| January 1 | Actress Kelly McGillis gets married |
| January 1 | New York City transit fare rises from $1.00 to $1.15 |
| January 1 | Year of the Young Reader begins |
| January 2 | Notre Dame beats West Virginia for college football championship |
| January 2 | UCLA wins a record 7th consecutive bowl game |
| January 3 | Jim and Tammy Bakker return to TV (Oy Vey!) |
| January 3 | Russian newspaper Izvestia gets its 1st commercial advertisement |
| January 4 | Comet Tempel 1 at perihelion |
| January 4 | U.S. F-14s shoot down 2 Libyan jet fighters over Mediterranean |
| January 4 | Vice President Bush is 1st since Vice President Van Buren to declare himself president |
| January 5 | 2 French TV newsmen arrested for trying to plant fake bombs on 3 airlines at JFK airport in security test |
| January 5 | Baseball signs $400M with ESPN, showing 175 games in 1990 |
| January 7 | Akhito becomes emperor of Japan |
| January 7 | Cleveland Cavaliers block 21 New York Knick shots tying NBA regulation game record |
| January 7 | International Conference on Limitation of Chemical Weapons opens in Paris |
| January 7 | NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers longest win streak (11) |
| January 8 | "42nd Street" closes at Winter Garden Theater New York City after 3,486 performances |
| January 8 | Boeing 737-400 crashes in England, 46 die |
| January 8 | Soviet Union promises to eliminate stockpiles of chemical weapons |
| January 8 | "Starlight Express" closes at Gershwin Theater New York City after 761 performances |
| January 9 | Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski elected to Baseball Hall of Fame |
| January 9 | "Pat Sajak Show" premieres on CBS |
| January 11 | 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons (poison gas, etc) |
| January 11 | Denver Nuggets' rookie Jerome Lane misses 7 free throws in a game against Milwaukee, one missed by 2 feet |
| January 11 | Kindergarten student caught with loaded handgun at Bronx school |
| January 12 | 6 claim to survive in rubble, 35 days after Armenian quake (hoax) |
| January 12 | Idi Amin expelled from Zaire |
| January 13 | Computers across Britain hit by "Friday the 13th" virus |
| January 13 | "Friday the 13th" virus strikes hundreds of IBM computers in Britain |
| January 13 | Jerry Parks, Oklahoma defensive back, charged with shooting a teammate |
| January 13 | Ruins of Mashkan-shapir (occupied 2050-1720 BC) found in Iraq |
| January 13 | "Ryan's Hope" ends 13 year run on ABC-TV |
| January 13 | Subway gunman Bernhard Goetz begins 1-year jail sentence |
| January 14 | 1,000 muslims burn Rushdies' "Satanic Verses" in Bradfort England |
| January 14 | 29 year old French woman gives birth to sextuplets in Paris |
| January 14 | Former Belgian premier Paul Vanden Boeynants kidnapped |
| January 14 | "Romance/Romance" closes at Helen Hayes Theater New York City after 297 performances |
| January 15 | 10th ACE Cable Awards: HBO wins 35 awards |
| January 15 | "Ain't Misbehavin'" closes at Ambassador Theater New York City after 176 performances |
| January 15 | Betsy King wins LPGA Jamaica Golf Classic |
| January 15 | Big John Studd wins WWF's 1st Royal Rumble |
| January 15 | Cerberal Palsy telethon raises $22,600,000 |
| January 16 | Police arrest writer Vaclav Havel in Prague |
| January 16 | U.S.S.R. announces plan for 2-yr manned mission to Mars |
| January 17 | Al Arbour wins his 600th NHL game as coach |
| January 17 | Gunman opens fire in California schoolyard; 5 students slain, 30 wounded |
| January 17 | Murden and Metz are 1st women to reach South Pole overland (on skis) |
| January 17 | Phoenix Suns cancel game at Miami Heat, due to racial unrest in Miami |
| January 18 | Astronomers discover pulsar in remnants of Supernova 1987A (LMC) |
| January 18 | IBM announces earnings up 10.4% in 1988 |
| January 18 | Otis Redding, Dion, Rolling Stones, Temptations and Stevie Wonder |
| January 18 | West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win the World Series Cup |
| January 19 | President Reagan pardons George Steinbrenner for illegal funds for Nixon |
| January 20 | Bush inaugurated as 41st president and Quayle becomes 44th vice pres |
| January 20 | Reagan becomes 1st President elected in a "0" year, since 1840, to leave office alive |
| January 20 | Wayne Holdsworth takes a wicket 1st ball in 1st-class cricket |
| January 21 | Wayne Gretzky passes Marcel Dionne to become NHL's 2nd all time scorer |
| January 22 | Superbowl XXIII: San Francisco 49ers beat Cincinnati Bengals, 20-16 in Miami Superbowl MVP: Jerry Rice, San Francisco, WR |
| January 22 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| January 23 | Challenge to "who is a Jew" law filed in Israeli Supreme Court |
| January 23 | NBA New Jersey Nets begin a 32+ game road losing streak |
| January 24 | 1st reported case of AIDS transmitted by heterosexual oral sex |
| January 25 | Augusto Alcalde, 1st South American Zen teacher, receives Dharma Transmission |
| January 25 | Michael Jordan scores his 10,000th NBA point in his 5th season |
| January 25 | New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner meets with Pope John Paul II |
| January 26 | Allan Border takes 7-46 against the West Indies at the SCG |
| January 26 | AT&T reports 1st loss in 103 years; $1.67 B in 1988 |
| January 26 | "Black and Blue" opens at Minskoff Theater New York City for 829 performances |
| January 26 | Madison Square Garden announces 2-year $100 M renovation plan |
| January 26 | Test debut of Mark Taylor, Australia vs. West Indies, Sydney |
| January 26 | U.S. computer security expert warns of catastrophic virus |
| January 27 | German war criminals Fischer and Aus der Funten freed |
| January 27 | Kevin Johnson (Phoenix) begins NBA free throw streak of 57 games |
| January 27 | Okla's linebacker, Mark VanKeirsblilck assaults an Ok grad student |
| January 28 | 46th Golden Globes: Rainman, Working Girl |
| January 28 | 63rd Australian Womens Tennis: Steffi Graf beats Helena Sukova (64 64) |
| January 28 | Boon completes 7th Test century, 149 vs. WI at SCG |
| January 29 | 77th Australian Men Tennis: Ivan Lendl beats Miloslav Mecir (62 62 62) |
| January 29 | Cleveland's Chris Dudley misses 5 free throws during 1 foul attempt |
| January 29 | Dottie Mochrie wins Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic |
| January 29 | Dow jumps 38.06 recoups 508-pt loss since Oct 1987; index at 2,256.43 |
| January 29 | Episcopal church appoints 1st female bishop |
| January 29 | Game-winning RBI, official statistic dropped after 9 years of use New York Mets Keith Hernandez is the all-time leader with 129 |
| January 29 | NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 34-3 |
| January 29 | Orlando Arena opens |
| January 29 | U.S.S.R.'s Phobos II enters Martian orbit |
| January 30 | 16th American Music Award: Randy Travis and George Michael wins |
| January 30 | 5 pharoah sculptures from 1470 BC found at temple of Luxor |
| January 30 | Joel Steinberg found guilty of 1st degree manslaughter of daughter |
| January 30 | Last day of 1st class cricket for Dav Whatmore |
| February 1 | Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 at perihelion |
| February 1 | Princess Diane of Wales visits New York City |
| February 2 | 0 degrees F (-18 degrees C) or below in 15 U.S. states |
| February 2 | FW de Klerk replaces Botha as South Africa's National Party leader |
| February 2 | NL announces Yankees' broadcaster Bill White will be 1st black president |
| February 3 | Bill White named NL president; 1st black major-league sports head |
| February 3 | Military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay |
| February 3 | Start 1st Test Cricket, New Zealand vs. Pak, washed out |
| February 4 | Dean Jones scores 216 vs. WI at the Adelaide Oval |
| February 5 | Kareem Abdul-Jabar becomes 1st NBA player to score 38,000 points |
| February 6 | Lech Walesa begins negotiating with Polish government |
| February 7 | 40th NHL All-Star Game: Campbell beat Wales 9-5 at Edmonton |
| February 7 | Tennis superstar Bjorn Borg, apparently attempts suicide in Milan |
| February 8 | 5 cm of snow falls in outskirts of Los Angeles |
| February 8 | Jockey Chris Antley begins record of 64 consecutive winning days |
| February 8 | U.S. Boeing 707 crashes into Santa Maria mountain, 145 die |
| February 9 | Kevin Johnson (Phoenix) ends NBA free throw streak of 57 games |
| February 9 | Michael Manley's Socialist Party wins Jamaica parliamentary election |
| February 10 | Celtic Kansas City Jones and Cavalier Lenny Wilkens elected to NBA Hall of Fame |
