Joe DiMaggio

Joseph Paul DiMaggio, born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, Jr. (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an Italian American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire career (1936-1951) for the New York Yankees. A 3-time MVP winner and 13-time All-Star who was widely hailed for his accomplishment on both offense and defense, as well as for the grace with which he played the game, he ended his career voluntarily at age 36 with the 5th-most career home runs (361) and 6th-highest slugging percentage (.579) in history. In a 1969 poll conducted in New York to coincide with the centennial of professional baseball, he was voted the sport's greatest living player. A "picture-perfect" player, many rate his 56-game hitting streak (May 15 - July 16, 1941) as the top baseball feat of all time. His older brother Vince and younger brother Dom were also major leaguer center fielders: Vince was a 2-time National League All-Star; Dom was a 7-time All-Star who played his entire 11-year career for the Boston Red Sox.

Early life

The eighth of nine children, DiMaggio was born in a two-room house in Martinez, California to Sicilian immigrants; delivered by a midwife. His mother, Rosalia, named him "Giuseppe" for his father; "Paolo" was in honor of Saint Paul, Giuseppe's favorite saint. The family moved to San Francisco when Joe was one year old. Giuseppe was a fisherman, as were generations of DiMaggios before him. It was his dream to have all five of his sons fish the Bay with him. Joe would do anything to get out of cleaning his father's boat, as the smell of dead fish made him sick to his stomach; this earned him Giuseppe's ire, who called him "lazy" and "good for nothing." It was only after he became the sensation of the Pacific Coast League that his father was finally won over. Joe was playing semi-pro ball when Vince, then with the San Francisco Seals, talked his manager into letting his kid brother fill in at shortstop for the last three games of the 1932 season. Joe, making his debut on October 1, couldn't play shortstop, but he could hit. From May 28 - July 25, 1933, he hit in 61 consecutive games. "Baseball didn't really get into my blood until I knocked off that hitting streak," DiMaggio said. "Getting a daily hit became more important to me than eating, drinking or sleeping." However, in 1934, his career almost ended. Going to his sister's house for dinner, he tore the ligaments in his left knee when he stepped out of a jitney. The next day, he hit a homer, but had to walk around the bases! The Seals, hoping to sell Joe for as much as $100,000 – a staggering sum during the Great Depression – now couldn't give him away; the Chicago Cubs turned down a no-risk tryout. Fortunately, scout Bill Essick pestered the Yankees to give the 19-year-old another look. After Joe passed a test on his knee, the Yankees bought his contract on November 21 for $25,000 and 5 players, with the Seals keeping him for one more year. He batted .398 with 154 RBIs and 34 HRs and led the Seals to the 1935 PCL title.

"The Yankee Clipper"

Touted by sportswriters as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson rolled into one, he made his debut on May 3, 1936, batting ahead of Lou Gehrig. The Yankees hadn't been to the World Series since 1932, but, thanks in large part to their sensational rookie, they won the next four; DiMaggio is the only athlete in North American pro sports history to be on four championship teams in his first 4 full seasons. In total, he led the Yankees to 9 titles in 13 years, reaching his peak just as Gehrig's career was ended by terminal illness. Teammate Hank Bauer lauded DiMaggio as a "red-ass," a man whose drive to win was all-consuming. This extended even to family: a 1948 TIME story reported that his mother told him Dom's wedding was to take place on October 7 unless the Red Sox won the pennant, then it would be delayed ten days. "Mama," DiMaggio replied. "I will personally see to it that Dom is free to marry on the 7th." The Yankees' efforts forced the Sox into a one-game playoff, which they lost to the Cleveland Indians. On February 7, 1949, DiMaggio became the first baseball player to sign for $100,000 ($70,000 plus bonuses). He was still regarded as its best player, but injuries got to the point where he couldn't take a step without pain. A sub-par 1951 season and a brutal scouting report by the Brooklyn Dodgers that was turned over to the New York Giants and leaked to the press lead him to announce his retirement on December 11. He amassed 361 home runs, averaged 118 runs batted in (RBI) annually, compiled a .325 lifetime batting average while winning two American League batting titles, and struck out only 369 times. Although he became eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953 upon having been retired for one year, rumors circulated that if he were elected, the Pittsburgh Pirates would sign him to the richest contract in the sport purely as a gate attraction. DiMaggio told Baseball Digest in 1963 that the Brooklyn Dodgers had also offered him their managerial job in 1953, but that he turned it down. He was not elected to the Hall until his third try in 1955; the rules were revised in the interim, with DiMaggio and Ted Lyons excepted, extending the waiting period from one year to five. He would likely have had even better statistics had his home park not been Yankee Stadium. As "The House That (Babe) Ruth Built," it was designed to accommodate Ruth's left-handed power. For right-handed hitters, it was a nightmare: Mickey Mantle recalled that he and Whitey Ford used to count the blasts DiMaggio hit that would have been home runs anywhere else, but, at the Stadium, were long outs. Left-center field went as far back as 457ft, compared to ballparks today where left-center rarely reachs 380ft. In 1949, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey and Yankees GM Larry MacPhail verbally agreed to trade DiMaggio for Ted Williams, but it died when MacPhail refused to include Yogi Berra. Had the deal gone through, Williams would have benefited from Yankee Stadium's short right-center fence while DiMaggio would have thrived at Fenway Park with its Green Monster. DiMaggio was given the nickname "Yankee Clipper" by broadcaster Arch McDonald.

Military service

Following the U.S. entrance in World War II, DiMaggio enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces on February 17, 1943, rising to the rank of Sergeant. While fellow superstars Ted Williams and Bob Feller saw action at their request, DiMaggio's popularity was such it was feared that if he was put in harm's way and killed, it would devastate morale. He was stationed at Santa Ana, California, Hawaii, and Atlantic City as a physical education instructor during his 31-month stint, and played baseball. Giuseppe and Rosalia DiMaggio were among the thousands of German, Japanese and Italian immigrants classified as "enemy aliens" after Pearl Harbor was attacked. They had to carry photo ID booklets at all times, weren't allowed to travel more than 5 miles from their home without a permit, and Giuseppe's boat was seized. Rosalia became an American citizen in 1944, Giuseppe in 1945.

Marriages

Pearl Harbor In January 1937, DiMaggio met Dorothy Arnold on the set of Manhattan Merry Go-Round, in which he was featured and she was one of its adornments. They married at San Francisco's Church of SS Peter and Paul on November 19, 1939, as 20,000 well-wishers jammed the streets. Even before their son Joseph III was born, the marriage was in trouble. DiMaggio was, like many ballplayers, a high-school dropout with limited social skills whose life revolved around the game. While not the "party animal" Babe Ruth was, he had his fun, leaving Dorothy feeling neglected. However, she was an ambitious social climber who took full advantage of her status as the wife of sports' biggest star. DiMaggio biographer Michael Seidel reported that, except on the nights before Lefty Gomez was to pitch, Dorothy and Lefty's wife, Broadway star June O'Dea, would drag their husbands from one Manhattan nightspot to another. He came to resent how she complained about his off-the-field activities while she spent his money. But, when she threatened divorce in 1942, the usually unflappable DiMaggio went into a slump, and developed ulcers. After the season, she went to Reno, Nevada; he followed her, and they reconciled. But after he enlisted in the Army and was sent to Hawaii, she returned to Reno, and obtained a divorce. The relationship continued off and on. Dorothy promised Joe she would wait for him to return from 1946 spring training, but married another man while he was away. It was only after he met the love of his life on a blind date in 1952 that he finally got her out of his system for good. According to her autobiography, Marilyn Monroe did not want to meet DiMaggio, imagining he had bulging muscles and wore pink ties. Both were at different points in their lives: Joe wanted to settle down, while Marilyn's career was taking off. They married at San Francisco City Hall on January 14, 1954, the culmination of a courtship that had captivated the nation. He was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church for bigamy. The relationship was loving yet complex, marred by his jealousy and her casual infidelity. DiMaggio biographer Richard Ben Cramer asserts it was also violent; one incident allegedly happened after the skirt-blowing scene in The Seven Year Itch was filmed on New York's Lexington Avenue before hundreds of fans; director Billy Wilder recalled "the look of death" on DiMaggio's face as he watched. When she filed for divorce just 274 days after the wedding, Oscar Levant quipped it proved that no man could be a success in two pastimes. He re-entered her life as her marriage to Arthur Miller was ending. On February 10, 1961, DiMaggio secured Monroe's release from a psychiatric clinic (she was reportedly placed in the ward for the most seriously disturbed). She later joined him in Florida where he was a batting coach at the Yankees' training camp. Their "just friends" claim didn't stop remarriage rumors from flying; reporters staked out Monroe's Manhattan apartment building. Bob Hope even "dedicated" Best Song nominee "The Second Time Around" to them at the Academy Awards. According to biographer Maury Allen, Joe was so alarmed by Marilyn's return to her self-destructive ways, falling in with people he felt detrimental to her (including Frank Sinatra and his "Rat Pack"), he quit his job with a military post-exchange supplier on August 1, 1962 to return to California to ask her to remarry him. But before he could, she was found dead on August 5, a probable suicide. Devastated, he claimed her body, and arranged her funeral, barring Hollywood's elite; he had a half-dozen red roses delivered 3 times a week to her crypt for the next 20 years. Unlike her other two husbands or other men who knew her intimately (or claimed to), he never talked about her publicly or otherwise tried to "cash in" on their relationship. He never married again.

