1989 in sports

See also: 1988 in sports, other events of 1989, 1990 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Contents

1 Auto Racing 2 Baseball 3 Basketball 4 Boxing 5 Cycling 6 Field Hockey 7 Figure Skating 8 Football (American) 9 Football (Australian Rules) 10 Football (Canadian) 11 Football (Soccer) 12 Golf 13 Thoroughbred Horse Racing 14 Harness Racing 15 Ice Hockey 16 Skiing 17 Snooker 18 Tennis 19 General sporting events 20 Births 21 Deaths

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • Darrell Waltrip won the Daytona 500
  • NASCAR Championship - Rusty Wallace
• CART Racing - season championship won by Emerson Fittipaldi
  • Indianapolis 500 - Emerson Fittipaldi
• Formula One Championship - Alain Prost of France
• 24 hours of Le Mans:
  • won by the team of Jochen Mass / Manuel Reuter / Stanley Dickens driving a Sauber-Mercedes
• Rally racing - Miki Biasion in a Lancia won the World Rally Championship
  • the team of Miki Biasion / Tiziano Siviero won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Lancia Delta HF Integrale
• Drag racing - Gary Ormsby won the NHRA "Top Fuel" championship.

Baseball

• April 8 - One-handed pitcher Jim Abbott makes his major-league debut with the California Angels, without spending a single day in the minor leagues. He went on to a 12-12 record for the season.

• August 10 - Ten months after undergoing surgery for cancer in his pitching arm, San Francisco Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky returns to the major leagues, winning his comeback 4-3.

• August 15 - Dave Dravecky's comeback bid ends tragically when his pitching arm breaks in the sixth inning of his second start. Two years later, the cancer-stricken arm would be amputated.

• August 24 - Following an investigation that he gambled on baseball, superstar player Pete Rose is banned from baseball for life.

• World Series: Oakland Athletics won 4 games to 0 over the San Francisco Giants. The Series MVP was Dave Stewart, Oakland.

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Michigan wins 80-79 over Seton Hall in overtime

• NBA Finals:
  • Detroit Pistons win 4 games to 0 over the Los Angeles Lakers to win the franchise's first championship.

Boxing

• February 11 - In Grenoble, France, Rene Jacquot won a 12 round decision over Donald Curry to win the World Welterweight Championship

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Laurent Fignon of France
• Tour de France - Greg LeMond of the United States
• World Cycling Championship: Greg LeMond of the United States

Field Hockey

• November 16 - 24 - Eleventh Men's Champions Trophy held in Berlin, Germany won by Australia

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Kurt Browning, Canada
  • Women's champion: Midori Ito, Japan
  • Pairs champions: Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov, Soviet Union

Football (American)

• Super Bowl XXIII: San Francisco 49ers won 20-16 over the Cincinnati Bengals

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
  • Hawthorn wins the 93rd VFL Premiership (Hawthorn 21.18 (144) d Geelong 21.12 (138))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Paul Couch (Geelong)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Saskatchewan Roughriders won 43-40 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
• Vanier Cup: Western Ontario Mustangs won 35-10 over the Saskatchewan Huskies

Football (Soccer)

• England - FA Cup: Liverpool won 3-2 (aet) over Everton

Golf

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - Nick Faldo
  2. June - US Open - Curtis Strange
  3. July - British Open - Mark Calcavecchia
  4. August - PGA Championship - Payne Stewart

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Kite - $1,395,278
• PGA Champions Tour leading money winner: Bob Charles - $725,887
• Ryder Cup: Europe and the United States teams tied 14-14 in world golf.

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open - Betsy King
• LPGA Championship - Nancy Lopez
• Betsy King: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $654,132.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Tawriffic
• Canada - Queen's Plate - With Approval
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Carroll House
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Old Vic

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Nashwan
  2. Epsom Derby - Nashwan
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Michelozzo

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Sunday Silence
  2. Preakness Stakes - Sunday Silence
  3. Belmont Stakes - Easy Goer

• Breeders' Cup:
  1. Breeders' Cup Classic - Sunday Silence
  2. Breeders' Cup Distaff - Bayakoa
  3. Breeders' Cup Juvenile - Rhythm
  4. Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies - Go for Wand
  5. Breeders' Cup Mile - Steinlen
  6. Breeders' Cup Sprint - Dancing Spree
  7. Breeders' Cup Turf - Prized

Harness Racing

• North America Cup - Quite A Sensation

• United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Dancing Master
  2. Little Brown Jug - Goalie Jeff
  3. Messenger Stakes - Sandman Hanover

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Park Ave Joe & Probe (dead heat)
  2. Yonkers Trot - Valley Victory
  3. Kentucky Futurity - Peace Corps

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Jodie's Babe
  • Trotters: Yankee Loch

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings

• Stanley Cup: Calgary Flames won 4 games to 2 over the Montreal Canadiens. The first time ever that the visiting team won their game at Montreal.

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Canada
  • Junior Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg
  • The women's overall season champion: Vreni Schneider, Switzerland

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Steve Davis beats John Parrott 18-3
• World rankings: Steve Davis remains world number one for 1989/90

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Ivan Lendl
  2. French Open - Michael Chang
  3. Wimbledon championships - Boris Becker
  4. US Open - Boris Becker

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Steffi Graf
  2. French Open - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
  3. Wimbledon championships - Steffi Graf
  4. US Open - Steffi Graf

• Davis Cup: Germany F.R. won 3-2 over Sweden in world tennis.

General sporting events

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Joe Runyan won with lead dogs: Rambo & Ferlin the Husky

Births

• June 2 - Freddy Adu, soccer prodigy
• October 11 - Michelle Wie, golf prodigy

Deaths

• January 9 - Bill Terry, Major League Baseball player (1923-1936)
• January 21 - Carl Furillo, Major League Baseball player (1946-1960)
• February 17 - Lefty Gomez, New York Yankees pitcher (1930-1943)
• February 10 - Dan Kelly, NHL sportscaster
• March 18 - Piet Kruiver , Dutch soccer player
• April 12 - Sugar Ray Robinson, boxing champion
• June 17 - John Matuszak 38, NFL player with Oakland Raiders
• June 22 - Lee Calhoun, Olympic Gold Medal hurdler
• July 18 - Donnie Moore 35, Major League Baseball pitcher, suicide
• August 13 - Tim Richmond, NASCAR driver
• August 18 - Bert Oosterbosch 32, cyclist, world professional pursuit champion
• September 1 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, 7th Major League Baseball commissioner, heart attack
• September 10 - Jeff Stollmeyer , President, West Indies Cricket Board, murdered
• September 15 - Harry Cave , New Zealand cricketer
• October 4 - Secretariat, thoroughbred race horse, 1973 Triple Crown winner, two-time Horse of the Year
• October 4 - Norman Yardley, English cricketer
• November 13 - Victor Davis, 1984 Olympic and World swimming champion
• December 25 - Billy Martin, New York Yankees manager, auto accident
• December 26 - Doug Harvey, NHL superstar defenseman (1947-1969)