See also: 1947 in sports, other events of 1948, 1949 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Baseball

• January 29: Commissioner Happy Chandler fines the Yankees, Cubs, and Phillies $500 each for signing high school players.
• February 27: Hall of Fame election: Voters select the recently deceased Herb Pennock, and Pie Traynor, as the newest inductees; Traynor is the first third baseman elected by the writers in 9 elections.
• World Series: The Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves, 4 games to 2.

Football (American Football)

• University of Michigan wins college football national championship.
• Cleveland Browns 49-7 Buffalo Bills in the All-America Football Conference championship game.
• Philadelphia Eagles 7-0 Chicago Cardinals in the National Football League championship game. The game was played in a blizzard.

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
  • Melbourne wins the 52nd VFL Premiership (Melbourne 10.9 (69) drew Essendon 7.27 (69), replay Melbourne 13.11 (89) d Essendon 7.8 (50))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Bill Morris (Richmond)

Football (Soccer)

• England - FA Cup: Manchester United wins 4-2 over Blackpool

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson 84-61.

General sporting events

• 1948 Summer Olympics takes place in London, United Kingdom
  • United States wins the most medals (84), and the most gold medals (38).

• 1948 Winter Olympics takes place in St. Moritz, Switzerland
  • Norway and Sweden both win the most medals (10 each), and the most gold medals (4 each).

Births

• January 14 - Valery Kharlamov, International ice hockey star (d. 1981)
• March 20 - Bobby Orr, Hall of fame ice hockey player
• May 14 - Bob Woolmer, cricket coach
• June 13 - Garnet "Ace" Bailey, ice hockey player/scout (d. 2001)

Deaths

• January 30 - Herb Pennock, former major league pitcher
• August 16 - Babe Ruth, Hall of Fame baseball player
• Candy Jim Taylor, Negro League Baseball player and manager