- Oct 1 Dallas Cowboy defensive end, Ed "Too Tall" Jones records his 1,000th NFL tackle in a 30-13 defeat to the New York Giants at Texas Stadium
Daddy
Oct 1 Danielle Steel’s novel “Daddy” is published
Sports History
Oct 1 MLB batting titles are decided on final day of regular season: AL, Kirby Puckett goes 2-for-5 edges Carney Lansford .339 to .336; NL, Tony Gwynn's 3-for-4 beats Will Clark .336 to .333
- Oct 1 Thousands of East Germans flee to West Germany
Event of Interest
Oct 1 US Army General Colin Powell becomes youngest Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation's highest military position, at 52
- Oct 1 US Post Office issues a stamp labeling an apatosaurus as a brontosaurus
- Oct 2 TV true life drama "A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story" premieres on NBC in the US
Hockey Hall of Fame
Oct 3 Darryl Sittler, Vladislav Tretiak, and Herbie Lewis are inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as players, along with builders Alan Eagleson and Father David Bauer
Sports History
Oct 3 Oakland Raiders promote 42-year-old Art Shell as the first African-American to be an NFL head coach in modern times; takes over from Mike Shanahan
Coup d'état
Oct 3 Panamanian Defense Force attempted coup of Manuel Noriega fails
- Oct 4 MLB San Francisco Giants 1st baseman Will Clark hits first NLCS grand slam since 1977 in 11-3 win v Chicago Cubs; Clark goes 4-for-4 with 2 HRs to tie NLCS RBI record (6) for an entire series in less than 4 innings
- Oct 4 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
Sports History
Oct 7 Howard Stern's "US Open Sores" tennis match against his producer Gary Dell'Abate. at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Baseball Record
Oct 7 Oakland A's Rickey Henderson steals a record 8 bases in a playoff series (5 games) against Toronto Blue Jays
- Oct 8 MLB American League Championship: Oakland Athletics beat Toronto Blue Jays, 4 games to 1
- Oct 8 Oakland beats Toronto, 4-3 in Game 5, to advance to the World Series
Country Music Association Awards
Oct 9 23rd Country Music Association Awards: George Strait & Kathy Mattea win
- Oct 9 27th Tennis Fed Cup: USA beats Spain in Tokyo Japan (3-0)
- Oct 9 First NFL game coached by an African American (Art Shell), his LA Raiders beat NY Jets 14-7 on Monday Night Football
- Oct 9 MLB National League Championship: San Francisco Giants beat Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 1
- Oct 9 Penthouse Magazine's Hebrew edition hits newsstands
Sports History
Oct 12 Dallas running back Herschel Walker is traded from Cowboys to Minnesota Vikings for 5 players and 6 future draft picks including future stars Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith and Darren Woodson
- Oct 12 Musical "Buddy" with Paul Hipp premieres in London
- Oct 13 Bob Quinn resigns as NY Yankee VP/GM & replaced by Harding Peterson
- Oct 13 Dow Jones down 190.58 points
- Oct 14 MLB Oakland A's Dave Stewart is 1st MLB pitcher to start consecutive World Series openers since Cincinnati Reds Don Gullett in 1976
- Oct 14 Texas A&I University running back Johnny Bailey sets NCAA season rush record at 6,085 yards
Radio Premiere
Oct 15 American radio and television evangelist Billy Graham is given the 1,900th star on Hollywood Boulevard, the first clergyman to be granted a star
Event of Interest
Oct 15 South African President F. W. de Klerk frees ANC Founder Walter Sisulu and four other political prisoners
Sports History
Oct 15 Wayne Gretzky passes Gordie Howe as NHL's all time top scorer
- Oct 16 Bikenibau Paeniu installed as premier of Tuvalu
- Oct 16 Jan Syse becomes premier of Norway
Storm Front
Oct 17 Columbia Records releases "Storm Front", singer-songwriter Billy Joel's eleventh studio album
- Oct 17 Earthquake in San Francisco (6.9) cancels 3rd game of World Series, kills 67
- Oct 18 East German communist leader Erich Honecker resigns
- Oct 18 Hungary revises its constitution after the fall of its Communist regime
- Oct 18 US 62nd manned space mission STS 34 (Atlantis 5) launches into orbit
- Oct 19 Astor Piazzolla and William Finn's musical "Dangerous Games" premieres at Nederlander Theater NYC
- Oct 19 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Oct 20 Pakistan win Sharjah Trophy over India & WI on round-robin
- Oct 20 US Senate impeaches US District Judge Alcee L Hastings
- Oct 21 "Dangerous Games" closes at Nederlander Theater NYC after 4 performances
- Oct 21 Betram Lee & Peter Bynoe purchase the Denver Nuggets for $65m - 1st African American owners of a major sports team,
- Oct 21 Buck Helm found alive after being buried 4 days, in San Francisco earthquake
- Oct 21 Houston becomes 1st major college team to gain 1000 yards in a game
- Oct 22 Denver Nuggets beat Jugoplastika Split 135-129 in 3rd McDonald Open
F1 World Champion
Oct 22 Over-competitive McLaren teammates Alain Prost & Ayrton Senna famously collide and skid into an escape road during Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka; Prost retires from race and claims 3rd Formula 1 World Drivers Championship
- Oct 22 Red Khmer occupies Pailin in Cambodia
- Oct 23 Browns' Bernie Kosar sets club record with a 97-yard TD pass
Best of Dark Horse 1976-89
Oct 23 George Harrison releases "Best of Dark Horse 1976-89" album
- Oct 23 Hungary proclaims itself a republic & declares communist rule ended
- Oct 23 US 62nd manned space mission STS 34 (Atlantis 5) returns from space
- Oct 23 William Nicholson's "Shadowlands" premieres in London
- Oct 24 After a weeks delay due to earthquake, World Series game 3 is played
Event of Interest
Oct 24 American televangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced to 45 years in prison for fraud but the sentence is later reduced to eight years on appeal
- Oct 24 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- Oct 28 Baseball World Series: Oakland A's beat San Francisco, 9-6 at Candlestick Park to sweep Giants in earthquake affected "Bay Bridge Series"; MVP: A's pitcher Dave Stewart
- Oct 29 NYC MTA opens 63rd street extension to subway
- Oct 29 Ozzie Newsome ends NFL streak of 150 consecutive game receptions
- Oct 30 August A. Busch III becomes CEO of St Louis Cards
- Oct 30 Smith Dairy at Orrville Ohio, makes largest milk shake (1,575.2 gal)
- Oct 31 AR Gurney's play "Love Letters" premieres in NYC
- Oct 31 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- Oct 31 Turgat Ozal elected president of Turkey
- Oct 31 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists