Today's Puzzle
Who is the only major league baseball player to have his birthday on his uniform?
What Happened On
Jeffrey Dahmer
May 17, 1991
Milwaukee police officers find a 14-year-old drugged, naked, and bleeding. They return him to Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment who then killed him moments later. Dahmer had lured the 14-year-old Laotian boy into his apartment by offering to pay him to pose for nude photos. While there, Dahmer drugged him and then drilled a hole in his skull and injected hydrochloric acid into the frontal lobe. He was trying to created a "zombie-like" victim that he could abuse over the course of several days. After the boy went unconscious, Dahmer left to get more alcohol. When he returned he found the boy had regained consciousness and was sitting naked and bleeding down the street. Two girls who saw him had called police. When the police arrived, Dahmer told them the boy was his 19-year-old lover and they had just had a quarrel and the boy was drunk. The officers then dragged the protesting boy back into Dahmer's apartment. There Dahmer showed them nude Polaroids of the boy to persuade them they were indeed lovers. They officers also smelled a foul odor. This was later learned to be the rotting corpse of a former victim which had been on Dahmer's bedroom floor the past three days. One of the officers had peeked in the bedroom, but didn't see the body. After the officers left, Dahmer killed the boy and dismembered him and the previous victim.
Dahmer had served time in prison for molesting the boy's older brother in 1988. The boy did not know Dahmer had been released from prison early and didn't recognize who he was.
Dahmer would kill four more people before being caught two months later. He confessed to having murdered 16 young men in Wisconsin since 1987, and another victim killed in Ohio in 1978.
In 1994, Dahmer was beaten to death in prison.
USS Stark Struck by Iraqi Missiles
May 17, 1987
37 U.S. sailors are killed when the USS Stark is struck by two Iraqi Exocet anti-ship missiles fired from an Iraqi plane. The Iraqis claimed the Stark was in the Iran-Iraq War zone, but this is disputed by the U.S. The Stark was eventually repaired and returned to service.
Segregation - Separate But Equal Overturned
May 17, 1954
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that separate educational facilities for black and white children are NOT "separate but equal" and therefore not Constitutional. The ruling, known as Brown v. Board of Education, overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education.
Little Rascals Star Killed In Military Air Accident
May 17, 1945
Twenty-year-old American actor Bobby Hutchins, who played Wheezer of The Little Rascals, is killed in a U.S. Army Air Forces training accident. Hutchins was trying to land his plane during a training exercise when it struck another plane from the same unit in mid air. Hutchins was killed, but the other pilot survived. Hutchins was scheduled to graduate from flying school the following week.
He appeared in 58 Our Gang films (1927-33).
There were over 15,000 servicemen killed in U.S. Army Air Forces accidents from 1941 to 1945.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
May 17, 1900
The first copies of L. Frank Baum's classic tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, are printed. Although it did not go into full distribution until September, its first edition of 10,000 copies was sold out by October. It was adapted into a play in 1902 and into the classic movie version in 1939.
In the book version, the wicked witch sends a pack of wolves to kill Dorothy and her traveling companions, but the Tin Woodsman kills them with his axe. She then sends a flock of crows to peck out their eyes. The crows are killed by the Scarecrow who wrings their necks. After The Cowardly Lion fends off her Winkie slaves, the Wicked Witch sends her flying monkeys who capture Dorothy and make her the witch's personal slave.
First Use of an Artificial Liver
May 17, 1993
First use of an artificial liver to keep a person alive after removing their liver is announced by doctors at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California. The procedure had been performed 3½ weeks earlier.
World Record for Motionlessness
May 17, 1985
William Fuqua sits 24 hours on a motorcycle. Source: Guinness Book of World Records
Watergate
May 17, 1973
Senate Watergate hearings begin investigating the Richard Nixon administration's abuse of power in trying to undermine the Democratic Party and the opposition to the Vietnam War.
First U.S. State to Ban Sex Discrimination
May 17, 1971
Washington state makes it illegal to discriminate in hiring based on sex, age, marital status, race, creed, color, or national origin. The law went into effect in July.
Evolution
May 17, 1967
Tennessee repeals its law banning the teaching of Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
First Atomic Reactor Patent
May 17, 1955
Patent #2,708,656 is granted to Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard of the U.S.
First Sporting Event Televised in U.S.
