Dodgers Celebrate 'Seinfeld' Night For Show's 30th Anniversary

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles Dodgers will hold "Seinfeld" 30th Anniversary Night at Wednesday evening's game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium, offering a ticket package including a baseball with several symbols associated with the classic NBC comedy.

A ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by Wayne Knight, who portrayed Newman.

Despite not receiving a series order for the 1989-90 season, NBC decided to air the pilot "The Seinfeld Chronicles" on July 5, 1989, to gauge its reaction from television critics and viewers. It finished second in its Wednesday 9:30-10 p.m. time slot behind a rerun of the CBS crime drama "Jake and the Fatman" and 21st among the week's prime-time programs in the Nielsen ratings.

NBC decided to order four more episodes, the first of which would air on May 31, 1990. The series title was shortened to "Seinfeld" to avoid confusion with the ABC comedy "The Marshall Chronicles."

"Seinfeld" would go on to run for nine seasons with 180 episodes. It was the most-watched prime-time series for two seasons, finished second twice and third once. In 2002, TV Guide selected it as the greatest TV series of all time.

City News Service