The Weekly Almanac with Tiki Jane May 17, 2026

On this date in 1939, NBC made history by broadcasting a college baseball game between Princeton and Columbia at Baker Field in New York City, marking the first live televised sporting event in United States history On this day in 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by, Frank Baum was first published. It became a classic of children's literature, and the 1939 film adaption is among the most beloved movies in American cinema. The first Kentucky Derby was run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on this day in 1875. Oliver Lewis rode Aristides to victory. The comedy Shrek—with voices provided by Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, among others—had its nationwide release in the United States on this day in 2001; it went on to become the first movie to win the Academy Award for best animated feature. American aviator Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier on this day in 1953.