May 17, 1939
Princeton beats Columbia 2-1 in the second half of a double header baseball match. It was televised by NBC's experimental station W2XBS of New York City.
The first televised major league baseball game would occur three months later.
First Panel Quiz Show
May 17, 1938
The first panel quiz show on radio, Information Please, begins it run on NBC radio, lasting until 1951. A panel of experts would try to answer questions submitted by radio listeners. Initially, the listener was paid $2 for a question that was used, and $5 more if the experts could not answer it correctly.
Commission of Fine Arts
May 17, 1910
Commission of Fine Arts is established, reviews plans for public buildings, parks, and monuments in Washington D.C.
First Kentucky Derby
May 17, 1875
Oliver Lewis, riding Aristides, wins the first Kentucky Derby.
Birthdays
One of George Washington's sets of dentures
One of George Washington's sets of dentures
Made George Washington's Dentures
John Greenwood
Born May 17, 1760 d. 1819
American dentist. He made George Washington's dentures, which were not made from wood, but from teeth bought from slaves, brass, gold, and hippopotamus and elephant ivory. Greenwood also invented the foot-powered dental drill.
Washington's teeth began to fall out before he reached the age of 30, and he eventually lost them all. During his lifetime, he had at least four sets of dentures made by Greenwood to replace them. Washington attributed the loss of his teeth to using them to crack Walnuts, but modern historians have suggested that mercury chloride (calomel), which Washington was given to treat smallpox, probably contributed to the loss.
Jenner Giving the First Vaccination
Jenner Giving the First Vaccination
Invented the Vaccination
Edward Jenner
Born May 17, 1749 d. 1823
English physician. He invented the vaccination (1796). After observing that milkmaids were generally immune to smallpox, Jenner postulated that the pus in the blisters that milkmaids received from cowpox (a disease similar to smallpox, but much less virulent) protect someone from smallpox. He then went on to test and prove his theory. Although others had previously observed that those who contracted cowpox were immune to smallpox, it was Jenner who proved that the pus from someone with cowpox would provide immunity.
It was estimated at the time that 60% of the population acquired smallpox and 20% of the population died of it. It is said that his work has saved more lives than the work of any other human.
Napoleon Bonaparte, who at the time was at war with Britain, vaccinated all of his troops. When Jenner requested he release English prisoners of war and permit their return home, Napoleon did so, remarking he could not "refuse anything to one of the greatest benefactors of mankind." Smallpox eventually became the first disease eradicated by man.
Jordan Knight
Born May 17, 1970
American pop musician, member of New Kids on the Block.
Sugar Ray Leonard
Born May 17, 1956
American boxer, winner of the world welterweight, light middleweight, and middleweight titles.
Photo Credit: Behind The Velvet Rope TV
Photo Credit: Behind The Velvet Rope TV
Bob Saget
Born May 17, 1956 d. 2022
American actor. TV: Full House (1987-95, Danny), How I Met Your Mother (2005-14, voice of narrator), and America's Funniest Home Videos (1989-97, host).
Bill Paxton
Born May 17, 1955 d. 2017
American actor. TV: Big Love (2006-11). Film: Aliens (1986, Private Hudson).
Carlos May
Born May 17, 1948
American baseball player. He is the only major league baseball player whose birth month and day appeared on his uniform; his number was of course 17.
Mary Shane
Born May 17, 1945 d. 1987
American sportscaster. She was the first woman full-time major league baseball play-by-play TV announcer (1977), hired by the Chicago White Sox. However, by mid-season her lack of knowledge of baseball situations and rules were noticeable and Shane's broadcasts centered on the families of the players instead of the events of the game and statistics that Chicago baseball fans wanted. Shane was pulled from the White Sox Broadcasts before the 1977 season ended.
Dennis Hopper
Born May 17, 1936 d. 2010
American actor, director. Commenting on his 8-day marriage to Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, "The first seven were pretty good." Film: Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Easy Rider (1969), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Blue Velvet (1986).
Birgit Nilsson (Birgit Märta Svensson)
Born May 17, 1918 d. 2005
Swedish soprano, famed for her roles in Brunnhilde, Salome, and Elektra.
Tarzan's Jane
Maureen O'Sullivan
Born May 17, 1911 d. 1998
Irish-American actress. Film: Jane Porter of the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller between 1932 and 1942. She was also featured with William Powell and Myrna Loy in The Thin Man (1934).