| February 10 | Miami Vice's 100th episode seen on TV |
| February 10 | Minor League Football System opens organizational meeting, St. Louis |
| February 10 | Ron Brown chosen 1st black chairman of a major U.S. party (Democrats) |
| February 10 | Test Cricket debut of Aaqib Javed, Pak vs. New Zealand age 16 years 189 days |
| February 10 | To gain deregulation WWF admits pro wrestling is an exhibition and not a sport, in a New Jersey court |
| February 10 | Tony Robinson of Jamaica becomes Nottingham's 1st black sheriff |
| February 10 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| February 11 | Barbara Clementine Harris consecrated 1st female bishop (Episcopalian) |
| February 11 | U.S. Female Figure Skating championship won by Jill Trenary |
| February 12 | 39th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 143-134 at Houston |
| February 12 | 5 Pakistani Moslem rioters killed protesting "Satanic Verses" novel |
| February 12 | 50th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Larry Mowry |
| February 12 | Barbara Harris becomes 1st female bishop of a U.S. Episcopal church |
| February 12 | Gretzky sets 2 records, his 45th hat trick and 10th 40+ goal season |
| February 12 | Thursday's Child sets sailing record, New York-Cape Horn-SF, 80 d 20 h |
| February 12 | U.S. Male Figure Skating championship won by Christopher Bowman |
| February 13 | Kidnapped Belgian Premier Vanden Boeynants freed |
| February 13 | Oklahoma football player Charles Thompson is charged with selling cocaine; he is later sentenced to 2 years in prison |
| February 14 | African National Congress (ANC) opens office in Amsterdam |
| February 14 | Boxer Mike Tyson divorces actress Robin Givens |
| February 14 | Khomeini orders Moslems to murder "Satanic Verses" novelist Rushdie |
| February 14 | Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dom Rep |
| February 14 | Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 mill damages for Bhopol disaster |
| February 14 | World's 1st satellite Skyphone opens |
| February 15 | Israel attacks border strip Taba near Egypt |
| February 15 | Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan ends |
| February 16 | Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and North Yemen form common market |
| February 16 | Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden separate after 16 years of marriage |
| February 16 | Orel Hershiser, Dodger pitcher signs $7.9M-3 year contract |
| February 16 | Roger Clemens, Red Sox pitcher signs $7.5M-3 year contract |
| February 16 | William Hayden becomes governor-general of Australia |
| February 17 | 6-week study of Arctic atmosphere shows no ozone "hole" |
| February 17 | Former baseball player and manager Leo Durocher injured in a car crash |
| February 17 | Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya form common market |
| February 17 | Orel Hershiser, Dodger pitcher signs record $7.9M-3 year contract |
| February 17 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| February 17 | Whitesnake's rocker David Coverdale weds actress Tawny Kitaen |
| February 18 | Sherri Turner wins LPGA Orix Hawaiian Ladies Golf Open/Itoki Pro-Am |
| February 18 | Steve Garvey marries Candace Thomas while at same time being accused of fathering children by 2 other women |
| February 19 | Edgar Bowers wins Bollingen Prize |
| February 19 | "Legs Diamond" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater New York City after 64 performances |
| February 20 | Members of 1949 Oklahoma football team cancelled an April reunion because of deplorable conduct of Oklahoma players |
| February 21 | Pete Rose meets with Commissioner Ueberroth to discuss his gambling |
| February 21 | U.S. bust Chinese ring, capture record 820 lbs heroin ($1 Billion street value) |
| February 22 | 1st Spanish commercial on network TV (Pepsi-Cola-CBS Grammy Award) |
| February 22 | 31st Grammy Awards: Don't Worry Be Happy, Faith, Tracy Chapman |
| February 22 | Fins ministry of Public health installs sex vacation to thwart stress |
| February 22 | New York Lotto pays $26.9 million to one winner (#s are 1-5-12-19-44-50) |
| February 22 | U.K. physicist Stephen Hawking calls Star Wars a "deliberate fraud" |
| February 22 | U.S. authors demonstrate against Iranian death treats against Salman Rushdee, author of "Satanic Rituals" |
| February 24 | 150-million-year-old fossil egg found |
| February 24 | Harold E. Ballard sells CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats to David Braley |
| February 24 | Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1M-$3M bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses" |
| February 24 | Margaret Ray found in David Letterman's home, claims to be his wife |
| February 24 | U.S. Boeing 747 loses parts of roof over Pacific, 9 die |
| February 24 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| February 25 | 1st independent blue-collar labor union in Communist Hungary forms |
| February 25 | Dallas Cowboys' new owner fires 29-year coach Tom Landry |
| February 25 | Javed Miandad scores 271 vs. New Zealand at Eden Park |
| February 25 | Lowest baramotric pressure in Netherlands (956.7 mbar at De Bilt) |
| February 25 | Mike Tyson TKOs Frank Bruno in 5 for heavyweight boxing title |
| February 26 | Betsy King wins LPGA Women's Kemper Golf Open/Helene Curtis Pro-Am |
| February 26 | California court throws out most of Margo Adams's $12 million breach-of- contract suit against Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs |
| February 26 | "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" opens at Imperial Theater New York City for 634 performances |
| February 26 | Lowest barometric pressure in Netherlands (95.5 hPa) |
| February 26 | New York Yankees announce that Tom Seaver is their new TV sportscaster |
| February 27 | German war criminals Aus der Funten/Fischer, freed in Holland |
| February 28 | Gretchen Polhemus, 23, (Texas), crowned 38th Miss USA |
| February 28 | Memo by Brian Gumbel criticizing Today Show co-workers becomes public |
| February 28 | Red Schoendienst and Al Barlick elected to Hall of Fame |
| March 1 | Ben Johnson's coach testifies Johnson began using steroids in 1981 |
| March 1 | Comet du Toit at perihelion |
| March 1 | Julianne Philips and Bruce Springsteen divorce |
| March 2 | 12 European nations agree to ban chlorofluorocarbon production by 2000 |
| March 2 | Exxon Houston runs aground in Hawaii, spills 117,000 gallons of oil |
| March 2 | Madonna's "Like a Prayer" premieres on worldwide Pepsi commercial |
| March 2 | NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers win 22nd straight home game |
| March 2 | New York Met Darryl Strawberry swings at teammate Keith Hernandez |
| March 3 | Machinists strike Eastern Airlines; pilots honor picket lines |
| March 3 | Robert McFarlane gets $20,000 fine, 2 years probation for Iran-Contra |
| March 4 | Actress Phoebe Cates marries actor Kevin Kline |
| March 4 | Eastern Airlines machinists strike |
| March 4 | Javier Sotomayor high jumps indoor world record (2.43m) |
| March 5 | 19th Easter Seal Telethon raises $37,002,000 |
| March 5 | Blains McCallister wins Honda Golf Classic shooting 266 |
| March 5 | Elly Verhulst runs world record 3000 m indoor (8:33.82) |
| March 6 | Yankees beat Mets 6-4 in exhibition game (1st meeting since 1985) |
| March 7 | Iran drops diplomatic relations with Britain over Rushdie's book |
| March 7 | Partial eclipse of the Sun in Hawaii, North West North America, Greenland |
| March 8 | "Heidi Chronicles" opens at Plymouth Theater New York City for 621 performances |
| March 8 | Roger Kingdom runs indoor world record 60m hurdles (7.37 seconds) |
| March 9 | Eastern Airlines files for bankruptcy |
| March 9 | Roger Kingdom runs world record 60m hurdles indoor (7.36 sec) |
| March 9 | Senate rejects George H. W. Bush's nomination of John Tower as Defense Secretary |
| March 9 | Soviet Union officially submits to jurisdiction of the World Court |
| March 9 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| March 12 | 15th People's Choice Awards |
| March 12 | 2 cyanide-contaminated Chilean grapes found in Philadelphia |
| March 12 | Madagascar AREMA party wins parliamentary election |
| March 13 | 27th shuttle, Discovery 8, launched, 1st woman to do the countdown |
| March 13 | FDA orders recall of all Chilean fruit in U.S. |
| March 13 | U.S. space shuttle STS-29 launched |
| March 15 | Department of Veterans Affairs officially established as a Cabinet position |
| March 15 | "Les Miserables," opens at Royal Alexandra Theatre Toronto |
