- Nov 1 New York City Marathon: Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya wins men's race, 2:11:01; English runner Priscilla Welch women's champion, 2:30:17
- Nov 1 New York Jets retire Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Don Maynard's jersey #13
- Nov 1 Brazilian Williams driver Nelson Piquet finishes 15th in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka but clinches his 3rd World Formula 1 Drivers Championship
- Nov 1 New Zealand All Blacks create a rugby union international world record score when they beat Japan, 106-4 at the National Stadium in Tokyo
- Nov 2 Entertainer Lola Falona is diagnosed with multiple schlerosis
Event of Interest
Nov 2 George Harrison releases "Cloud 9" & McCartney releases "All the Best"
George Harrison
Baseball Record
Nov 3 Oakland A's first baseman Mark McGwire wins American League Rookie of the Year with 49 home runs, 118 RBI; second to win AL award unanimously; first Carlton Fisk 1972
Mark McGwire
- Nov 3 On Wall Street, after 5 consecutive gains, Dow Jones down 50.56
Historic Invention
Nov 3 Gordon Gould issued US patent US4704583 for the laser, ending his 30-year battle to be credited as the inventor of the laser
Gordon Gould
- Nov 3 New York center Marcel Dionne becomes just the second player in NHL history to register 1,700 career points, scoring a goal for the Rangers in a 5-3 loss at Calgary
- Nov 4 Benito Santiago, Padres catcher, wins NL Rookie of Year
- Nov 4 Lisa Steinberg, battered into coma by her adoptive father Joel
- Nov 4 NBA announces 4 new franchises; Charlotte & Miami for 1988 & Minneapolis & Orlando for 1989
- Nov 5 "Into the Woods" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 764 performances
- Nov 5 France performs nuclear test
- Nov 5 Iceberg twice size of Rhode Island sighted in Antarctic
- Nov 5 South Africa ANC-leader Govan Mbeki freed
- Nov 5 Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine's musical "Into the Stars," premieres
- Nov 5 Supreme Court nominee Douglas H Ginsburg admitted using marijuana
- Nov 7 Tunisian premier Zine al-Abidine fires president Habib Bourguiba
- Nov 7 3rd College Football Holy War: Notre Dame beats Boston College 32-25 in South Bend
- Nov 8 Australia beat England by 7 runs to win cricket World Cup
- Nov 8 11 are killed in an IRA bomb attack in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
- Nov 8 Yuko Moriguchi wins LPGA Mazda Japan Golf Classic
- Nov 10 Steve Bedrosian edges Rick Sutcliffe 57-55 to win NL Cy Young Award
- Nov 11 "Roza" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 12 performances
- Nov 11 Judge Anthony Kennedy nominated to Supreme Court
- Nov 11 Moscow party secretary Boris Jerusalem resigns
Event of Interest
Nov 11 Roger Clemens wins consecutive Cy Young Awards
Roger Clemens
Vincent van Gogh
- Nov 11 Football striker Mark Hughes plays for Wales and Bayern Munich in 2 countries on same day; appears for Wales in 2-0 European Championship loss to Czechoslovakia in Prague, then jets to Munich for 3-2 Cup win over Borussia
- Nov 12 "Teddy & Alice" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 77 performances
- Nov 12 Heavy snow closes schools from DC to Maine
- Nov 12 Ulla Weigerstorfer of Austria, 20, crowned 37th Miss World
- Nov 13 1st condom commercial on British TV
- Nov 14 "La Cage aux Folles" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 1761 performances
- Nov 14 Sam's Town National Bowling Pro-Am won by Debbie Bennett
- Nov 15 28 of 82 aboard Continental Airlines DC-9, die in crash at Denver
- Nov 15 Carla Beurskens runs Dutch female record marathon (2:26:34)
- Nov 15 Leile McBridge (Denver), crowned Miss Black America
- Nov 15 NY Giant Raul Allegre kicks 2, 50 or more yard field goals in a game
- Nov 15 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Nov 15 Brazilian Williams driver Nelson Piquet retires from Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide with break trouble but wins his 3rd World Formula 1 Drivers Championship by 12 points from Nigel Mansell
Event of Interest
Nov 16 Paul McCartney releases "Once Upon a Long Ago"
Paul McCartney
- Nov 17 George Bell is 1st Blue Jay ever to win the AL MVP
Album Release 
Event of Interest
Nov 18 Cubs Andre Dawson is 1st player from a last-place club to win an MVP
Andre Dawson
- Nov 19 France performs nuclear test
- Nov 21 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Hollywood Park; winners: Epitome, Ferdinand, Miesque, Sacahuista, Success Express, Theatrica, Very Subtle
- Nov 22 Patriots shutout Indianapolis 24-0
- Nov 22 Jack Sikma (Milwaukee) ends his NBA free throw streak of 51 games
- Nov 22 Two Chicago television stations are hijacked by an unknown pirate dressed as Max Headroom.
- Nov 22 37th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Dale Earnhardt wins
- Nov 23 German tennis star Steffi Graf claims her first WTA Tour Championship with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 win over Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina at Madison Square Garden, NYC
- Nov 24 Li Peng succeeds premier Zhao Ziyang in People's Republic of China
- Nov 24 "Make It Last Forever" debut album by Keith Sweat is released (Billboard Song of the Year 1988)
- Nov 25 Abdul Qadir takes 9-56 against England at Lahore
- Nov 25 India all out for 75 v West Indies at Delhi, Patterson 5-24
- Nov 25 Supertyphoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that swallows entire villages. at least 1,036 deaths attributed to the storm.
- Nov 27 "Les Miserables" opens at Theatre Royal, Sydney
- Nov 27 Young man survives 7 attempts at suicide in Somerset, England
- Nov 27 52nd Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 10-0 in Birmingham
- Nov 28 South African Airways Boeing 747 crashes into Indian Ocean, 159 die
- Nov 29 "Dreamgirls" closes at Ambassador Theater NYC after 177 performances
- Nov 29 75th CFL Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos defeats Toronto Argonauts, 38-36
- Nov 29 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
NFL Record
Nov 29 Joe Montana of SF 49ers completes NFL record of 22 consecutive passes
Joe Montana
- Nov 29 New Orleans Saints win, assuring their 1st winning NFL season
- Nov 29 Ranger's Bob Frosse becomes 2nd goalie to score a goal (vs NY Islanders). It is later ruled that he should not be credited with goal.
- Nov 29 A Korean Air Boeing 707 explodes over the Thai-Burmese border, killing 115
- Nov 30 Afghanistan Constitution adopted