Deaths
Donna Summer (LaDonna Gaines)
Died May 17, 2012 b. 1948
American Grammy-winning singer. Music: Last Dance (1978) and She Works Hard for the Money (1983).
Frank Gorshin, Jr.
Died May 17, 2005 b. 1933
American actor. TV: Batman (1966-67, The Riddler). He also played the half-whiteface, half-blackface Bele in the Star Trek episode, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969).
Welk with Champagne Lady Norma Zimmer
Welk with Champagne Lady Norma Zimmer
Lawrence Welk
Died May 17, 1992 b. 1903
American orchestra leader, accordion player. Host of television's The Lawrence Welk Show (1951-82). "Ah-one, an' ah-two."
Known for his conservative wholesome values, he fired then Champagne Lady Alice Lon for showing too much leg, stating he would not tolerate such "cheesecake" performances on his show.
John Deere
Died May 17, 1886 b. 1804
American blacksmith. He created the first commercially-successful cast-steel plow (1837). After noticing that cast-iron plows did not work well in the tough prairie soils of Illinois, he had the idea to make a polished steel plow. With the success of his plow, he founded Deere & Company.
Youngest U.S. Vice President
John Cabell Breckinridge
Died May 17, 1875 b. 1821
American politician. 14th U.S. Vice-President (1857-61), U.S. Senator (1861, Kentucky), U.S. House of Representative (1851-55, Kentucky). He was the youngest U.S. vice president (age 36 years and 48 days). He also served as the Confederate secretary of war (1865) during the Civil War.
Self portrait and first photograph of men drinking beer
Self portrait and first photograph of men drinking beer
First Photograph of Men Drinking Beer
David Octavius Hill
Died May 17, 1870 b. 1802
Scottish painter, photographer. He formed Hill & Adamson studio with the engineer and photographer Robert Adamson (1843 and 1847) which pioneered many aspects of photography in Scotland.
They created what is the first known photograph of men drinking beer (1844). In the photo, Hill (right) is sharing some Edinburgh Ale with James Ballantine (left) and Dr George Bell. Edinburgh Ale has been described as "a potent fluid, which almost glued the lips of the drinker together, and of which few, therefore, could dispatch more than a bottle".
Herman Wouk
Died May 17, 2019 b. 1915
American Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: The Caine Mutiny (1951, Pulitzer) and The Winds of War (1971).
Tony Randall (Leonard Rosenberg)
Died May 17, 2004 b. 1920
American actor. TV: The Odd Couple (1970-75, Felix Unger), Love, Sidney (1981-83, Sidney Shorr), The Tony Randall Show (1976-78, Judge Franklin), and Mister Peepers (1952-55, history teacher Harvey Weskit).
After his first wife of 54 years died, 75-year-old Randall married 25-year-old Heather Harlan and they had two children together.
Jeannette Ridlon Piccard
Died May 17, 1981 b. 1895
American scientist and Episcopal priest. She was the first American woman to qualify as a free-balloon pilot (1934) and the first person to successfully fly a balloon through a layer of clouds (1934).
Wheezer of The Little Rascals
Bobby Hutchins (Robert E. Hutchins)
Died May 17, 1945 b. 1925
American actor. Wheezer of The Little Rascals, he appeared in 58 Our Gang films (1927-33).
Hutchins joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943 and was killed in a mid-air collision during a training exercise in 1945 at the age of 20. Hutchins was killed while trying to land his plane during a training exercise and struck another plane from the same unit in mid air. The other pilot survived. Hutchins was scheduled to graduate from flying school the following week.
He appeared in 58 Our Gang films (1927-33).
There were over 15,000 servicemen killed in U.S. Army Air Forces accidents from 1941 to 1945.
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Died May 17, 1838 b. 1754
French statesman. He was foreign minister to Napoleon Bonaparte and King Louis XVIII, and was ambassador to Britain. One of history's greatest diplomats, he once stated, "Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts".
John Jay
Died May 17, 1829 b. 1745
6th president of the Continental Congress (1778-79), co-author of the Federalist papers (1787), Secretary of State ad interim (until Thomas Jefferson could take office, 1790), the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1789-95), and governor of New York (1795-1801).