Death

After DiMaggio, who underwent lung cancer surgery on October 14, 1998, fell into an 18-hour coma on December 11, his lawyer, Morris Engelberg, was forced to admit that the positive reports he had been feeding to the press were greatly exaggerated. He claimed Joe made him promise not to tell even his family about his condition. Joe was finally taken to his home in the Bar Harbour section of Hollywood, Florida on January 19, 1999. Days later, NBC broadcast a premature obituary; Engelberg claimed he and DiMaggio had been watching TV and saw it. His last words, according to Engelberg, were "I'll finally get to see Marilyn." However, the day after DiMaggio's death, a hospice worker who cared for him gave a radically different version of events to The New York Post. He is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. In his eulogy, Dom DiMaggio declared that his brother had everything "except the right woman to share his life with," a remark seeming to confirm the family's disapproval of Monroe. Cramer told the New York Times that Dom cooperated with him on his controversial biography, and got other family members to do likewise. The equally-controversial Engelberg offered dozens of signed bats on Shop At Home, for $3,000 each, weeks before DiMaggio died. In April 1999, he sued the City of San Francisco to stop its plan to name the North Beach park, where Joe learned to play baseball, after him. That June, he sold hundreds of items to a collectibles dealer, including baseballs DiMaggio signed on his deathbed, and offered Joe's personal effects at a Sotheby's auction. In 2003, Engelberg broke attorney-client privilege, and published his own book on DiMaggio as a rebuttal to Cramer's. Oddly, both books contain inaccuracies, salacious gossip, unsubstantiated claims and rely on the same discredited sources. Both state Joe thought Marilyn was murdered due to her involvement with the Kennedy Family; Cramer even claims the coroner who perfomed her autopsy "took a dive." And, both Cramer and Engelberg draw the same conclusion: DiMaggio was a greedy humbug convinced everyone was out to take advantage of him.

Legacy

DiMaggio was used by artists as a touchstone in popular culture, not only during his career, but decades later. He is mentioned in the South Pacific song "Bloody Mary." "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" was recorded during his hitting streak by Les Brown. In Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely, Philip Marlowe follows the hitting streak, which Chandler uses as a metaphor for good in Marlowe's debased world. A generation later, Simon and Garfunkel used him in that same vein in "Mrs. Robinson". The literal-minded DiMaggio was reportedly not fond of the lyric "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you," as he was very much alive and well. Paul Simon explained that DiMaggio was a metaphor for a seemingly more innocent time. Woody Guthrie wrote "DiMaggio Done It" about his stunning performance in a crucial series against the Red Sox in June 1949, when surgery for bone spurs in his right heel had kept him out of the Yankees' first 65 games and threatened his career. It is during this period Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is set, the worshipful Santiago drawing courage from his hero's ordeal. DiMaggio "appears" in a episode of Seinfeld, where Kramer tries to convince the gang that he saw him at Dinky Donuts. In Boobs in the Woods, Daffy Duck gets a confused Porky Pig to "Steal home, DiMaggio! It means the game!" He is mentioned in Joss Stone's "Whatever Happened to the Heroes." He and Monroe are mentioned in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," in Madonna's "Vogue," and in Tori Amos's "Father Lucifer." He appeared in the original Angels in the Outfield (1951) and a scene in The First of May (released posthumously in 1999). According to its director, DiMaggio refused payment as its subject, foster children, was dear to his heart, but Screen Actors Guild rules mandated he take the minimum $250 per day fee. He was admired by his peers as a consummate professional, refusing to rest on his talent, working constantly to improve, and playing in spite of tremendous pain and injuries. On July 21, 1969, DiMaggio was named the greatest living player at a New York gala celebrating professional baseball's 100th anniversary. On September 19, 1992, the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital opened, for which he raised over $4,000,000. Elián González was taken there after he was rescued off the coast of Miami on what would have been DiMaggio's 85th birthday. Yankee Stadium's fifth monument was dedicated to DiMaggio on April 25, 1999. The monument replaced a plaque that previously hung at Monument Park, and before that on the center field wall. The monument calls him "A baseball legend and an American icon." Also on that date, New York's West Side Highway was officially renamed in his honor. The Yankees wore a black number 5 (DiMaggio's uniform number) on the left sleeves of their uniforms for the entire 1999 season. During that season, DiMaggio ranked number 11 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected through fan balloting to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
External links

- [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/dimaggio_joe.htm Baseball Hall of Fame]
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- [http://archive.sportingnews.com/baseball/100/index-11.html The Sporting News: Baseball's 100 Greatest Players (#11)]
- [http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/DiMaggio_Joe.html ESPN Classic]
- [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/D/DiMaggio_Joe.stm Baseball Library] - biography and career highlights
- [http://www.mlb.com/mlb/events/memorable_moments/pop_moment6.html Major League Baseball: Memorable Moments] - the hitting streak
- [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dimaggio/ The American Experience]
- [http://www.baseball-statistics.com/HOF/DiMag.html Baseball-Statistics.com] - biography
- [http://www.thebaseballpage.com/past/pp/dimaggiojoe/ The Baseball Page]
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/baseball/daily/march99/08/dimaggioobit.htm Washington Post obituary]
- Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe Dimaggio, Joe ja:ジョー・ディマジオ

November 25
November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 36 days remaining.
Events

- 1034 - Malcolm II of Scotland dies. Duncan, the son of his second daughter, inherits the throne ahead of Macbeth, the son of his eldest daughter.
- 1120 - The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son of Henry I of England.
- 1177 - Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.
- 1491 - The siege of Granada, last Moorish stronghold in Spain, begins.
- 1542 - Battle of Solway Moss. The English army defeats the Scottish.
- 1758 - French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control.
- 1783 - American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
- 1795 - Partitions of Poland: Stanislaus August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and exiled to Russia.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Missionary Ridge - At Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg.
- 1874 - The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873.
- 1876 - Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.
- 1905 - The danish Prins Carl arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway
- 1913 - Panama becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1936 - In Berlin, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, thus agreeing to consult on what measures to take "to safeguard their common interests" in case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation.
- 1940 - Woody Woodpecker first appears, in the film "Knock Knock".
- 1943 - Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina was re-established at the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia.
- 1944 - World War II: A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth's store in Deptford, UK, killing 160 shoppers.
- 1947 - Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
- 1947 - New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
- 1950 - The People's Republic of China joins the Korean War, sending thousands of troops across the Yalu river border to fight United Nations forces.
- 1952 - Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London and eventually becomes the longest continuously-running play in history.
- 1953 - The England football team suffer their first home defeat against continental opposition, losing to Hungary.
- 1958 - French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
- 1960 - The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated .
- 1963 - President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1970 - In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and two compatriots commit ritualistic suicide after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
- 1973 - Greek President George Papadopoulos is ousted in a military coup led by Lieutenant General Phaidon Gizikis.
- 1975 - Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.
- 1980 - No Más Fight: Sugar Ray Leonard regains the WBC world welterweight boxing title in a bout against Roberto Duran.
- 1984 - 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
- 1984 - A KCR train derails between Sheung Shui and Fanling, Hong Kong.
- 1986 - Iran Contra Affair: US Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- 1992 - The Czechoslovakia Federal Assembly votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia from January 1, 1993.
- 1994 - Sony founder Akio Morita announces he will be stepping down as CEO of the company.
- 1999 - The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.
- 2001 - Richard Burns becomes first ever English World Rally Championship champion.
- 2002 - US President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law.
- 2002 - Reported assassination attempt on Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov.
Births

- 1501 - Yi Hwang, Confucian scholar (d. 1570)
- 1562 - Félix Lope de Vega, Spanish playwright (d. 1635)
- 1577 - Piet Hein, Dutch naval commander and folk hero (d. 1629)
- 1609 - Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I of England (d. 1669)
- 1638 - Catherine of Braganza, Queen of Charles II of England (d. 1705)
- 1703 - Jean-François Séguier, French astronomer and botanist (d. 1784)
- 1712 - Charles-Michel de l'Épée, French philanthropist and developer of 'Signed French' (d. 1789)
- 1714 - Yoriyuki Arima, Japanese mathematician (d. 1783)
- 1814 - Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (d. 1878)
- 1817 - John Bigelow, American statesman and author (d. 1911)
- 1835 - Andrew Carnegie, British-born industrialist and philanthropist (d. 1919)
- 1844 - Karl Benz, German engineer (d. 1929)
- 1845 - José Maria Eça de Queiróz, Portuguese novelist (d. 1900)
- 1846 - Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate (d. 1911)
- 1858 - Alfred Capus, French author (d. 1922)
- 1862 - Ethelbert Nevin, American pianist and composer (d. 1901)
- 1869 - Ben Lindsey, American judge and social reformer (d. 1934)
- 1870 - Winthrop Ames, American theatrical director (d. 1937)
- 1874 - Joe Gans, American boxer (d. 1910)
- 1881 - Pope John XXIII (d. 1963)
- 1883 - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (d. 1939)
- 1883 - Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (d. 1968)
- 1895 - Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist (d. 1991)
- 1895 - Ludvík Svoboda, President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1979)
- 1896 - Virgil Thomson, American composer and music critic (d. 1989)
- 1904 - Lillian Copeland, American athlete (d. 1964)
- 1904 - Ba Jin, Chinese novelist (d. 2005)
- 1913 - Lewis Thomas, American physician and essayist (d. 1993)
- 1914 - Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 1999)
- 1915 - Augusto Pinochet, Chilean politician
- 1920 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, King of Malaysia (d. 2000)
- 1920 - Ricardo Montalban, Mexican actor
- 1920 - Noel Neill, American actress
- 1924 - Takaaki Yoshimoto, Japanese poet, critic, and philosopher.
- 1925 - Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (d. 1969)
- 1926 - Poul Anderson, American writer (d. 2001)
- 1933 - Kathryn Grant, American actress
- 1940 - Reinhard Furrer, American physicist and astronaut (d. 1995)
- 1940 - Joe Gibbs, American football coach
- 1944 - Ben Stein, American actor, game show host, and political consultant
- 1945 - Percy Sledge, American musician
- 1947 - John Larroquette, American actor
- 1951 - Bucky Dent, American baseball player
- 1951 - Bill Morrissey, American musician
- 1952 - Imran Khan, Pakistani test cricketer
- 1959 - Charles Kennedy, British politician
- 1960 - Amy Grant, American singer
- 1960 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (d. 1999)
- 1965 - Cris Carter, American football player
- 1965 - Bernie Kosar, American football player
- 1966 - Tim Armstrong, American musician (Rancid and The Transplants)
- 1968 - Jill Hennessy, Canadian actress
- 1968 - Erick Sermon, American rap music artist
- 1971 - Christina Applegate, American actress
- 1971 - Magnus Arvedson, Swedish hockey player
- 1976 - Donovan McNabb, American football player
- 1978 - Shina Ringo, Japanese musician, singer, and songwriter
- 1979 - Thea Gilmore, British singer and songwriter
- 1981 - Xabi Alonso, Spanish international footballer
- 1981 - Barbara and Jenna Bush, daughters of U.S. President George W. Bush
Deaths

- 311 - Peter of Alexandria, Christian martyr (b. 300)
- 1034 - King Malcolm II of Scotland (killed)
- 1120 - William Adelin, son of Henry I of England (drowned) (b. 1104)
- 1185 - Pope Lucius III (b. 1097)
- 1326 - Prince Koreyasu, Japanese shogun (b. 1264)
- 1374 - Philip II of Taranto, Emperor of Costantinople (b. 1329)
- 1456 - Jacques Cœur, French merchant
- 1560 - Andrea Doria, Italian naval leader (b. 1466)
- 1626 - Edward Alleyn, English actor (b. 1566)
- 1694 - Ismael Bullialdus, French astronomer (b. 1605)
- 1700 - Stephanus Van Cortlandt, first native Mayor of New York (b. 1643)
- 1748 - Isaac Watts, British hymnwriter (b. 1674)
- 1755 - Johann Georg Pisendel, German musician (b. 1687)
- 1785 - Richard Glover, British poet (b. 1712)
- 1865 - Heinrich Barth, German explorer (b. 1821)
- 1881 - Theobald Boehm, German inventor of the modern flute (b. 1794)
- 1884 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (b. 1818)
- 1920 - Gaston Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and automobile pioneer (b. 1892)
- 1944 - Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball commissioner (b. 1866)
- 1947 - Léon-Paul Fargue, French poet (b. 1876)
- 1950 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1873)
- 1959 - Gérard Philipe, French actor (b. 1922)
- 1968 - Upton Sinclair, American journalist, politician, and writer (b. 1878)
- 1965 - Dame Myra Hess, British pianist (b. 1890)
- 1970 - Yukio Mishima, Japanese writer (b. 1925)
- 1972 - Henri Coanda, Romanian aerodynamics pioneer (b. 1886)
- 1973 - Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian-born actor (b. 1928)
- 1974 - Nick Drake, British singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
- 1974 - U Thant, Burmese UN Secretary-General (b. 1909)
- 1981 - Jack Albertson, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1987 - Harold Washington, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1922)
- 1998 - Nelson Goodman, American philosopher (b. 1906)
- 1998 - Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
- 2002 - Karel Reisz, Czech theater director (b. 1926)
- 2005 - George Best, Irish footballer (b. 1946)
- 2005 - Richard Burns, English rally driver (b.1971)
Holidays and observances

- R.C. Saints - Saint Catherine of Alexandria; Moses?
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: National Day (1943)
- Surinam - Independence Day (from the Netherlands, 1975)
- In 2003, celebration of the Muslim festival of Eid (which has no set date in the Gregorian calendar because the Muslim calendar is based on the lunar, not the solar, cycle)
- International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/25 BBC: On This Day] ---- November 24 - November 26 - October 25 - December 25 -- listing of all days ko:11월 25일 ms:25 November ja:11月25日 simple:November 25 th:25 พฤศจิกายน

1914

1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. (see link for calendar)

Events

January-April

- January 4 - 77 seal hunters freeze to death on ice near Labrador.
- January 5 - Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.
- January 10 - Mexican Revolution - Pancho Villa's troops take Ojinaga in the Mexican state of Chihuahua
- February 13 - Copyright: In New York City the ASCAP (for American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
- March 1 - The Republic of China joins the Universal Postal Union.
- March 10 - Suffragette Mary Richardson damages Velasquez painting Rokeby Venus in London’s national gallery with a meat chopper.
- March 16 - Wife of French minister Joseph Caillaux shoots Gaston Calmet, the editor of Le Figaro because he threatened to publish Caillaux's love letters to her during his previous marriage. (She is later acquitted.)
- March 27 - Belgian surgeon A. Hustin makes the first successful blood transfusion, using anticoagulants.
- March 29 - Katherine Routledge and her husband arrive in Easter Island to make the first true study of it (departs August 1915)
- April 14 - The city of Irving, Texas is incorporated.
- April 20 - Colorado coalfield Massacre or Ludlow Massacre. Colorado National guard attacks 1200 tent colony of striking coal miners in Ludlow - 24 people dead.
- April 21 - 3000 US marines land in Vera Cruz, Mexico.
- The American Radio Relay League is founded.

May-July

- May 9 - J.T. Hearne becomes the first bowler to take 3000 first-class wickets.
- May 14 - Woodrow Wilson signs Mother's Day proclamation.
- May 14 - The Hellenic Holocaust begins in the Ottoman Empire.
- May 25 - The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule.
- May 29 - The ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in Gulf of St. Lawrence; 1,024 lives lost. Gulf of St. Lawrence, World War I has now become inevitable]]
- June 1 - Woodrow Wilson's envoy Edward Mandell House meets with Kaiser Wilhelm II.
- June 18 - Constitutionals take San Luis Potos - Venustiano Carranza demands Victoriano Huerta's surrender
- June 23 - Kiel Canal reopened (owing to its having been deepened) by the Kaiser: Visit of the British Fleet under Sir G. Warrender: Kaiser inspects the Dreadnought H.M.S. "King George V".
- June 28 - The assassination in Sarajevo: Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife, the Archduchess Sophie are killed by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
- June 29 - Austria-Hungary: Secretary of the Legation at Belgrade sends despatch to Vienna suggesting Serbian complicity in the crime of Sarajevo.Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo and throughout Bosnia generally.
- June 30-Great Britain: Addresses in Parliament on the murdered Archduke: Lords Crewe and Lansdowne in House of Lords; Messrs. Asquith and Law in House of Commons.
- July 2 -Announcement that the Kaiser will not attend the Archduke's funeral.
- July 4 - Austria-Hungary: Funeral of the Archduke at Artstetten (50 miles west of Vienna).
- July 5 - Council at Potsdam.
- July 6 - Kaiser leaves Kiel for a cruise in Northern waters.
- July 7 - Austria-Hungary: Council of Ministers, including Ministers for Foreign Affairs and War, Chief of General Staff and Naval Commander-in-Chief: Council lasts from 11.30 a.m. to 6.15 p.m.
- July 8 -Count Tisza makes grave statement in Hungarian Chamber concerning the murder of the Archduke.
- July 9 -The House of Lords completed the recasting of the Amendment Bill(Ireland).Among the Amendments adopted with one excluding the Unionists of the West and South (as well as Ulster )from the jurisdiction of the judiciary appointed by the Home Rule Government;and another withdrawing of the Land Purchase Acts from the conrol of the Irish Parliment. Austria-Hungary.-Emperor recieves report of Austro-Hungarian investigation into the Sarajevo crime.The London Times publishes account of Austro-Hungarian press campaign against Serbians (who are described as "pestilent rats").
- July 10 - Mr.Hartwig,Russian Minister to Serbia, dies suddenly at Austrian Legation in Belegrade.
- July 12 - Demonstrations in Ulster suggesting Civil War.
- July 13 - Reports of a projected Serbian attack upon the Austro-Hungarian Legation at Belegrade.
- July 15 - Victoriano Huerta resigns and leaves for Colón. July 17 he leaves for exile in Spain
- July 18 - The Signal Corps of the United States Army is formed, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
- July 28 - World War I begins: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after it fails to meet the conditions of an ultimatum it set on July 23 following the Sarajevo assassination.
- July 31 - French pacifist Jean Jaures is assassinated.

August

- August 1 - Germany declares war on Russia, following Russia's military mobilization in support of Serbia.
- August 2 - German troops occupy Luxembourg.
- August 2 - Secret treaty between Turkey and Germany to secure Turkish neutrality
- August 3 - Germany declares war on Russia's ally France.
- August 4 - German troops invade neutral Belgium. Britain declares war on Germany after the latter fails to respect Belgian neutrality. The United States declares neutrality.
- August 5 - USA and Panama sign the Panama Canal Treaty
- August 15 - The Panama Canal opens to traffic.
- August 15 - Venustiano Carranza's troops under general Alvaro Obregon enter Mexico City
- August 17-September 2 - World War I: Battle of Tannenberg
- August 20 - World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.
- August 23 - Japan declares war on Germany.
- August 26-27 - The Battle of Le Cateau.
- August 28 - The Battle of Helgoland - British cruisers under admiral Beatty sink three German cruisers Battle of Helgoland]]
- August 29-30 - The Battle of St. Quentin.

September-October

- September 1 - St. Petersburg, Russia changes its name to Petrograd.
- September 1 - The last known passenger pigeon dies in the Cincinnati Zoo.
- September 2 - Moronvilliers occupied by the Germans.
- September 3 - Giacomo della Chiesa is elected as the new pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He becomes pope Benedict XV.
- September 5 - London Agreement - no member of Triple Entente (Britain, France, or Russia) may seek a separate peace with Central Powers.
- September 5 - World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins - Northeast of Paris, the French 6th Army under General Michel-Joseph Maunoury attack German forces who are advancing on the capital. Over 2 million troops will fight in the battle and 100,000 will be killed or wounded in this significant Allied victory.
- September 6 - French and British counterattack at Marne ends German advance on Paris.
- September 13-28 - The First Battle of the Aisne.
- September 17 - Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
- September 26 - The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
- September 30 - Flying Squadron established to promote temperance movement.
- October 9 - World War I: Siege of Antwerp - Antwerp, Belgium falls to German troops.
- October 13 - Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Athletics 3-1, to win baseball's World Series.
- October 29 - World War I: Ottoman warships shell Russian Black Sea ports: Russia, France, and Britain declare war on November 1-5.

November-December

- November 1 - World War I: Battle of Coronel fought - A Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock is met and defeated by the superior German forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee. This is the first British naval defeat of the war.
- November 4 - Britain and France declare war on Turkey.
- November 5 - The United Kingdom annexes Cyprus, and together with France declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
- November 16 - A year after being created by passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens for business.
- November 23 - US troops withdraw from Veracruz. Venustiano Carranza's troops take over and Carranza makes the town his headquarters
- November 28 - World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading.
- December 7 - Federation of Oriental Jews founds the Oriental Jewish Community of New York

Unknown dates

- Marcus Garvey in Jamaica founds Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
- First everyday items made of stainless steel come into public circulation.
- French Buddhist Alexandra David-Neel is the first European woman to visit Tibet (in disguise).
- Jehovah's Witnesses claim October of this year to be the end of the Gentile Times and the beginning of Jesus Christ's rule in Heaven.
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returns to India from South Africa to spearhead the Indian independence movement.
- W. H. Carrier patents design of an air conditioner.
- The capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China is moved from Guilin to Nanning.

Ongoing events

- World War I (1914-1918)
- Assyrian Genocide (1914-(1922)
- Mexican Revolution

Births

January-February

- January 1 - Noor Inayat Khan, World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- January 4 - Jane Wyman, American actress
- January 5 - George Reeves, American actor (d. 1959)
- January 6 - Danny Thomas, American singer, actor, and comedian (d. 1991)
- January 14 - Harold Russell, Canadian actor (d. 2002)
- January 15 - Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (d. 2003)
- January 17 - William Stafford, Aerican poet and pacifist (d. 1993)
- January 18 - Arno Schmidt, German author (d. 1979)
- January 30 - John Ireland, Canadian-born actor (d. 1992)
- January 30 - David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995)
- January 31 - Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (d. 1994)
- February 4 - Alfred Andersch, German writer (d. 1980)
- February 4 - Ida Lupino, English actress, director, and writer (d. 1995)
- February 5 - William S. Burroughs, American author (d. 1997)
- February 5 - Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1998)
- February 6 - Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor (d. 2005)
- February 9 - Ernest Tubb, American singer (d. 1984)
- February 11 - Matt Dennis, American singer (d. 2002)
- February 12 - Tex Beneke, American musician and band leader (d. 2000)
- February 19 - Jacques Dufilho, French comedian and actor (d. 2005)
- February 22 - Renato Dulbecco, Italian-born virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- February 23 - Theofiel Middelkamp, Dutch cyclist (d. 2005)
- February 24 - Zachary Scott, American actor (d. 1965)

March-April

- March 1 - Ralph Ellison, American writer (d. 1994)
- March 2 - Martin Ritt, American director (d. 1990)
- March 6 - Kiril Kondrashin, Russian conductor (d. 1981)
- March 8 - Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (d.1987)
- March 13 - Edward O'Hare, American pilot (d. 1943)
- March 14 - Bill Owen, English actor (d. 1999)
- March 17 - Sammy Baugh, American football player
- March 19 - Jay Berwanger, American football player (d. 2002)
- March 25 - Norman Borlaug, American agricultural scientist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- March 26 - William Westmoreland, U.S. general (d. 2005)
- March 28 - Edmund Muskie, American politician (d. 1996)
- March 30 - Sonny Boy Williamson, American musician (d. 1948)
- March 31 - Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- April 2 - Alec Guinness, English actor (d. 2000)
- April 4 - Marguerite Duras, French author and director (d. 1996)
- April 4 - Frances Langford, American singer and actress (d. 2005)
- April 11 - Robert Stanfield, Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2003)
- April 22 - Jan de Hartog, Dutch writer (d. 2002)
- April 25 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American writer (d. 1948)
- April 26 - Bernard Malamud, American author (d. 1986)
- April 26 - Lilian Rolfe, French-born World War II heroine (d. 1945)

May-June

- May - Arnold Gerschwiler, Swiss figure skating trainer (d. 2003)
- May 8 - Romain Gary, Russian-born writer and diplomat (d. 1980)
- May 9 - Hank Snow, Canadian country musician (d. 1999)
- May 12 - Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet (d. 1993)
- May 12 - Howard K. Smith, American journalist (d. 2002)
- May 13 - Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)
- May 18 - Boris Christoff, Bulgarian opera singer (d. 1993)
- May 19 - Go Seigen, Japanese go player
- May 19 - Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2002)
- May 22 - Vance Packard, American author (d. 1996)
- May 22 - Sun Ra, American musician (d. 1993)
- May 28 - W. G. G. Duncan Smith, British World War II pilot (d. 1996)
- June 3 - Roy Glenn, American actor (d. 1971)
- June 15 - Yuri Andropov, Soviet politician (d. 1984)
- June 19 - Alan Cranston, U.S. Senator (d. 2000)
- June 19 - Harry Lauter, American actor (d. 1990)
- June 21 - William Vickrey, Canadian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- June 29 - Rafael Kubelik, Czech-born conductor (d. 1996)

July-September

- July 2 - Frederick Fennell, American conductor (d. 2004)
- July 8 - Sarah P. Harkness, American architect.
- July 15 - Hammond Innes, English author (d. 1998)
- July 19 - John Kenneth Macalister, Canadian World War II hero (d. 1944)
- July 19 - Marius Russo, baseball player (d. 2005)
- July 10 - Joe Shuster, Canadian-born comic book creator, Co-creator of Superman (d. 1992)
- July 30 - Lord Killanin, Irish president of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1999)
- August 2 - Beatrice Straight, American actress (d. 2001)
- August 9 - Tove Jansson, Finnish author (d. 2001)
- August 10 - Jeff Corey, American actor (d. 2002)
- August 15 - Paul Rand, American graphic designer (d. 1996)
- August 17 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1988)
- August 17 - Gabrielle Weidner, Belgian World War II heroine (d. 1945)
- August 26 - Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (d. 1984)
- September 5 - Sor Isolina Ferré, Puerto Rican Catholic nun (d. 2000)
- September 10 - Robert Wise, American film producer (d. 2005)
- September 11 - Sidney Hart, British trade unionist and religious administrator (d. 2005)
- September 12 - Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh actor (d. 1999)
- September 12 - Janusz Zurakowski, Polish-born pilot (d. 2004)
- September 14 - Clayton Moore, American actor (d. 1999)
- September 15 - Creighton Williams Abrams, U.S. general (d. 1974)
- September 15 - Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentinian writer (d. 1999)
- September 16 - Allen Funt, American television show host (d. 1999)
- September 23 - Bethsabée de Rothschild, English philanthropist and patron of dance (d. 1999)

