May 17 in Tigers and mlb history:
1903 - Cool Papa Bell is born in Starkville, Mississippi. Bell will enjoy a successful career in the Negro Leagues from 1922 to 1946. An outfielder with blazing speed and the first Mexican League Triple Crown winner, Bell will be selected to the Hall of Fame in 1974.
1925 - At League Park, Tris Speaker of the Cleveland Indians collects his 3,000th hit off Tom Zachary of the Washington Senators.
1934 Rogers Hornsby hits his 300th career home run. He?s the first National Leaguer to do so, and third overall, behind Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
1945 - For the fourth time in four days, every American League game is postponed because of rain.
1961 - Roger Maris hits his first home run of the season at Yankee Stadium (and fourth overall) on his way to a major league season-record 61.
1963 - A doubleheader between the Tigers and Senators in Washington was cancelled in the second inning of the first game after a 1 hour and 12 minute rain delay. In the first inning, the Senators? Bobo Osborne hit a grand slam off Don Mossi over the right field fence. In the top of the second, Al Kaline hit a solo homer off Bennie Daniels into the Washington bullpen. Those two blasts accounted for all the runs in the game when the rains came to wash it all away. Like the one he lost on 6/1/58, this one could have given Kaline 400 for his career.
1970 - During a 7 - 6 Atlanta loss to Cincinnati in the second game of a doubleheader, Hank Aaron collects his 3,000th career hit and his 500th home run. Aaron, the ninth man to amass 3,000 hits, is the first to also have 500 home runs.
1998 - David Wells pitches the 13th perfect game in modern major league history as the Yankees beat Minnesota, 4 - 0. Wells, whose "perfecto" is the first by a Yankees pitcher since Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series, also sets anAmerican League record by retiring 37 batters in a row, dating back to his start on May 12th against Kansas City.
2000 Cal Ripken passes up Hank Aaron by grounding into his 329th double play, the new record. Ripken will retire with 350 GIDP, which is still the record.
2001: Ike Brown dies from cancer in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 59. A popular member of the Detroit Tigers for six seasons, Brown was one of the last Negro League players still active in the majors during the 1970s, and the last to make his major league debut. The versatile Brown played every infield and outfield position but center field during his Tigers stint.
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. The gentle and universally-like "Killer", who spent the bulk of his career with the Minnesota Twins, was the 1969 AL MVP and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1984.
Tigers players birthdays:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Billy_Hoeft
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hoeftbi01.shtml?redir
Billy Hoeft 1952-1959.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ozzie_Virgil_(virgioz01)
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/virgioz01.shtml?redir
Ozzie Virgil 1958, 1960-1961.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Carlos_Pena
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/penaca01.shtml?redir
Carlos Pena 2002-2005.
Tigers players scouts and executives who passed away:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ed_Katalinas
Ed Katalinas scout-scouting director 1950's to 1979.
Signed Kaline to his contract after high school graduation and other key players for Tigers.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ike_Brown
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brownik01.shtml?redir
Ike Brown 1969-1974.
from Baseball Reference
