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May 17
1925 — Cleveland’s Tris Speaker got his 3,000th career hit, off Tom Zachary, in a 2-1 loss to the Washington Senators.
1939 — The first baseball game on television was broadcast by W2XBS, an experimental station run by NBC in New York. Bill Stern handled the play-by-play as Princeton beat Columbia, 2-1, in 10 innings.
1945 — For the fourth time in four days, every American League game in the country was postponed by rain.
1961 — Roger Maris hit his first home run of the season at Yankee Stadium (fourth overall) on his way to a record 61.
1963 — Don Nottebart pitched Houston’s first no-hitter as the Colt .45s defeated the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 4-1.
1970 — Hank Aaron scratched out an infield single against Cincinnati’s Wayne Simpson to become the ninth player with 3,000 hits. The hit came in the nightcap of the Atlanta Braves’ doubleheader loss to the Reds in Cincinnati.
1977 — The Chicago Cubs hit seven home runs in beating the San Diego Padres 23-6 at Wrigley Field. Larry Biittner, Jerry Morales and Bobby Murcer hit consecutive home runs in the fifth for the Cubs.
1979 — Dave Kingman of the Cubs hit three home runs and Mike Schmidt of the Phillies hit two, and Philadelphia beat Chicago 23-22 in 10 innings at Wrigley Field. Bill Buckner had a grand slam and seven RBIs for Chicago. The game included 11 home runs and 50 hits.
1984 — Alan Wiggins of the San Diego Padres tied a National League record by stealing five bases in one game. He joined three others who have performed the feat — Dan McGann in 1904, Davey Lopes in 1974 and Lonnie Smith in 1982.
1992 — Toronto surpassed the 1 million mark in attendance earlier than any team in major league history. It took the Blue Jays 21 dates to draw 1,006,294. The previous record was shared by the 1991 Blue Jays and the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers.
1992 — Catcher Gary Carter, back with the Montreal Expos, joins Bob Boone and Carlton Fisk in the exclusive 2,000 games caught club.
1998 — David Wells pitched the 13th perfect game in modern major league history as the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 4-0.
2002 — Arizona’s Erubiel Durazo hit three home runs, a double and drove in nine runs as the Diamondbacks defeated Philadelphia 12-9.
2008 — Barry Zito became the first Giants pitcher to open a season with eight straight losses since 1890 when San Francisco lost 3-1 to the White Sox. Zito (0-8) worked five innings and gave up only two runs in matching Jesse Burkett’s record.
2009 — A pregame lineup mistake cost Tampa Bay its designated hitter for the game. The Rays listed both Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria as the third baseman. Longoria was supposed to be DH, but Tampa Bay lost that position because of the mistake and was forced to put pitcher Andy Sonnanstine in the third spot of the lineup. Sonnanstine hit an RBI double and gave up five runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings in a 7-5 victory over Cleveland.
2011 — Harmon Killebrew, one of the great sluggers of the 1960s with 573 career home runs, passes away from cancer at 74 in Scottsdale, AZ.
2012 — Yan Gomes becomes the first Brazilian player in Major League history when he is inserted in the Blue Jays’ starting line-up at 3B in today’s game against the Yankees, taking over for Brett Lawrie who is beginning a four-game suspension.
2016 — The Braves fire manager Fredi Gonzalez and replace him on an interim basis by Brian Snitker, manager of the AAA Gwinnett Braves. With a record of 9-28, the Braves are off to the worst start in team history. Snitker will stabilize the team to earn the job on a permanent basis.
2019 — Kris Bryant hits three homers in consecutive innings – the 7th, 8th and 9th – to lead the Cubs to a 14-6 win over the Nationals. He is just the 12th player to pull off the rare feat, and the second to do so in those particular innings. He goes 4 for 6 and drives in 5 runs in the game.
2022 — The Astros tie a major league record by homering five times in the 2nd inning of their 13-4 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. All five long balls are hit off Nathan Eovaldi.
