr. , American auto racerJune 9 — Dick Vitale , American college basketball tv announcerJune 18 — Lou Brock , American baseball playerJuly 6 — Mary Peters , British pentathleteJuly 25 — Hernán Barreneche , Colombian long-distance runnerJuly 29 — Witold Baran , Polish middle distance runnerAugust 12 — Pam Kilborn , Australian hurdlerAugust 22 — Carl Yastrzemski , American baseball playerSeptember 2 — Nicolino Locche , Argentine boxer (d. 2005 )September 8 — Carsten Keller , German field hockey playerSeptember 27 — Kathy Whitworth , American female golferOctober 11 — Maria Bueno , tennis championOctober 18 — Mike Ditka , American football coachNovember 20 — Jan Szczepański , Polish boxerDecember 1 — Lee Trevino , American golferDecember 14 — Ernie Davis , American football playerDecember 18 — Sandro Lopopolo , Italian light welterweight boxerDecember 30 — János Kajdi , Hungarian boxer
Deaths
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