The following are the baseball events of the year 1940 throughout the world.  

Champions

Major League Baseball

• World Series: Cincinnati Reds over Detroit Tigers (4-3)
• All-Star Game, July 9 at Sportsman's Park: National League, 4-0

Other champions

• Negro League Baseball All-Star Game: East, 11-0

Awards and honors

• Most Valuable Player
  • Hank Greenberg (AL) - OF, Detroit Tigers
  • Frank McCormick (NL) - 1B, Cincinnati Reds
• The Sporting News Player of the Year Award
  • Bob Feller - P, Cleveland Indians
• The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award
  • Hank Greenberg (AL) - OF, Detroit Tigers
  • Frank McCormick (NL) - 1B, Cincinnati Reds
• The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award
  • Bill McKechnie - Cincinnati Reds

Statistical Leaders

Major League Baseball final standings

American League final standings

National League final standings

Negro League Baseball final standings

Negro National League final standings

Events

• April 16 - Bob Feller pitches a 1-0 opening day no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox.

• April 30 - Tex Carleton pitches a no-hitter as the Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0.

• July 9 - At Sportsman's Park, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, the National League defeats the American League, 4-0, in the All-Star Game.

• September 24 - Jimmie Foxx hits 500th home run.

September 30 - The Cleveland Indians finish one-game behind the New York Yankees in the American League pennant race thus disappointing Ohio baseball fans who had been rooting all season long for what would have been the only all-Ohio World Series in baseball history, i.e. Cincinnati Reds (the 1940 NL champion) vs. Cleveland Indians.

• October 8 - The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1, in Game 7 of the World Series to win their second World Championship, four games to three. This was Cincinnati's first World Series victory since the Black Sox scandal. Reds' manager Bill McKechnie became the first manager to win World Series with two different teams; in 1925 he had won the Series as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Births

January-April

• January 11 - Hank Fischer
• February 25 - Danny Cater
• February 25 - Ron Santo
• March 6 - Willie Stargell
• March 19 - Pete Smith
• March 22 - Dick Ellsworth
• April 15 - Willie Davis
• April 15 - Woodie Fryman

May-August

• May 20 - Sadaharu Oh
• June 2 - Horace Clarke
• June 2 - Jim Maloney
• July 3 - César Tovar
• July 8 - Bucky Brandon
• July 10 - Gene Alley
• July 13 - Jack Aker
• July 18 - Joe Torre
• July 21 - Denis Menke
• August 13 - Tony Cloninger

September-December

• September 12 - Mickey Lolich
• September 15 - Frank Linzy
• October 9 - Joe Pepitone
• October 12 - Glenn Beckert
• October 14 - Tommy Harper
• November 21 - Tommy McCraw
• November 23 - Luis Tiant
• December 26 - Ray Sadecki

Deaths

• February 13 - Walter Barnes, 79, sports editor for several Boston newspapers from 1891 to 1933 who was that city's first regular sports columnist
• May 5 - Bill Wise, 79, pitcher/outfielder for three seasons from 1882 to 1886.
• June 1 - Logan Drake, 40, relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians from 1922 to 1924
• August 21 - Ernest Thayer, 77, newspaper editor whose 1888 poem "Casey at the Bat" became a staple of baseball culture
• October 17 - George Davis, 70, shortstop for the Giants and White Sox who set records for career hits (2600+) and RBI (1437) by a switch-hitter, and ranked third in total games upon retirement; batted .308 in 1906 World Series as White Sox upset Cubs
• December 15 or 16 - Billy Hamilton, 74, center fielder and leadoff hitter for Philadelphia and Boston who batted .344 lifetime, winning two batting titles; led NL in runs four times and in walks and steals five times each; had eleven 100-run seasons including record 192 in 1894, and his 1690 career runs - over one per game - ranked second in history upon retirement; batted .343 and .369 for 1897-98 Boston champions