October-December

- October 1 - Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, writer, and Librarian of Congress (d. 2004)
- October 4 - Jim Cairns, Australian politician (d. 2003)
- October 6 - Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (d. 2002)
- October 10 - Tommy Fine, baseball player (d. 2005)
- October 14 - Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 14 - Dick Durrance, American skier (d. 2004)
- October 16 - Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan
- October 17 - Jerry Siegel, American comic book creator, Co-creator of Superman (d. 1996)
- October 21 - Martin Gardner, American writer on mathematics and games
- October 27 - Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author (d. 1953)
- October 28 - Jonas Salk, American medical scientist (d. 1995)
- October 28 - Richard Laurence Millington Synge, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- November 11 - Howard Fast, American novelist and television writer (d. 2003)
- November 13 - Alberto Lattuada, Italian film director (d. 2005)
- November 20 - Charles Berlitz, American author (d. 2003)
- November 25 - Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 1999)
- December 10 - Dorothy Lamour, American actress (d. 1996)
- December 12 - Patrick O'Brian, British writer (d. 2000)
- December 14 - Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (d. 2003)
- December 24 - Herbert Reinecker, German writer
- December 26 - Richard Widmark, American actor
- December 29 - Billy Tipton, American musician (d. 1989)
- December 30 - Bert Parks, American singer and actor (d. 1992)

Deaths

- January 18 - Georges Picquart, French general and Minister of war (b. 1854)
- February 24 - Joshua Chamberlain, American Civil War general (b. 1828)
- March 1 - Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto (b. 1845)
- March 6 - George Washington Vanderbilt II, American businessman (b. 1862)
- March 16 - Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
- March 19 - Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (b. 1850)
- March 25 - Frédéric Mistral, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
- April 1 - Rube Waddell, baseball player (b. 1876)
- April 2 - Paul von Heyse, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
- April 7 - Ayub Khan, Afghan military leader (b. 1857)
- May 2 - John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll, husband of Princess Louise of the United Kingdom (b. 1845)
- June 14 - Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice President of the United States (b. 1835)
- June 21 - Bertha von Suttner, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
- June 28 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (assassinated) (b. 1873)
- June 28 - Archduchess Sophie Chotek, wife of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (assassinated) (b. 1868)
- July 2 - Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (b. 1836)
- July 31 - Jean Jaurès, French pacifist (assassinated) (b. 1859)
- August 4 - Hubertine Auclert, French feminist (b. 1848)
- August 12 - John Philip Holland, Irish developer of the submarine (b. 1840)
- August 20 - Pope Pius X (b. 1835)
- August 30 - Aleksander Samsonov, Russian general (b. 1859)
- September 3 - Albéric Magnard, French composer (b. 1865)
- September 26 -August Macke, German painter (b. 1887)
- October 10 - King Carol I of Romania (b. 1839)
- November 3 - Georg Trakl, Austrian poet(b. 1887)
- November 11 - A. E. J. Collins, British cricketer and soldier (b. 1885)
- November 14 - Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar, British field marshal (b. 1832)
- December 24 - John Muir, American naturalist (b. 1838)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Max von Laue
- Chemistry- Theodore William Richards
- Medicine - Robert Bárány
- Literature - not awarded
- Peace - not awarded

Fictional references

- The 2001 animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire takes place in late 1914. Category:1914 ko:1914년 ms:1914 ja:1914年 simple:1914 th:พ.ศ. 2457

1999

1999 (MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations.

Events

- Kosovo War
- Y2K preparation was a major event in 1999 both in actual events and in media over-reporting.
- The human population of the world surpassed six billion. The United Nations Population Fund designated October 12 as the approximate date for this event.

January

- January 1 - Euro currency introduced.
- January 1 - An avalanche destroys a school gymnasium during New Year celebrations in Kangiqsualujjuaq in far northern Quebec, killing nine.
- January 2 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487 mm) at Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
- January 4 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people and injuring 25.
- January 12 - The remains of Christina Marie Williams were found three miles (5 km) from her home on the old Fort Ord military base.
- January 20 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafes.
- January 21 - War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4.3 t) of cocaine aboard. The ship was headed for Houston, Texas.
- January 25 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000

February

- February 4 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
- February 5 - Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and perform 200 hours of community service for the August 31, 1998 assault on two people after a car accident.
- February 7 - King of Jordan, Hussein of Jordan, dies from cancer. His son Abdullah II then inherits the throne, and becomes King of Jordan.
- February 10 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least ten.
- February 11 - Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the Sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979, and will become again in 2231.
- February 12 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial
- February 12 - John Myatt and John Drewe are sentenced for art forgery for one and six years, respectively.
- February 16 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters