1904 in sports

1904 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

American football

College championship

College football national championship – Penn Quakers

Professional championships

Events

15 November — Canton Athletic Club (later renamed the Canton Bulldogs) is first established.

Association football

International

World governing body FIFA is founded. The football associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland do not join at this time.

Austria

Formation of the Austrian Football Association (Österreichischer Fußball-Bund or ÖFB)

Brazil

Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas was founded in Rio de Janeiro.^[1]

England

The Football League – The Wednesday 47 points, Manchester City 44, Everton 43, Newcastle United 42, Aston Villa 41, Sunderland 39
FA Cup final – Manchester City 1–0 Bolton Wanderers at Crystal Palace, London.

Germany

National Championship – competition is annulled by the DFB following a protest by Karlsruher FV that matches have not been played on neutral grounds as stipulated by the rules.

Portugal

Benfica founded in Lisbon as the Grupo Sport Lisboa. In 1908, it merges with SC de Benfica to form Sport Lisboa e Benfica (SL Benfica).

Scotland

Scottish Football League – Third Lanark
Scottish Cup final – Celtic 3–2 Rangers at Hampden Park^[2]

Sweden

Formation of the Swedish Football Association (Svenska Fotbollförbundet or SvFF)

Athletics

Michael Spring wins the eighth running of the Boston Marathon.^[3]

Australian rules football

VFL Premiership

Fitzroy wins the 8th VFL Premiership – Fitzroy 9.7 (61) d Carlton 5.7 (37) at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

Baseball

World Series

NL champion New York Giants refuses to participate in the 1904 World Series. Boston Americans repeat as American League champions.

Events

5 May — Cy Young of Boston Americans pitches a perfect game, the second of his three no-hitters. He goes on to complete 24 hitless innings, still the record, and 45 scoreless innings, a record broken by Jack Coombs in 1910
Duluth White Sox wins the Northern League championship

Boxing

Events

29 April — Barbados Joe Walcott meets Dixie Kid to defend the World Welterweight Championship and, though well on top, is disqualified by the referee after 20 rounds for an alleged foul. Kid claims the title but it is subsequently discovered that the referee has bet on Kid to win and so Kid's claim is widely disregarded.
30 September — Walcott meets World Lightweight Champion Joe Gans in a non-title fight which is scored a draw after 20 rounds.
17 October — Joe Bowker (England) challenges Frankie Neil in London for the World Bantamweight Championship and wins over 20 rounds, the first non-American to hold this title.
31 October — Joe Gans meets Jimmy Britt in San Francisco to defend the World Lightweight Championship. Britt knocks Gans down four times but, after the last one in the fifth round, he hits Gans again before he has stood up and is disqualified for the foul. Afterwards, Gans vacates the title which is awarded to Britt. Two years later, Gans will claim that the fight has been fixed by his and Britt's managers.
31 December — during a New Year celebration, Walcott accidentally shoots himself in the hand to effectively ending his days as a top prizefighter. While he will return to the ring in 1906 (losing his welterweight title in the process), he never regains his old form and loses most of his subsequent fights.

Lineal world champions^[4]

Canadian Football

In the ORFU, the value of a try/touchdown is increased to five points, while a field goal is now only worth one.
The number of teams in the ORFU increases to six, divided into two districts.
The QRFU requires teams to gain 5 yards on a 3rd down to keep possession of the football.
The ongoing rule dispute results in no Dominion Championship being played in 1904.
Ontario Rugby Football Union - Hamilton Tigers
Quebec Rugby Football Union - Ottawa College
Manitoba Rugby Football Union - Winnipeg Rowing Club
Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union - Queen's University

Cricket

England

County Championship – Lancashire
Minor Counties Championship – Northamptonshire
Most runs – Tom Hayward 3170 @ 54.65 (HS 203)
Most wickets – J T Hearne 145 @ 18.84 (BB 8–49)
Wisden Cricketers of the Year – Bernard Bosanquet, Ernest Halliwell, James Hallows, Percy Perrin, Reggie Spooner

Australia

Sheffield Shield – New South Wales
Most runs – Victor Trumper 990 @ 55.00 (HS 185*)
Most wickets – Wilfred Rhodes 65 @ 16.23 (BB 8–68)

India

Bombay Presidency – Parsees

South Africa

Currie Cup – Western Province

West Indies

Inter-Colonial Tournament – Trinidad and Tobago

Cycling

Tour de France

Henri Cornet (France) wins the Tour de France^[5]

Figure skating

World Figure Skating Championships

World Men's Champion – Ulrich Salchow (Sweden)

Golf

Major tournaments

British Open – Jack White
U.S. Open – Willie Anderson

Other tournaments

British Amateur – Walter Travis
US Amateur – Chandler Egan

Horse racing

England

Australia

Melbourne Cup – Acrasia

Canada

King's Plate – Sapper

Ireland

Irish Grand National – Ascetic's Silver
Irish Derby Stakes – Royal Arch

USA

Kentucky Derby – Elwood
Preakness Stakes – Bryn Mawr
Belmont Stakes – Delhi

Ice hockey

Stanley Cup

January — Ottawa Hockey Club defeats Winnipeg Rowing Club to defend the Stanley Cup in a Cup challenge.
February — Stanley Cup champion Ottawa Hockey Club withdraws from the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) over a demand by the league to replay a game.
February — Ottawa defeats Toronto Marlboros in a Cup challenge.
2 March — Ottawa plays Montreal Wanderers to a 5–5 tie in a Cup challenge, but Montreal refuses terms of continuation of series and defaults.
March — Quebec Bulldogs win the CAHL championship and demand the Stanley Cup, but the trustees rule the Cup stays with Ottawa. Quebec refuses to play Ottawa in a challenge.
March — Ottawa defeats the Brandon Wheat Kings 2 games to 0 in a Cup challenge.
18 December — Dawson City Nuggets begin a 4,000 mile journey by dog sled to play the Ottawa Hockey Club in a Stanley Cup challenge scheduled for 13 January 1905.

Motor racing

Gordon Bennett Cup

Fifth running of the Gordon Bennett Cup takes place in the Taunus mountains in Germany. The winner is Léon Théry (France) driving a Richard-Brasier.

Circuit des Ardennes

The third Circuit des Ardennes is run on 25 July over 591.255 km (118.251 km x 5 laps) in the vicinity of Bastogne. The winner is George Heath (USA) driving a Panhard-Levassor 70 hp in a time of 5:30:49.

Vanderbilt Cup

William Kissam Vanderbilt II launches the Vanderbilt Cup at a course set out in Nassau County, New York on Long Island. It creates controversy in New York with numerous attempts made, including legal action, to try to prevent it taking place. The inaugural race is run over a 30.24 miles (48.7 km) course of winding dirt roads through Nassau County. Several European drivers with experience of the Gordon Bennett Cup take part and the event is a huge commercial success. The winner is George Heath (USA) driving a Panhard-Levassor 70 hp.

Olympic Games

1904 Summer Olympics

The third Summer Olympics took place in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
Lacrosse was played at the Olympics for the first time.
The first Africans participated in the Olympics: two Tswana athletes competed at the St. Louis Games in the marathon.
The United States won the most medals (239) and the most gold medals (78).