2004 in sports

See also: 2003 in sports, other events of 2004, 2005 in sports, list of 'years in sports'.

Deaths

January-February

• January 2: Paul Hopkins, 99, reported to be the oldest living former Major League Baseball player
• January 5 - TG Jones - Footballer (Soccer) Wales and Everton
• January 5 - Tug McGraw, 59, former MLB relief pitcher with the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies who played for two World Champions in 1969 with the Mets and in 1980 with the Phillies and coined the phrase "You Gotta Believe!".
• January 14: Mike Goliat, 78, member of the famous Phillies' "Whiz Kids" team that won the 1950 NL pennant
• January 17: Harry "The Cat" Brecheen, 89, former MLB pitcher
• January 19: David Hookes - Australian cricketer
• January 25: Fanny Blankers-Koen, 85 - legendary Dutch athlete
• January 25: Miklos Feher - Hungarian Footballer (Soccer)
• February 1: Ally McLeod - Footballer (soccer) and former Scottish national team manager
• February 14: Marco Pantani, 34 - Italian cyclist, winner of 1998 Tour de France
• February 17: Shirley Strickland de la Hunty - Australian Athlete
• February 21: John Charles - Welsh Footballer (soccer) for Leeds, Juventus, Roma, Cardiff and Wales
• February 22: Andy Seminick, 83, former MLB catcher who played for the 1950 Phillies' "Whiz Kids" team

March-April

• March 18: Gene Bearden, 83, former MLB pitcher who played for the Cleveland Indians
• March 22: Peter Jackson - England and Lions winger
• April 4: George Bamberger, 80, former MLB pitcher and manager
• April 10: Lou Berberet, 74, former MLB catcher who played for the Yankees, Senators, Red Sox and Tigers
• April 12: Frankie Narvaez, 65, Puerto Rican boxer
• April 20: Ronnie Simpson - Newcastle, Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper
• April 22: Pat Tillman, 27 - American football player who left the NFL to enlist in the United States Army; killed in action in Afghanistan

May-June

• May 2: Moe Burtschy, 82, former MLB pitcher for the Philadelphia & Kansas City Athletics
• May 3: Darrell Johnson, 75, former MLB catcher who was manager for the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 World Series
• May 17 Buster Narum, 63, former MLB pitcher for the Orioles and Senators
• June 4 Wilmer Fields, 81, former Negro League Baseball All-Star
• June 8: Mack Jones, 65, former MLB outfielder, who played for the Milwaukee & Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and Montreal Expos

July-August

• July 5: Rodger Ward, 83, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner
• July 9: Tony Lupien, 87, former MLB first baseman, who also was baseball and basketball coach for Dartmouth College
• July 26: Rubén Gómez, 77, Puerto Rico, former MLB right-handed pitcher who played for the Giants, Phillies, Indians and Twins. Gómez won baseball's first regular season game on the West Coast. He started the first game in San Francisco history, beating Don Drysdale and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers in a 8-0 shutout on April 15, 1958. The two teams moved from New York after the 1957 season
• August 23: Hank Borowy, 88, former MLB pitcher, who played for the Yankees, Cubs, Phillies, Pirates and Tigers
• August 27: Willie Crawford, 57, former MLB outfielder who played with the Dodgers between the '60s and '70s.

September-October

• September 4: Caroline Pratt, 42, equestrian, died in an accident at the Burghley Horse Trials
• September 4: Bob Boyd, 84, former MLB first baseman; the first black player to sign with the White Sox, and the first Oriole regular to hit over .300 in the 20th century
• September 19: Line Oestvold, 26, Norwegian snowboarder, after a crash in training in Chile.
• September 20: Brian Clough, 69, English footballer and manager, won successive European Cups in 1979 and 1980 as manager of Nottingham Forest F.C.
• October 2: Bolat Kesikhbaev, vice president of Kazakh Boxing Federation, heart attack
• October 3: John Cerutti, 44, baseball broadcaster
• October 10: Ken Caminiti, 41, baseball player; National League Most Valuable Player in 1996.
• October 11: Keith Miller, 84, Australian rules footballer, cricketer, fighter pilot and journalist
• October 17: Ray Boone, 81, Major League Baseball player; father of Bob Boone, grandfather of Aaron and Bret Boone
• October 23: Bill Nicholson, 85, British football player, manager, coach, scout for Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
• October 24: Ricky Hendrick, 24, NASCAR driver, in a plane crash with nine other people, including the two pilots and members of his father Rick Hendrick's family in Martinsville, Virginia
• October 26: Beto Avila, 80, Mexican Major League Baseball second baseman
• October 27: Serginho, 30, Brazilian footballer, a heart attack during a Campeonato Brasileiro match.
• October 28: Jimmy McLarnin, 96, British boxer

November-December

• November 2: Gerrie Knetemann, 53, Dutch cyclist, heart attack
• November 3: Sergei Zholtok, 32, Latvian ice hockey player, cardiac arrythmia suffered during a match in Belarus
• November 8: Eddie Charlton, 75, Australian snooker player, surgery complications
• November 8: Lennox Miller, 58, Jamaican sprinter
• November 9: Emlyn Hughes, 57, Liverpool F.C. and England football player, brain tumor
• December 16: Bobby Mattick, 89, manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, stroke
• December 24: Johnny Oates, 58, manager of the Texas Rangers, brain tumor
• December 26: Reggie White, 43, former member of the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers.