1904 in sports - Definition and Overview

See also: 1903 in sports, other events of 1904, 1905 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Baseball

• May 5: Boston Americans ace Cy Young pitched the second of his three no-hitters, a 3-0 perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics and pitcher Rube Waddell (the final batter he faced). Young will eventually complete 24 straight hitless innings, still the record, and 45 shutout innings in a row, a mark until broken by Jack Coombs' 53 scoreless frames in 1910. This is the first perfect game of the modern era.

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
  • Fitzroy wins the 8th VFL Premiership (Fitzroy 9.7 (61) d Carlton 5.7 (37)).
  • See also Victorian Football League season 1904

General sporting events

• 1904 Summer Olympics takes place in St. Louis, United States
  • Only 42 of the 94 events included athletes not from the United States.
  • The first Africans take part in the Olympics - two Tswana tribesmen who were taking part in a Boer War exhibit at the World's Fair in St. Louis ran in the marathon.
  • United States wins the most medals (236), and the most gold medals (77).

• Sheffield Wednesday retain the English title they won for the first time in their history in 1903.

• Welsh Wizard Billy Meredith scores the only goal to clinch Manchester City's first ever honour when they win the F A cup. Second division Bolton Wanderers are the defeated team.

• English football remains aloof as the World governing body F.I.F.A is formed. Scotland, Wales and Ireland {Northern Ireland from 1920} also stay away.

• The World's greatest steeplechase, the Aintree Grand National is won by the New Zealand bred Moifaa ridden by Arthur Birch, trained by Bill Hickey and owned by Spencer Gollan. There is a popular myth that Moifaa was shipwrecked on his way from the Antipodes to England but this is not the case.

Births

• July 2 - René Lacoste, champion tennis player (d. 1996)

Deaths