| March 15 | New York Rangers retire goalie Eddie Giacomin's #1 uniform |
| March 17 | "Chu Chem" opens at Ritz Theater New York City for 44 performances |
| March 17 | Dorothy Cudahy is 1st female grand marshal of St. Patrick Day Parade |
| March 18 | 27th space shuttle mission, STS-29 (Discovery 8), returns to Earth |
| March 18 | California Quake amusement ride opens at Universal Studios |
| March 18 | Dino Ciccarelli sets Washington Capitals record of 7 pts in a game |
| March 18 | Largest Art robbery in the history (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston), where 12 paintings valued at $100 million are stolen |
| March 19 | Boeing B-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft makes maiden flight |
| March 19 | Ice Dance Championship at Paris won by M Klimova and S Ponomarenko (USR) |
| March 19 | Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by E Gordeeva and S Grinkov (U.S.S.R.) |
| March 19 | Lori Garbacz wins Circle K LPGA Golf Open Tucson |
| March 19 | Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Kurt Browning (CAN) |
| March 19 | Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Paris won by Midori Ito (Japan) |
| March 20 | Baseball announces Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation |
| March 20 | Richard J. Kerr replaces Robert M. Gates as deputy director of CIA |
| March 21 | 1st sea test of Trident 2 missile self-destructs, Cape Canaveral |
| March 22 | Pete Rozelle announces retirement as NFL commissioner after 29 years |
| March 22 | U.S. Supreme Court upholds 1 person 1 vote rule of New York City Board of Estimate |
| March 23 | 2 Utah scientists claim they have produced fusion at room temperature |
| March 23 | Joel Steinberg sentenced to 25 years for killing his adopted daughter |
| March 24 | Mary Martin in "Peter Pan," 1st seen on TV since 1973 |
| March 24 | Worst U.S. oil spill, Exxon's Valdez spills 11.3 mil gallons off Alaska |
| March 25 | "Les Miserables," opens at Auditorium Theatre, Chicago |
| March 26 | 1st free elections in U.S.S.R.; 190 M votes cast; Boris Yeltsin wins |
| March 26 | Allison Finney wins LPGA Standard Register Turquoise Golf Classic |
| March 27 | 1st half-black soap opera, "Generations," premieres on NBC-TV |
| March 27 | Delhi beat Bengal by innings and 210 to win Cricket's Ranji Trophy |
| March 28 | New Zealand wins America's Cup over Stars and Stripes, in a New York court |
| March 29 | 1st Soviet hockey players are permitted to play for the NHL |
| March 29 | 1st U.S. private commercial rocket makes suborbital test flight (NM) |
| March 29 | 61st Academy Awards - "Rainman," Dustin Hoffman and Jodie Foster win |
| March 29 | 9th Golden Raspberry Awards: Cocktail wins |
| March 29 | I. M. Pei's pyramidal entrance to the Louvre opens in Paris |
| March 29 | Michael Milken, junk bond king, indicted in New York for racketeering |
| March 31 | Donald Trump purchases Eastern's Northeast Shuttle |
| April 1 | 1st New York Mets - New York Yankee game in New York City since 1983, Yankees win 4-3 |
| April 1 | A Bartlett Giamatti replaces Ueberroth as 7th commissioner of baseball |
| April 2 | 18th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Juli Inkster |
| April 2 | 8th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tennessee beats Auburn 76-60 |
| April 2 | Wrestlemania V at Trump Plaza, Hulk Hogan beats "Macho Man" Savage |
| April 2 | Yankees beat Mets 4-0, sweeping 1989 mayor's trophy series in 2 games |
| April 3 | 51st NCAA Men's Basketball Champion: Michigan beats Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime |
| April 3 | Mets win 11th consecutive home opener 8-4 over St. Louis at Shea Stad |
| April 3 | "Sunrise" a Gannett newspaper begins publishing for Bronx |
| April 4 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's last NBA game in Seattle |
| April 4 | New York Yankee Tommy John ties record of playing 26 seasons, his 287th win puts him 19th overall as Yankees beat Twins on opening day 4-2 |
| April 5 | David Letterman becomes 1st network TV series to use dolby stereo |
| April 5 | Orel Hershiser ends his 59 consecutive scoreless pitched inning streak |
| April 5 | Solidarity grants legal status in Poland |
| April 6 | Orel Hershiser ends his record 59 consecutive scoreless streak |
| April 7 | New York Supreme Court takes America's Cup away from San Diego Yacht Club for using a catamaran against New Zealand. Appeals court eventually overrules |
| April 7 | Soviet sub sinks in Norwegian Sea, with about a dozen deaths |
| April 8 | 1-handed pitcher Jim Abbott debut but lasts only 4 2/3 inn |
| April 8 | Entertainment Tonight's Mary Hart marries producer Burt Sugarman |
| April 9 | 53rd Golf Masters Championship: Nick Faldo wins, shooting a 283 |
| April 9 | Mike Tyson strikes a parking attendant when asked to move his car |
| April 9 | Patti Rizzo wins LPGA Red Robin Kyocera Inamori Golf Classic |
| April 9 | Rickey Henderson steals his 800th career base in New York's 4-3 loss to Clev |
| April 9 | Scott Hoch chokes on 18 inch putt and loses Masters golf tournament |
| April 9 | Washington D.C. march supporting 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision |
| April 10 | 10th Emmy Sports Award presentation |
| April 10 | 24th Academy of Country Music Awards: Hank Williams, Jr., Alabama |
| April 10 | H. J. Heinz, Van Camp Seafood and Bumble Bee Seafood say they would not buy tuna caught in nets that also trap dolphins |
| April 10 | Intel corp announces shipment of 80-486 chip |
| April 11 | 1st playoff goal scored by a goalie, Ron Hextall of Philadelphia |
| April 11 | Flyers, scores short-handed into an empty net beating Caps 8-5 |
| April 12 | 3rd Soul Train Music Awards: Anita Baker |
| April 12 | Peter Ueberroth deal to purchase Eastern Airlines falls through |
| April 13 | "Welcome to the Club" opens at Music Box Theater New York City for 12 performances |
| April 14 | 1,100,000,000th Chinese born |
| April 14 | In the Iran-Contra trial, Oliver North's case goes to the jury |
| April 15 | 95 crushed to death at Sheffield Soccer Stadium in England |
| April 15 | South African/British Olympic runner Zola Budd marries |
| April 15 | Students in Beijing pro-democracy protests |
| April 15 | Sue Marchiano wins 3rd World Cup female marathon (2:30:48) |
| April 15 | Then largest lottery in North America ($69M) drawn in Illinois |
| April 16 | 1st Seniors Golf Tradition: Don Bies wins |
| April 16 | Berendrechtsluis opens in Antwerp, biggest flood lock in world |
| April 16 | Costa Rica beats U.S. 1-0, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup |
| April 16 | Pat Bradley wins LPGA AI Star/Centinela Hospital Golf Classic |
| April 16 | Zeleka Metaferia wins 3rd World Cup marathon (2:10:28) |
| April 17 | 18th Boston Women's Marath won by Ingrid Kristiansen of Nor in 2:24:33 |
| April 17 | 93rd Boston Marathon won by Abebe Mekonen of Ethiopia in 2:09:06 |
| April 17 | Maximum New York State unemployment benefits raised to $245 per week |
| April 17 | Polish labor union granted legal status |
| April 17 | Soviet-U.S. agreement allows Soviets to fight U.S. pros |
| April 18 | Zimbabwe gains independence |
| April 19 | Gun turret explodes on USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors |
| April 19 | Kevin Elster (New York Mets), sets errorless shortstop mark at 73 |
| April 19 | Republic Day in Sierra Leone |
| April 21 | George W. Bush and Edward W. Rose become CEO of Texas Rangers |
| April 21 | Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing's Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom |
| April 22 | Nolan Ryan strikes out his 5,000th batter, Rickey Henderson |
| April 22 | "Welcome to the Club" closes at Music Box Theater New York City after 12 performances |
| April 23 | Betsy King wins LPGA USX Golf Classic |
| April 23 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar plays his last game as a Laker |
| April 23 | Nolan Ryan blows a no hitter in 9th inning |
| April 23 | Students in Beijing China announce class boycotts |
| April 24 | 10s of thousands of students strikes in Beijing China |
| April 24 | Massachusetts declares today "New Kids on the Block Day" |
| April 25 | Mike Tyson gets a speeding ticket for drag racing in Albany, New York |
| April 25 | Penguin Mario Lemuix ties NHL playoff record of 4 goals in 1st period |
| April 26 | AT&T announces New Jersey's 201 area code will split into 908 and 201 |
| April 26 | Mike Tyson is ticketed for driving 71 MPH in 30 mile zone in Albany |
| April 27 | Beijing students take over Tiananmen Square in China |
| April 27 | Hurricane in Bangladesh, kills 500 |
| April 27 | Mandatory seatbelt law goes into effect in Italy |
| April 27 | "Starmites" opens at Criter Ctr SR Theater New York City for 60 performances |
| April 28 | Argentina, hit by rocketing inflation, runs out of money |
| April 28 | Iran protests sale of "Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie |
| April 29 | 2nd government of Lubbers falls |
| April 30 | Critics Siskel and Ebert film their 500th TV movie-review show |
| April 30 | Kathy Postlewait wins LPGA Sara Lee Golf Classic |
| April 30 | Pope John Paul II beatifies Victoire Rasoamanarivo of Madagascar |
| April 30 | U.S. beats Costa Rica 1-0, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup |
| May 1 | Disney's MGM Studio theme park officially opens to public |
| May 1 | Jockey Chris Antley ends record of 64 consecutive winning days |
| May 1 | U.S. Supreme Court rules employees have legal burden to prove non- discriminatory reasons for not hiring or promoting |
| May 4 | Junior Felix of Toronto becomes 53rd to hit home run on 1st at bat |
| May 4 | U.S. launches Magellan to Venus |
| May 4 | U.S. space shuttle STS-30 launched |
| May 5 | Mike Tyson gets 2nd speeding ticket for drag racing in Albany, New York |
| May 6 | 115th Kentucky Derby: Pat Valenzuela on Sunday Silence wins in 2:05 |
| May 7 | Juli Inkster wins LPGA Crestar Golf Classic |
| May 7 | Mark Merrony (Wales) cycles for 30 minutes in Nepal at 21,030 feet |
| May 7 | Panamanian voters reject dictator Manuel Noriega's bid for presidency |
| May 8 | Paul McCartney releases "My Brave Face" and "Ferry Cross the Mersey" |
| May 8 | U.S. space shuttle STS-30 lands |
| May 9 | Journalist petition Chinese government for freedom of press |
| May 9 | New York Mets Kevin Elster, errors after 88 errorless games at shortstop |
| May 9 | New York Mets Rick Cerone, errors after 159 errorless games as catcher |
| May 9 | "Saratina!" closes at Cort Theater New York City after 597 performances |
| May 10 | FC Barcelona wins 29th Europe Cup II |
| May 10 | General Manuel Noriega's government nullifies country's elections, which the opposition had won by a 3-1 margin |
| May 11 | 217th and final episode of "Dynasty" is aired |
| May 11 | France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island |
| May 11 | Kenya announces worldwide ban on ivory to preserve its elephant herds |
| May 11 | President Bush orders nearly 2,000 troops to Panama |
| May 12 | "Entertainment Tonight" performs their 2,000th TV performance |
| May 12 | Last graffiti covered New York City subway car retired |
| May 12 | Retired British pilot Jack Mann is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists |
| May 13 | Approx 2,000 students begin hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, China |
| May 13 | Minnesota Twin Kirby Puckett becomes 35th to hit 4 doubles in a game |
| May 13 | Trinidad and Tobago ties U.S. 1-1, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup |
| May 14 | 1st time since 1948 a player hit 6 consecutive doubles (Kirby Puckett) |
| May 14 | 1st Tour de Trump bicycle race run (Atlanta) |
| May 14 | Cindy Rarick wins LPGA Chrysler-Plymouth Golf Classic |
| May 14 | Demonstration for democratic reforms in Beijing's Tiananmen square |
| May 14 | Final TV episode of "Family Ties" airs |
| May 14 | Moonlighting, TV Crime Drama last airs on ABC |
| May 15 | Blue Jays fire manager Jimy Williams and replace him with Cito Gaston |
| May 15 | "Chu Chem" closes at Ritz Theater New York City after 44 performances |
| May 15 | Maxwell House coffee runs ads during "Roe vs Wade" movie despite threat of boycott by right-to-lifers |
| May 15 | Soviet President Gorbachev in Beijing for 1st Sino-Soviet summit in 30 yrs |
| May 15 | U.S. Basketball League cancels its summer schedule |
| May 16 | Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping ended a 30-year rift when they formally met in Beijing |
| May 17 | Longest Cab Ride Ever: 14,000 miles cost $16,000! |
| May 17 | Napoli wins 18th UEFA Cup in Stuttgart |
| May 17 | Nelson Mandela receives a BA from University of South Africa |
| May 17 | Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" auctioned for $825M |
| May 18 | Lisa Strawberry files for divorce from Darryl |
| May 19 | Dow Jones Avg passes 2,500 mark for 1st time, closes at 2,501.1 |
| May 19 | Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) last appearance on Dallas |
| May 20 | 115th Preakness: Pat Valenzuela aboard Sunday Silence wins in 1:53.8 |
| May 20 | China declares martial law in Beijing |
| May 20 | Toonces The Cat takes the wheel on Saturday Night Live |
| May 20 | Walter McConnel, 57, is oldest to reach 27,000' Mount Everest top |
| May 21 | 35th Mazda LPGA Championship won by Nancy Lopez |
| May 23 | 3rd American Comedy Award: Paula Poundstone |
| May 23 | Angela Visser, 22, of Holland, crowned 38th Miss Universe |
| May 23 | Cleveland loses and drop to 21-22, this is the latest a sub .500 team is in 1st place (AL East) |
| May 23 | Lincoln Square in Bronx named |
| May 24 | A. C. Milan wins 34th Europe Cup 1 at Barcelona |
| May 24 | French war criminal Paul Touvier arrested in monastery in Nice |
| May 24 | "Indiana Jones and Last Crusade" premieres |
| May 24 | New York Yankee hurler Lee Gutterman sets record of pitching 30-2/3 innings before giving up his 1st run of season |
| May 24 | NHL's New York Rangers fire General Manager and coach Phil Esposito |
| May 24 | Weird Al Yankovic records his UHF soundtrack |
| May 25 | Eastern Airlines graduates it 1st class of non-union pilots |
| May 25 | Mariners trade Mark Langston to Montreal for Randy Johnson |
| May 25 | Mikhail Gorbachev elected Executive President in the Soviet Union |
| May 25 | Stanley Cup: Calgary Flames beat Montreal Canadiens, 4 games to 2 |
| May 25 | Weird Al Yankovic records "She Drives Like Crazy" |
| May 26 | At 7:42 AM, radio has a 30 2nd silence, honoring radio |
| May 26 | Danish parliament allows legal marriage among homosexuals |
| May 26 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| May 28 | Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic |
| May 28 | Delta Burke (Designing Women) weds Gerald McRaney (Major Dad) |
| May 28 | Emerson Fittipaldi wins Indianapolis 500 |
| May 29 | Phillies 3rd baseman Mike Schmidt, 39, retires |
| May 29 | Student protesters in China construct a replica of Statue of Liberty |
| May 30 | Margaret Ray pleads guilty to breaking into David Letterman's house |
| May 31 | 1st International Rock Awards |
| May 31 | 1st presentation of rock n roll Elvis awards |
| May 31 | "Rambling with Gambling" 20,000th radio program on WOR-AM (New York City) |
| May 31 | Speaker of House Jim Wright resigns |
| June 1 | 62nd National Spelling Bee: Scott Isaacs wins spelling spoliator |
| June 1 | Margaret Ray pleads guilty to breaking into David Letterman's house |
| June 1 | Robin Givens and Mike Tyson granted final divorce in New Jersey |
| June 2 | 10,000 Chinese soldiers are blocked by 100,000 citizens protecting students demonstrating for democracy in Tiananmen Square, Beijing |
| June 2 | 14 year old Scott Isaacs spells spoliator to win 1989 Spelling Bee |
| June 2 | Cincinnati Red Eric Davis hits for cycle |
| June 2 | "Dead Poets Society" starring Robin Williams, premieres |
| June 2 | Rolling Stones Bill Wyman marries Mandy Smith |
| June 3 | Chinese troops kill hundred of pro-democracy students in Beijing |
| June 3 | Country singer Rebe McEntire weds her manager Narvel Blackstone |
| June 3 | Houston Astros beat Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4, in 22 innings (7:14:09) |
| June 3 | Leaking pipe of Asha, U.S.S.R. causes 2 trains to catch fire; 460 die |
| June 3 | Nolan Ryan pitches his 2nd one-hitter this season and 11th overall |
| June 4 | 2nd Children's Miracle Network Telethon raises $770,000 |
| June 4 | 43rd Tony Awards: Heidi Chronicles and Jerome Robbin's Broadway win |
| June 4 | Beijing cop shoots and wounds Chinese priemer Li Ping |
| June 4 | Eastern Europe's 1st somewhat free election in 40 years held in Poland |
| June 4 | Gas explodes near 2 passenger trains in U.S.S.R., kills 100s |
| June 4 | Largest parade in Bronx history honors 350th anniversary |
| June 4 | Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Rochester Golf International |
| June 4 | Red Sox lead Blue Jays 10-0 in 7th, but lose 12-11 in 12 for Blue Jays 12th consecutive victory at Fenway |
| June 5 | 23rd Music City News Country Awards: R Van Shelton and Randy Travis |
| June 5 | Billy Smith, last original New York Islander, retires |
| June 5 | Paul McCartney releases "Flowers in the Dirt" |
| June 5 | Toronto Blue Jays Skydome stadium opens, Mil Brewers win 5-3 |
| June 6 | Mets turn their 1st triple play in 7 years but lose to Cubs 8-4 |
| June 7 | 1st Baseball game to start outdoors and end indoors, as Toronto Blue Jays stadium closes roof during game at 8:48, and beat Brewers 4-2 |
| June 7 | 23 year old olympic barefoot South African runner Zola Budd retires |
| June 7 | Atlanta Fulton County Comm approves $210M stadium for the Falcons |
| June 7 | For one second this morning, the time is 01:23:45, 6-7-89 |
| June 7 | Suriname SLM-173 (DC-8) crashes near Paramaribo Airport killing 173 |
| June 7 | Wayne Gretzky wins his 9th NHL Hart (MVP) Trophy in 10 years |
| June 8 | Pirates score 10 in 1st (their best inning since 1942), prompts Pirate Jim Rooker to say he would walk from Pitts to Philadelphia if Pirates lost, Phillies beat them 15-11, Rooker walks at end of season broadcaster |
| June 9 | Barry Switzer resigns as head coach of Oklahoma's football |
| June 9 | Michael Changs French Open win makes him youngest male to go to finals |
| June 9 | Rare tornado in Philadelphia kills 1 |
| June 9 | "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," premieres in USA |
| June 10 | 121st Belmont: Pat Day aboard Easy Goer wins in 2:26 |
| June 10 | 59th French Womens Tennis: A Sanchez Vicario beats S Graf (76 36 75) favored Steffi Graf, also 1st Spaniard to win a grand slam title |
| June 10 | "Tales From The Crypt," TV Anthology, debuts on HBO |
| June 11 | 59th French Mens Tennis: Michael Chang beats S Edberg (61 36 46 64 62) |
| June 11 | 7th Seniors Players Golf Championship: Orville Moody |
| June 11 | Robin Hood 16 wins LPGA Planters Pat Bradley Points Golf International |
| June 12 | Ben Johnson, Canadian Olympian, admits using steroids |
| June 12 | "Doctor Doctor," TV Comedy starring Matt Frewer, debuts on CBS-TV |
| June 13 | 43rd NBA Championship: Detroit Pistons sweeps Los Angeles Lakers in 4 games |
| June 13 | Houston's Terry Puhl plays in his 1,403rd game, most by a Canadian |
| June 13 | Jerry Lee Lewis gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame |
| June 14 | Ground breaking begins in Minnesota on world's largest mall |
| June 14 | Nolan Ryan becomes 2nd pitcher to defeat all 26 teams |
| June 14 | Queen Elizabeth II knights Ronald Reagan |
| June 14 | Rocker Carol King gets a star in Hollywood's walk of fame |
| June 14 | Zsa Zsa Gabor arrested for slaping Beverly Hills motorcycle patrolman |
| June 15 | Baltimore Orioles pull their 9th triple play, vs. Yankees |
| June 16 | Funeral for Imre Nagg, leader of Hungarian uprising in 1956 |
| June 16 | "Ghostbusters II" premieres |
| June 16 | Only 17 hole-in-ones recorded since U.S. open began, today 4 more are made all on 6th hole (Weaver, Wiebe, Pate and Price) |
| June 17 | U.S. beats Guatemala 2-1, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup |
| June 18 | 89th U.S. Golf Open: Curtis Strange shoots a 278 at Oak Hill CC New York |
| June 18 | Comet Churyunov-Gerasimenko at perihelion |
| June 18 | John Wayne Bobitt marries Lorena L Gallo |
| June 18 | Laura Davies wins LPGA Lady Keystone Golf Open |
| June 18 | "Starmites" closes at Criter Ctr SR Theater New York City after 60 performances |
| June 19 | Mets Dwight Gooden wins his 100th game (100-37) |
| June 21 | Carlton Fisk becomes AL catcher home run hitter, 307th at Yankee stadium |
| June 21 | Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson remarry |
| June 21 | Supreme Court rules ok to burn U.S. flag as a political expression |
| June 21 | Yankees trade Rickey Henderson to A's for Plunk, Cadaret and Polonia |
| June 23 | Movie "Batman" premieres |
| June 24 | Cards Vince Coleman steals record 39th and 40th consecutive bases |
| June 25 | 1st U.S. postmark dedicated to Lesbian and Gay Pride |
| June 25 | Betsy King wins LPGA McDonald's Golf Championship |
| June 25 | "Day By Day," last airs on NBC-TV |
| June 25 | Mets' defense does not record a single assist in a 5-1 win over Phils |
| June 26 | Canada updates coins with a new potrait of the Queen |
| June 26 | Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson marry for 2nd time |
| June 29 | Emmy 16th Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 10th time |
| June 29 | Susan Lucci loses daytime emmy for 10th straight year |
| June 30 | Attorney General Thornburgh orders Joseph Doherty deported to UK |
| June 30 | Congressman Lukins found guilty of having sex with a 16 year old girl |
| June 30 | "Les Miserables," opens at Theatre Muzyczyny, Gdynia |
| June 30 | N.Y. State Legislature passes Staten Island secession bill |
| June 30 | NASA closes down tracking stations in Santiago, Chile and Guam |
| June 30 | Sudan suspends interim constitution following coup |
| July 1 | Hugh Hefner (Playboy editor) weds playmate Kimberly Conrad |
| July 1 | NFL owners vote unanimously to form WLAF |
| July 1 | Yankees beat Milwaukee Brewers 4-1, score is changed to 5-1 after game is over. Umpire rules Roberto Kelly scored before a double-play |
| July 2 | 10th U.S. Seniors Golf Open: Orville Moody |
| July 2 | 17th du Maurier Golf Classic: Tammie Green |
| July 3 | Peter Koech of Kenya sets 3k steeplechase rec (8:05.39) in Stockholm |
| July 3 | Supreme Court rules states do not have to provide funds for abortions |
| July 3 | The movie "Batman," set record of quickest $100 million (10 days) |
| July 4 | 14 year old actress Drew Barrymore, attempts suicide |
| July 4 | Red's Tom Browning is 3 outs away from his 2nd career perfect game when Phillie Dickie Thon doubles |
| July 4 | Unmanned Russian Mig-23 crashes in Bellegem-Kooigem, Belgium (1 dies) |
| July 5 | Barry Bond's home run sets father-son (Bobby) home run record at 408 |
| July 5 | Mark McGwire's gets 100th home run, 2nd fastest (1400 at bats) (to Kiner) |
| July 5 | Rod Stewart hits his head while on stage and knocks himself out |
| July 5 | South African President Pieter Botha visits ANC leader Nelson Mandela |
| July 5 | Toronto Blue Jays are 10 games back in AL, and go on to win AL East |
| July 6 | Despite retiring May 29, Mike Schmidt elected to start All Star game |
| July 8 | Carlos Saul Menum becomes President of Argentina |
| July 8 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| July 9 | 103rd Wimbledon Mens Tennis: B Becker beats Stefan Edberg (60 76 64) |
| July 9 | 96th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: S Graf beats M Navratilova (62 67 61) |
| July 9 | Penny Hammel wins LPGA Jamie Farr Toledo Golf Classic |
| July 10 | Paula Ivan runs female world record 1 mile (4:15.61) |
| July 11 | 60th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 5-3 at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim All star MVP: Bo Jackson (Kansas City Royals) |
| July 11 | President Ronald Reagan sportscasts All Star Game |
| July 12 | New York Yankee pitching great Ron Guidry retires (170-91 .651, 3.29 ERA) |
| July 14 | 16th James Bond movies "License to Kill" premieres |
| July 16 | 44th U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship won by Betsy King |
| July 17 | 1st Test flight of U.S. stealth-bomber |
| July 17 | Paul McCartney releases "This One" |
| July 17 | Reds reliever Kent Tekulve retires after 1,070 appearances |
| July 18 | 48 cm rainfall at Rockport, West Virginia, state record |
| July 19 | Cleveland Indian Joe Carter has his 4th 3 home run game |
| July 19 | United Airlines DC-10 crashes at Sioux City Iowa, kills 112 |
| July 20 | 93 degrees F, highest overnight low ever recorded in Phoenix, Arizona |
| July 20 | Burma government puts author Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest |
| July 21 | Eastern Airlines submits a reorganization plan to creditors |
| July 21 | Greg LeMond wins Tour de France in fastest time |
| July 21 | Mike Tyson KOs Carl Williams in 1:33 for heavyweight boxing title |
| July 22 | Kristin Huxhold, 18, of Missouri, crowned America's Junior Miss |
| July 23 | 118th British Golf Open: Mark Calcavecchia shoots a 275 at Royal Troon |
| July 23 | Amy Alcott wins LPGA Boston Five Golf Classic |
| July 23 | FOX-TV tops ABC, NBC and CBS for 1st time, America's Most Wanted |
| July 23 | Winds gust to 85 MPH at Fort Smith Arkansas |
| July 24 | Paula Gwynn, 22, crowned 21st Miss Black America |
| July 25 | Brandi Sherwood, of Idaho, crowned 7th Miss Teen USA |
| July 27 | Atlanta Brave Dale Murphy is 10th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (6th) |
| July 28 | Braves Dale Murphy, hits 2 3-run home runs in an inning, 14th man to hit 2 home runs in an inning. Also ties record of 6 RBIs in an inning |
| July 28 | Cards' Vince Coleman is caught stealing ends record streak at 50 |
| July 28 | NASA's Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, announce new high-temperature superconductors able to operate at 33 to 37 Gigahertz |
| July 29 | Javier Sotomayor of Cuba sets high jump record (8'0") in San Juan |
| July 29 | Phillies retire Steve Carlton's # 32 |
| July 29 | Vince Coleman, record streak stopped at 50 straight stolen bases |
| July 29 | White Sox trade Harold Baines to Rangers for Scott Fletcher and Sam Sosa |
| July 30 | Chile amends its constitution |
| July 30 | Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Atlantic City Golf Classic |
| July 31 | Twins trade AL Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola to Mets |
| August 1 | Australia take 3-0 series lead over England to regain Cricket Ashes |
| August 2 | NASA confirmed Voyager 2's discovery of 3 more moons of Neptune designated temporarily 1989 N2, 1989 N3 and 1989 N24 |
| August 3 | 5th jockey to win 6,000 races (Jorge Valesquez) |
| August 3 | Cincinnati Reds send record 20 men to bat with a record 16 hits in 1 inning as they score 14 runs in 1st inning |
| August 3 | Lawrence Delisle drives his 4 kids into river |
| August 3 | Rickey Henderson sets AL mark of 50 steals in 9 seasons |
| August 4 | Blue Jays Dave Steib's perfect game broken up in 9th with 2 outs by New York Yankee Roberto Kelly |
| August 6 | Beth Daniel wins LPGA Greater Washington Golf Open |
| August 6 | Boston Red Sox retire Carl Yastrezemski's #8 |
| August 6 | Jaime Paz Zamora inaugurated as president of Bolivia |
| August 6 | "Oh! Calcutta!" closes at Edison Theater New York City after 5959 performances |
| August 6 | Pilot Union tells pilots okay to cross Eastern picket lines |
| August 8 | U.S. space shuttle STS-28 launched |
| August 10 | A's bat out of order against White Sox in 3rd inning |
| August 10 | Australia 0-301 at end of day one, 5th Test Cricket at Trent Bridge |
| August 11 | Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor complete 329 opening stand vs. England |
| August 11 | "Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child" premieres |
| August 11 | Voyager 2 discovers 2 partial rings of Neptune |
| August 13 | 2 hot-air balloon crash at Alice Springs Australia, 13 killed |
| August 13 | 71st PGA Championship: Payne Stewart shoots 276 at Kemper Lakes Golf Club Illinois |
| August 13 | U.S. space shuttle STS-28 lands |
| August 14 | President Pieter W Botha of South Africa, resigns |
| August 15 | Cancer sufferer/San Francisco Giant pitcher Dave Dravecky breaks arm on mound |
| August 15 | Frederik de Klerk becomes president of South Africa |
| August 15 | Giorgio Lamberti swims world record 200m free style (1:46.69) |
| August 15 | In 2nd start since after cancer treatment, Giants Dave Dravecky breaks his pitching arm while throwing to Tim Raines |
| August 15 | U.S. Venus probe Magellan launched from Space shuttle |
| August 16 | Roger Kingdom of USA sets 110m hurdle record (12.92) in Zurich |
| August 17 | 32nd Walker Cup: Britain - Ireland, 12 -11 |
| August 17 | Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken moves into 3rd place (1,208th cons game) |
| August 18 | Arturo Barrios of Mexico sets 10K record (27:08.23) in Berlin |
| August 18 | Bucky Dent replaces Dallas Green as New York Yankee manager |
| August 19 | Tadeusz Mazowiecki, elected 1st non-communist president of Poland |
| August 20 | Aak crashes into pleasure boat The Margin on the Thames, 51 killed |
| August 20 | Howard Johnson joins B Bonds and W Mays to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases |
| August 20 | Janet B Evans swims female world record 800m freestyle (8:16.22) |
| August 20 | Said Aouita runs world record 3000 m (7:29.45) |
| August 21 | Voyager 2 begins a flyby of planet Neptune |
| August 22 | 1st complete ring around Neptune discovered |
| August 22 | Nolan Ryan strikes out his 5,000th batter (Rickey Henderson) |
| August 23 | Lewis/Everett/Burrell/Heard run world record 4x200 m (1:19.38) |
| August 23 | Los Angeles Dodgers beat Montreal Expos, 1-0, in 22 innings (Rick Dempsey home run) |
| August 24 | British brewery Bass buys Holiday Inn hotel chain |
| August 24 | Pete Rose is suspended from baseball for life for gambling |
| August 24 | Voyager 2 flies past Neptune |
| August 25 | After 12-year, 4-billion-mile journey, Voyager 2 flies over cloudtops of Neptune and its moon Triton, sending back photographs of swamps |
| August 26 | Trumbull Conn, is 1st U.S. team since 1983 to win Little League WS |
| August 27 | 100 march through Bensonhurst protesting racial killings |
| August 27 | 89th U.S. Golf Amateur Championship won by Chris Patton |
| August 27 | Betsy King wins LPGA Nestle World Golf Championship |
| August 27 | Tina Barrett wins LPGA Mitsubishi Motors Ocean State Golf Open |
| August 28 | 1st regular-season matchup of defending Cy Young Award winners |
| August 28 | Frank Viola and Mets outduel Orel Hershiser and Dodgers 1-0 |
| August 30 | Roman Polanski marries actress Emmanuelle Seigner |
| September 1 | "Anything Goes" closes at Beaumont Theater New York City after 804 performances |
| September 1 | Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announce their separation |
| September 2 | Reverend Al Sharpton leads a civil rights march through Bensonhurst |
| September 3 | Chris Evert defeats 15-year-old Monica Seles for her 101st and last U.S. Tennis Open singles victory |
| September 3 | Iljushin-62 crashes down on residential area of Havana, 170 die |
| September 3 | "Into the Woods" closes at Martin Beck Theater New York City after 764 performances |
| September 4 | Beth Daniel wins LPGA Rail Charity Golf Classic |
| September 4 | Jerry Lewis' 24th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $42,737,219 |
| September 5 | Chris Evert last U.S. Open match, she is defeated by Zina Garrison |
| September 5 | Deborah Norville becomes news anchor of Today Show |
| September 6 | 6th MTV Awards: Living Colour wins |
| September 6 | Amateur Athletic Federation strips Ben Johnson of all track records |
| September 6 | Police computer accuses 41,000 Parisians of murder/prostitution |
| September 8 | George Brett gets his 2,500th hit |
| September 8 | Mausoleum of Beatrice of Brabant (1288) discovered in Kortrijk Belgium |
| September 8 | Norwegian Convair 580 crashes at Jutland in sea (55 murder) |
| September 9 | 103rd U.S. Womens Tennis: Steffi Graf beats M Navratilova (36 75 61) |
| September 10 | 109th U.S. Mens Tennis: Boris Becker beats Ivan Lendl (76 16 63 76) |
| September 10 | 5 days after hitting a home run for Yankees in a 12-2 win over the Mariners, |
| September 10 | Browns allow Pittsburgh only 53 net yards, a team defensive record |
| September 10 | Deion Sanders returns a punt 68 yards for a touchdown |
| September 10 | East Germans begin their flight to west (via Hungary and Czechoslovakia) |
| September 10 | Muffin Spencer-Devlin wins LPGA Cellular One-Ping Golf Championship |
| September 11 | Drexel formally pleads guilty to security fraud |
| September 11 | KSO-AM in Des Moines Iowa changes call letters to KGGO |
| September 12 | Emmy News and Documentaries Award presentation |
| September 13 | Desmond Tutu leads biggest anti-apartheid protest march in South Africa |
| September 13 | Fay Vincent elected baseball's 8th commissioner |
| September 13 | "Les Miserables," opens at Fisher Theatre, Detroit |
| September 14 | Calgary Flames become 1st NHL team to play in U.S.S.R., win 4-2 |
| September 14 | Jeff Reardon is 1st to record 30 saves in 5 consecutive seasons |
| September 14 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| September 16 | Debbye Turner (Mont), 23, crowned 63rd Miss America 1990 |
| September 16 | Singer Natalie Cole marries record producer Andre Fisher |
| September 17 | 41st Emmy Awards: LA Law, Cheers, Dana Delany and Candice Bergen win |
| September 17 | Beth Daniel wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic |
| September 17 | Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation |
| September 17 | Hurricane Hugo begins 4 day sweep through Caribbean, killing 62 |
| September 17 | Hurricane Hugo, kills 85 in Charleston, South Carolina |
| September 17 | New York City court of appeals overturns lower court decision and returns America's Cup back to U.S. (from New Zealand) |
| September 18 | Hurricane Hugo causes extensive damage in Puerto Rico |
| September 19 | Appeals court restores America's Cup to U.S. after New York Supreme Court gave it to New Zealand (New Zealand protested US's use of a catamaran) |
| September 19 | Chase Manhattan Discovery Center at Brooklyn Botanic Garden opens |
| September 19 | French DC-10 crashes near Niger, 171 die |
| September 20 | FW De Klerk sworn in as president of South Africa |
| September 20 | Musical "Miss Saigon," premieres in London |
| September 20 | U.S. Air overshoots runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, 2 people die |
| September 21 | Poland's Sejm (National Assembly) approves prime minister Mazowiecki |
| September 22 | Cards outfielder Leon Durham suspended for 60 days due to drugs |
| September 22 | IRA-bomb kills 10 British marines in Kent |
| September 23 | Blue Jays bat out of order against Brewers in 6th inning |
| September 24 | 28th Ryder Cup: U.S. and Europe draw, 14-14 at The Belfry, England |
| September 24 | Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Nippon Travel-MBS Golf Classic |
| September 25 | Archaeologists open Titus of Rhine grave in Amsterdam |
| September 25 | Ronald Harwood's "Another Time," premieres in London |
| September 25 | Wade Boggs is 1st to get 200 hits and 100 walks in 4 consecutive seasons |
| September 26 | Last Vietnamese soldier leaves Cambodia |
| September 26 | MPAA creates NC-17 rating for movies with adult themes |
| September 26 | Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze calls for total destruction of Soviet and U.S. chemical weapons |
| September 27 | Oakland wins AL West and San Francisco wins NL West title |
| September 27 | Sony purchases Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion cash |
| September 29 | Glenn Frey joins Don Henley on-stage (for 1st time since 1981) |
| September 29 | Zsa Zsa Gabor convicted of slapping a police officer in Beverly Hills |
| September 30 | NASA closes down tracking stations in Hawaii and Ascension |
| September 30 | Nolan Ryan's perfect game broken in 8th, but gets his 300th strikeout |
| September 30 | Senegambia separates back into Gambia and Senegal |
| September 30 | Toronto Blue Jays wins AL East title |
| October 1 | Batting titles decided on final day Puckett goes 2-for-5 edges Carney Lansford .339 to .336, Gwynn's 3-for-4 edges Will Clark .336 to .333 |
| October 1 | Beth Daniel wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic |
| October 1 | Dallas Cowboy, Ed "Too Tall" Jones records his 1,000th NFL tackle |
| October 1 | Thousands of East Germans flee to West Germany |
| October 1 | U.S. issues a stamp, labeling an apatosaurus as a brontosaurus |
| October 3 | Panamanian Defense Force attempted coup of Manuel Noriega fails |
| October 4 | Giants Will Clark hits 1st NLCS grand slam since 1977 |
| October 4 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| October 7 | Radio talk show host Larry King weds Julie Alexander |
| October 7 | Rickey Henderson steals a record 8 bases in a play off (5 games) |
| October 8 | Oakland beats Toronto, 4-3 in Game 5, to advance to the World Series |
| October 9 | 1st NFL game coached by a black man (Art Shell), his Los Angeles Raiders beat New York Jets 14-7 on Monday Night Football |
| October 9 | 23rd Country Music Association Award: George Strait, Kathy Mattea wins |
| October 9 | 27th Tennis Fed Cup: USA beats Spain in Tokyo Japan (3-0) |
| October 12 | Herschel Walker is traded from Cowboys to Vikings for 12 players |
| October 12 | Musical "Buddy" with Paul Hipp premieres in London |
| October 13 | Bob Quinn resigns as New York Yankee Vice President/General Manager and replaced by Harding Peterson |
| October 13 | Dow Jones down 190.58 points |
| October 14 | Dave Stewart is 1st since 1976 to start consec World Series openers |
| October 14 | Texas A&I, Johnny Bailey sets NCAA season rush record at 6,085 yards |
| October 15 | Billy Graham is given 1,900th star on Hollywood Blvd |
| October 15 | South Africa President FW de Klerk frees Sisulu and 4 other political prisoners |
| October 15 | South african ANC-founder/leader Walter Sisulu freed |
| October 15 | Wayne Gretzky passes Gordie Howes as NHL's all time top scorer |
| October 16 | Bikenibau Paeniu installed as premier of Tuvalu |
| October 16 | Jan Syse becomes premier of Norway |
| October 17 | Earthquake in San Francisco (6.9) cancels 3rd game of World Series, kills 67 |
| October 18 | East German state/party leader Erich Honecker, resigns |
| October 18 | Hungary revises constitution |
| October 18 | U.S. 62nd manned space mission STS-34 (Atlantis 5) launches into orbit |
| October 19 | Astor Piazzolla and Wm Finn's musical "Dangerous Games" premieres in New York City |
| October 19 | "Dangerous Games" opens at Nederlander Theater New York City for 4 performances |
| October 19 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| October 20 | Pakistan win Sharjah Trophy over India and WI on round-robin |
| October 20 | U.S. Senate impeaches U.S. District Judge Alcee L Hastings |
| October 21 | 1st black owners (Betram Lee and Peter Bynoe) to own a major sports team, purchasing Denver Nuggets for $65m |
| October 21 | Buck Helm found alive after being buried 4 days, in San Francisco earthquake |
| October 21 | "Dangerous Games" closes at Nederlander Theater New York City after 4 performances |
| October 21 | Houston becomes 1st major college team to gain 1000 yards in a game |
| October 22 | Denver Nuggets beat Jugoplastika Split 135-129 in 3rd McDonald Open |
| October 22 | Red Khmer occupies Pailin in Cambodia |
| October 23 | Browns' Bernie Kosar sets club record with a 97-yard TD pass |
| October 23 | George Harrison releases "Best of Dark Horse 1976 - 1989" album |
| October 23 | Hungary proclaims itself a republic and declares communist rule ended |
| October 23 | U.S. 62nd manned space mission STS-34 (Atlantis 5) returns from space |
| October 23 | William Nicholson's "Shadowlands," premieres in London |
| October 24 | After a weeks delay due to earthquake, World Series game 3 is played |
| October 24 | France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island |
| October 24 | Reverend Jim Bakker is sentenced to 50 years for fraud |
| October 28 | Oakland A's sweep San Francisco Giants in earthquake/BART series |
| October 29 | Colleen Walker wins LPGA Nichirei Golf International |
| October 29 | New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority opens 63rd street extension to subway |
| October 29 | Ozzie Newsome ends NFL streak of 150 consecutive game receptions |
| October 30 | August A Busch III becomes CEO of St. Louis Cardinals |
| October 30 | Smith Dairy at Orrville Ohio, makes largest milk shake (1,575.2 gal) |
| October 31 | AR Gurney's "Love Letters," premieres in New York City |
| October 31 | France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island |
| October 31 | Turgat Ozal elected president of Turkey |
| October 31 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| November 1 | "Les Miserables," opens at Curran Theatre, San Francisco |
| November 1 | Pakistan beat West Indies by 4 wickets to win Cricket's Nehru Cup |
| November 1 | Scandinavian Airlines System bans smoking on many flights |
| November 2 | "Meet Me in St. Louis" opens at Gershwin Theater New York City for 253 performances |
| November 3 | 100s of Bulgarian demonstrate in Sofia for democratic rights |
| November 3 | Lou Piniella is named manager of the Reds, replacing banned Pete Rose |
| November 3 | Minn Timberwolves' 1st NBA game, loses to Seattle, 106-94 |
| November 4 | Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Bayakoa, Dancing Spree, Go for Wand, Prized, Rhythm, Steinlen, Sunday Silence |
| November 4 | Orlando Magic's 1st NBA game, loses to Nets, 111-106 |
| November 4 | Rene Muawad elected president of Lebanon |
| November 5 | 19th New York City Women's Marathon won by Ingrid Kristiansen in 2:25:30 |
| November 5 | 20th New York City Marathon won by Juma Ikangaa in 2:08:01 |
| November 5 | Browns' Bernie Kosar sets club record of 16 cons pass completions |
| November 5 | Elaine Crosby wins LPGA Mazda Japan Golf Classic |
| November 5 | "Threepenny Opera" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City for 65 performances |
| November 5 | U.S. plays El Salvador, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup |
| November 7 | Balt's Gregg Olson is 1st relief pitcher to win AL Rookie of Year |
| November 7 | Douglas Wilder elected 1st U.S. black governor (D-Va) |
| November 7 | New York City elects it's 1st black mayor (Dinkins) and female comp (Holtzman) |
| November 8 | Cubs Jerome Walton wins the NL Rookie of Year |
| November 8 | David Dinkins elected 1st black mayor of New York City |
| November 8 | Douglas Wilder elected 1st U.S. black governor (Virginia) |
| November 9 | East Berlin opens its borders |
| November 10 | Bulgarian party president Todor Zjikov, resigns |
| November 10 | Germans begins demolishing Berlin Wall |
| November 11 | "Prince of Central Park" closes at Belasco Theater New York City after 4 performances |
| November 11 | Sam's Town Bowling Invitational won by Tish Johnson |
| November 12 | Brazil holds 1st free presidential election in 29 years |
| November 12 | George Forest's musical "Grand Hotel," premieres in New York City |
| November 12 | "Grand Hotel" opens at Martin Beck Theater New York City for 1018 performances |
| November 13 | Paul McCartney releases "Figure of 8" and "Ou Est Le Soleil" |
| November 14 | Padres reliever Mark Davis wins NL Cy Young Award |
| November 15 | Aaron Sorkin's "Few Good Men," premieres in New York City |
| November 15 | Bret Saberhagen wins AL Cy Young Award |
| November 15 | "Few Good Men" opens at Music Box Theater New York City for 497 performances |
| November 15 | France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island |
| November 15 | Test Cricket debut of Waqar Younis and Sachin Tendulkar at Karachi |
| November 15 | Walter Davis (Denver) begins NBA free throw streak of 53 games |
| November 16 | 6 Jesuit priests are killed by El Salvadorian troops |
| November 16 | "Gypsy" opens at St. James Theater New York City for 477 performances |
| November 16 | South Africa President FW de Klerk announces scrapping of Separate Amenities Act |
| November 17 | Bret Saberhagen signs record $2,966,667 per year Kansas City Royal contract |
| November 18 | Penn is 1st to restrict abortions after Supreme Court gave states the right to do so |
| November 19 | U.S. beats Trinidad, 1-0 qualifing for 1990 world soccer cup finals it was US' 1st qualification since 1950 |
| November 20 | Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Robin Yount wins AL MVP |
| November 21 | Law banning smoking on most domestic flights signed by President Bush |
| November 21 | TV cameras permitted in British House of Commons |
| November 22 | Aneta Kreglicka of Poland, 24, crowned 39th Miss World |
| November 22 | Conjunction of Venus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and Moon |
| November 22 | Eastern Airlines pilots and flight attendants end their strike, but most are not rehired |
| November 22 | Kirby Pucket signs record $3,000,000 per year Minnesota Twins contract |
| November 22 | U.S. 63rd manned space mission STS-33 (Discovery 9) launches into orbit |
| November 23 | Pilots Union give up sympathy strike against Eastern Airlines |
| November 23 | Xenophobia Zolotas sworn in as premier of Greece |
| November 24 | Communist Party resigns in Czechoslovakia |
| November 24 | Elias Hrawi elected president of Lebanon |
| November 24 | Tendulkar scores a Test Cricket fifty age 16 years 214 days, a record |
| November 25 | David Boon scores 200 vs. New Zealand at cricket WACA |
| November 26 | 77th CFL Grey Cup: Saskatchewan defeats Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 43-40 |
| November 26 | Comores coup under Bob Benard |
| November 26 | Luis Alberto Lacalle becomes President of Uruguay |
| November 26 | Rafael Callejas installed as president of Honduras |
| November 27 | Colombian jetliner bombed killing 107 |
| November 27 | France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island |
| November 27 | George Harrison releases "Cheer Down" and "Poor Little Girl" |
| November 27 | Luis Alberto Lacelle elected president of Uruguay |
| November 27 | U.S. 63rd manned space mission STS-33 (Discovery 9) returns from space |
| November 28 | Rickey Henderson signs record $3,000,000 per year Oak A's contract |
| November 28 | Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci flees to Hungary |
| November 29 | 8th Largest wrestling crowd (60,000-Tokyo Dome) |
| November 29 | India president Rajiv Gandhi, resigns |
| December 1 | "Day Without Art" - Artists demonstrate against AIDS |
| December 1 | East Germany drops communist monopoly from its constitution |
| December 1 | Mark Langston signs record $3.2 million per year California Angels contract |
| December 1 | U.S.S.R. President Mikhail Gorbachev meets Pope John Paul II at the Vatican |
| December 2 | 55th Heisman Trophy Award: Andre Ware, Houston (quarterback) |
| December 2 | KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, California changes call letters to KCAL-TV |
| December 2 | Vishwanath Pratap Singh sworn in as president of India |
| December 3 | Pat Bradley/Bill Glasson wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic |
| December 5 | France TGV train reaches world record speed of 482.4 kph |
| December 6 | Mafia drug kingpin bombs security force at Bogota, kills 52 |
| December 6 | Worst Canadian mass murder: Marc Lepine kills 14 women at U Montreal |
| December 7 | C Coleman and D Zippel's musical "City of Angels," premieres in New York City |
| December 8 | Great Britain performs nuclear test |
| December 9 | "Les Miserables" opens at Princess Theatre, Melbourne |
| December 10 | President Gustav Husak of Czechoslovakia, resigns |
| December 11 | "City of Angels" opens at Virginia Theater New York City for 878 performances |
| December 11 | Mark Davis signs record $3.25 million per year Kansas City Royals contract |
| December 13 | Walter Davis (Denver) ends NBA free throw streak of 53 games |
| December 16 | Commencement of 1st Test Cricket play at Bellerive Oval, Hobart (v SL) |
| December 16 | Geoff Marsh completes 355* for WA against South Australia |
| December 17 | 78th Davis Cup: Germany beats Sweden in Stuttgart (3-2) |
| December 17 | Brazil elects conservative Fernando Collor de Mello president |
| December 17 | Michael Bevan scores cricket century on 1st-class debut (114 SA vs. WA) |
| December 17 | Patti Rizzo/Mike Hill wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship |
| December 18 | Athol Fugard's "My Children, My Africa," premieres in New York City |
| December 18 | "I Love Lucy" Christmas episode, shown for 1st time in over 30 years |
| December 19 | American Airlines purchases Eastern Airline's Latin American route |
| December 19 | Larry Bird, of the Celtics, begins NBA free throw streak of 71 games |
| December 20 | Premier Lubbers sees CDA-party leader Elco Brinkman as successor |
| December 20 | U.S. troops invade Panama and oust Manuel Noriega, but don't catch him |
| December 21 | Dan Quayle sends out 30,000 Xmas cards with word beacon spelled beakon |
| December 21 | Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's final speech (executed 12/25) |
| December 22 | -18 degrees F in Denver, -23 degrees F in Kansas City, Missouri, -42 degrees F in Scottsbluff Nebraska -47 degrees F in Hardin Mont and -60 degrees F in Black Hills South Dakota |
| December 22 | After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Romania ousts Nicolea Ceausescu |
| December 22 | Chad adopts its Constitution |
| December 22 | Cold wave: -4 degrees F in Oklahoma City, -6 degrees F in Tulsa, -12 degrees F in Pitts, |
| December 24 | Charles Taylor enters Liberia to unseat President Samuel K Doe |
| December 24 | Panama's dictator, Manual Noriega seeks asylum at Vatican embassy |
| December 25 | Japanese scientist achieve -271.8 degrees C, coldest temp ever recorded |
| December 26 | ODI debut for Mark Taylor and Sanath Jayasuriya at cricket MCG |
| December 27 | Oregon begins taking bids on NBA games |
| December 28 | Alexander Dubcek elected parliament chairman of Czechoslovakia |
| December 28 | Earthquake at Newcastle Australia, 11 die |
| December 29 | Jane Pauley says goodbye to NBC's "Today" show |
| December 29 | Vaclav Havel becomes president of Czechoslovakia |
| December 29 | Wayne Gretzky and Martina Navratilova, named athletes of decade by AP |
| December 30 | 10th United Negro College Fund raises $12,000,000 |
| December 30 | Dmitri Volkov swims world record 50m freestyle (27.15 sec) |
| December 31 | Actress Annabella Sciorra (Jungle Fever) weds Joe Petruzzi |
| December 31 | Fog Bowl: Heavy fog rolls in on Bears 20-12 victory over Eagles |
| December 31 | Jockey Kent Desormeaux sets record with 598 wins in a year |
| December 31 | "Me and My Girl" closes at Marquis Theater New York City after 1420 performances |
| December 31 | "Threepenny Opera" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City after 65 performances |
