Years in sports:	1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874
Centuries:	18th century · 19th century · 20th century
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
Years:	1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874

Contents 1 Baseball 2 Football (rugby union) 3 Football (soccer) 4 Rowing 5 Yacht racing 6 Births

Baseball

• March - Ten NABBP clubs found the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the first professional sports league. (Today it is commonly considered the first major league and usually called simply the "National Association" or "NA".) Thirty-three clubs establish a parallel amateur NAABBP that withers away.
• There are nine NA teams in the field and Athletic of Philadelphia wins the championship

Football (rugby union)

• Rugby Football Union formed in England
• Scotland defeat England 4-1 in first rugby union international

Football (soccer)

• At a meeting in London, the eight-year old Football Association decide to hold a challenge cup competition the next year. The FA Cup is born with 15 entries.

Rowing

• Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race - Cambridge

Yacht racing

• The New York Yacht Club retains the America's Cup as Columbia defeats British challenger Livonia, of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club

Births

• February 16 — Richard Gunn, English boxer (d. 1961)
• April 11 — Gyula Kellner, Hungarian athlete (d. 1940)
• May 30 — Nándor Dáni, Hungarian athlete (d. 1949)
• June 19 — Fritz Hoffmann, German athlete (d. 1927)
• June 19 — Alojz Sokol, Slovak athlete from the Kingdom of Hungary (d. 1932)
• October 30 — Buck Freeman, American baseball player (d. 1949)