On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
Portrait 1080 × 1920 PNG · created on your device
On a day when baseball's two newest teams, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks, filled out their rosters, baseball's World Series champions, the Florida Marlins, began emptying theirs in payroll-cutting trades.
Some of hockey players chosen to play on US Olympic team are considering boycott of Winter Games in Japan next year if Bill Guerin of New Jersey Devils is not named to team; most outspoken of them is Brett Hull of St Louis Blues; Guerin has not played this season because he is restricted free agent without contract (M)
First Union and Corestates Create Banking Behemoth First Union will purchase Corestates Financial for $17.1 billion, a record deal in a wave of bank mergers that is sweeping the nation and redefining how banks service the financial needs of customers. The branch network of the two banks would span the East Coast, with one of the largest shares of the region's deposits. The merger comes only a few weeks after Corestates rejected First Union's overtures. [Page A1.]
Biggest assignment in history of advertising is made as Procter & Gamble Co consolidates responsibilities for tactical planning and buying of television time in US--with estimated $1 billion to $1.2 billion in annual spending--at single agency, Televest in New York, a unit of MacManus Group; consolidation is effective with 1998-99 TV season (L)
Foreign Min Yevgeny M Primakov says Russia and Iraq have drafted proposal to end Iraqi-United States standoff over arms inspection; says plan would let United Nations carry out inspections, presumably with Americans taking part; says open-ended search for chemical, nuclear and biological arms should end swiftly; outlines how Iraq might win end to crippling economic sanctions; discusses proposal with State Sec Madeleine K Albright; United States continues military buildup in Persian Gulf area; flies U-2 reconnaissance planes over Iraq without incident; says Iraq is moving around air defenses in way that could be threatening; photo (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of November 19, 1997, covering November 19, 1997.
Mase
Shania Twain
Jay-Z
Rakim
LeAnn Rimes
1997Zach Collins, American basketball player[†]
Zach Collins is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. He was drafted by the Sacramento Kings with the 10th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft and was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers on draft night. During his earlier career with the team he battled many injuries causing him to only play in 154 games in his first four seasons. He joined the San Antonio Spurs as a free agent in August 2021, where he played for four seasons before being traded to the Bulls in 2025.
1997Kotonowaka Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler[†]
Kotozakura Masakatsu , born 19 November 1997 as Masakatsu Kamatani , is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Chiba Prefecture. He wrestles for Sadogatake stable, a sumo stable previously run by his grandfather, former yokozuna Kotozakura, and currently run by his father, former sekiwake Kotonowaka. He made his debut in November 2015 and reached the top makuuchi division in March 2020, reaching the san'yaku ranks in January 2023. His highest rank has been ōzeki. He has won one championship in the top division and five special prizes for Fighting Spirit, as well as one Technique prize.
1997Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-87.[†]
STS-87 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Launch Complex 39B of the Kennedy Space Center on 19 November 1997. It was the 88th flight of the Space Shuttle and the 24th flight of Columbia. The mission goals were to conduct experiments using the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4), conduct two EVAs, and deploy the SPARTAN-201 experiment. This mission marked the first time an EVA was performed from Columbia. EVAs from Columbia were originally planned for STS-5 in 1982 and STS-80 in 1996, but were canceled due to spacesuit and airlock problems, respectively. It also marked the first EVA conducted by a Japanese astronaut, Takao Doi.
In 1997, the world population was approximately 5,924,787,816 people[†]