Many sporting events did not take place because of World War II.

Athletics (track and field)

The 1940 Summer Olympics to be held in Helsinki, were cancelled due to outbreak of World War II. The major international athletics event of the year was thus the annual Finland-Sweden athletics international, held at the new Helsinki Olympic Stadium, exceptionally held as a triple international between Finland, Sweden and Germany.

Auto Racing

• Indianapolis 500 - Wilbur Shaw

Baseball

• The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, 4 games to 3.
• Dom DiMaggio debuted April 16; Pee Wee Reese debuted April 23.
• Final season for Wally Berger.
• Trade: June 12, the Brooklyn Dodgers traded four players and $125,000 cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Medwick and another player.

Basketball

• The eighth South American Basketball Championship in Montevideo is won by Uruguay.

Chess

See, 1940 in chess

Football (American)

• Minnesota Golden Gophers, Stanford Indians, and the Boston College Eagles three way tie for National college football champions.
• Chicago Bears crush the Washington Redskins 73-0 for the NFL championship.

Football (Australian)

• Victorian Football League
  • Melbourne wins the 44th VFL Premiership (Melbourne 15.17 (107) d Richmond 10.8 (68))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Des Fothergill (Collingwood) and Herbie Matthews (South Melbourne)

Golf

Men's professional

• April 4-7 - Masters Tournament - Jimmy Demaret
• June 6-9 - U.S. Open - Lawson Little
• British Open - not played due to World War II
• September 2 - PGA Championship - Byron Nelson

Men's amateur

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

Women's professional

• Women's Western Open - Babe Zaharias
• Titleholders Championship - Betty Hicks

Horse racing

• March 2 - In his final race, Seabiscuit wins the $121,000 Santa Anita Handicap to become the top money earner of all time.
• May 4 - Kentucky Derby - Gallahadion
• Preakness - Bimelech
• Belmont Stakes - Bimelech

Ice hockey

• The New York Rangers defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 2 to win the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup.

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Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Tom Harmon, College football
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Alice Marble, Tennis

Births

January-April

• January 17 — Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner
• January 17 — Leighton Rees, Welsh darts player
• January 20 — Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
• January 31 — Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (d. 1998)
• February 11 — Calvin Fowler, American basketball player
• February 16 — Don Bertoia, Canadian middle distance runner
• February 25 — Ron Santo, American baseball player
• February 28 — Mario Andretti, American race car driver
• March 6 — Willie Stargell, American baseball player (d. 2001)
• March 8 — Theo Laseroms, Dutch football defender and coach (d. 1991)
• April 11 — W?adys?aw Komar, Polish shot putter (d. 1998)
• April 13 — José Napoles, Cuban-Mexican boxer
• April 15 — Willie Davis, American baseball player
• April 15 — Woody Fryman, American baseball player
• April 21 — Carlos Morocho Hernandez, Venezuelan boxer
• April 25 ? Maribel Yerxa Owen, U.S. figure skating champion (d. 1961)

May-September

• May 3 — Clemens Westerhof, Dutch football manager
• May 19 — Frans Bouwmeester, Dutch football (soccer) player
• May 19 — Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
• May 20 — Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player
• May 20 — Stan Mikita, Slovak-born Canadian hockey player
• June 14 — Bram Leenards, Dutch water polo player
• June 15 — Ken Fletcher, Australian tennis player (d. 2006)
• June 23 — Wilma Rudolph, American runner (d. 1994)
• July 3 — César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player
• July 18 — Joe Torre, American baseball player and manager
• July 20 — Tony Oliva, American baseball player
• July 29 — Gerrit Wormgoor, Dutch water polo player
• August 7 — Sally McCallum, Canadian track and field athlete
• August 28 — Roger Pingeon, French cyclist
• August 29 — Wim Ruska, Dutch judoka
• August 29 — Valentín Uriona, Spanish road racing cyclist (d. 1967)
• September 12 — Mickey Lolich, American baseball player

October-December

• October 3 — Michael Troy, American butterfly swimmer
• October 5 — Dennis Hay, Scottish field hockey player and coach
• October 9 — Joe Pepitone, American baseball player
• October 19 — Bill Gairdner, Canadian track and field athlete
• October 23 — Pelé, Brazilian soccer player
• November 23 — Gösta Pettersson, Swedish road racing cyclist
• November 23 — Luis Tiant, Cuban-born American baseball player
• December 5 — Adrian Street, British wrestler
• December 9 — Eddie Blay, Ghanaian boxer
• December 29 — George Puce, Canadian discus thrower

Deaths

• March 1 — Martti Marttelin (42), Finnish long-distance runner (b. 1897)
• May 8 — Chick Fraser, US baseball player
• June 21 — Janusz Kusoci?ski (33), Polish athlete (b. 1907)
• July 28 — Gyula Kellner (69), Hungarian athlete (b. 1871)
• October 17 — George Davis, US baseball player
• October 19 — Umberto Caligaris (39), Italian football (soccer) player and coach (b. 1901)
• December 16 — Billy Hamilton, US baseball player

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