Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 March 23

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Today's featured article
Jimmy McAleer (1864–1931) was an American center fielder, manager, and stockholder in Major League Baseball who helped establish the American League. He spent most of his 13-season playing career with the Cleveland Spiders, and went on to manage the Cleveland Blues, St. Louis Browns, and Washington Senators. Shortly before his retirement, he became a major shareholder in the Boston Red Sox. His career ended abruptly. During his brief tenure as co-owner of the Red Sox, McAleer quarreled with longtime friend and colleague Ban Johnson, president of the American League. McAleer's rift with Johnson, along with his sudden retirement, damaged his professional reputation, and he received little recognition for his contributions to baseball. Today, he is most often remembered for initiating the customary request that the President of the United States throw out the first ball of the season. (more...) Recently featured: Pied Currawong – John Michael Wright – William of Tyre Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that, in 1923, the Gleno Dam (pictured) in Italy failed shortly after it was completed and its flooding killed at least 356 people? ... that Lyndon Watts, principal bassoonist of the Munich Philharmonic at age 22, was the first Australian woodwind player to win a prize at the ARD Competition? ... that Michigan ice hockey coach Dan Farrell later became the chairman and CEO of a uranium exploration company? ... that the Taunton Tramway in Somerset closed down when its power was cut off during a dispute over the cost of electricity? ... that EyesOn Design are events, including an annual car show and a fundraiser for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, focused on the emotion and character of automotive design? ... that Władysław Marian Jakowicki, a Polish physician and rector of the Stefan Batory University, was one of 19 faculty members arrested by the Soviets in 1939 who disappeared without a trace? ... that three lunar alignments of the Balquhain stone circle near Inverurie in Scotland were discovered in the 1980s? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Actress Elizabeth Taylor (pictured) dies at the age of 79. The House of Representatives of the Philippines impeaches Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez for alleged betrayal of public trust. Nikolai Andrianov, winner of the most medals in men's Olympic gymnastics, dies at the age of 58. Voters in Egypt approve a new constitution at a referendum, as a part of the overall reform. The Alpine Skiing World Cup concludes with Ivica Kostelić of Croatia and Maria Riesch of Germany winning the overall titles. French, British and American forces launch attacks on pro-Gaddafi troops in Libya in support of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. Earthquake and tsunami in Japan Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
March 23: Republic Day in Pakistan (1956); Day of Hungarian–Polish Friendship in Hungary and Poland 1879 – Fighting in the War of the Pacific between Chile and a Peruvian–Bolivian alliance, opened with the Battle of Topáter. 1905 – 1,500 Cretans, led by Eleftherios Venizelos (pictured), met at the village of Theriso to call for the island's unification with Greece, beginning the Theriso revolt. 1931 – Bhagat Singh, one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement, and two others were executed by British authorities. 1991 – The Sierra Leone Civil War began when the Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invaded Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh. 2001 – The Russian Federal Space Agency forced the space station Mir to deorbit and crash into the Pacific Ocean. More anniversaries: March 22 – March 23 – March 24 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now March 23, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Zhou Maoshu Appreciating Lotuses, a designated National Treasure of Japan, is a 15th century painting mounted as a hanging scroll by Kanō Masanobu that depicts the 11th century Confucian scholar Zhou Maoshu in a boat floating on a lake with lotuses. Kanō was the chief painter of the Ashikaga shogunate and is generally considered the founder of the Kanō school of painting, which would become the dominant style of painting until the Meiji period.

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