THIS DATE IN BASEBALL

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.

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.

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.