August 15, 1914: The Panama Canal opens to traffic. The 1st ship to move through it is the SS Ancon, an American cargo and passenger ship.
The Isthmus of Panama was first crossed -- by white people, anyway -- in 1513, by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. By 1534, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, and thus controlling most of the land in the Western Hemisphere, was talking about how to cut a canal through the Isthmus, to save time and other resources in getting ships from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
Until then, the best way to do it was to sail around the southern tip of South America, Cape Horn. Hence, in baseball, a double play going from 3rd base to 2nd base to 1st base, the longest kind became known as "around the horn."
Spain never did it. Colombia gained independence from Spain in 1821, and they controlled Panama. In 1855, America opened a railroad across the Isthmus, which helped, but people and goods still had to be unloaded from the Atlantic port to a train, and then again from the train to the Pacific port. Since air travel was still a pipe dream, a canal was still considered the best option.
Eventually, the French government gained the rights to try, after their 1869 success in building and opening the Suez Canal in Egypt. They started digging in 1881. But they ran into engineering issues, and a lot of their workmen died, in part due to tropical diseases like malaria and yellow fever. In 1894, they gave up.
In 1903, an agreement was reached between American and Colombian diplomats for America to take over the building of the canal. But the Senate of Colombia rejected the treaty. So President Theodore Roosevelt provided aid to the Panamanian rebels, and they gained their independence from Colombia. A new agreement was reached, and TR was soon telling people, "I took Panama."
Construction began on May 4, 1904. On November 14, 1906, TR visited the construction zone, becoming the 1st incumbent President of the United States to visit another country. He became identified with the canal to the point where a palindrome -- a word or saying that reads the same forward and backward -- was coined: "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!"
But construction would take so long that neither he nor his successor, William Howard Taft, would be President when it was finished. General George Washington Goethals -- for whom the bridge between Staten Island and Elizabeth, New Jersey would be named -- was in command of the construction. Dr. William Gorgas, the Surgeon General of the United States, figured out a way to control the mosquitoes, thus nearly eliminating the risk of malaria and yellow fever. Still, it was dangerous work, and 350 Americans died.
Finally, on August 15, 1914 -- with Woodrow Wilson as President, and 2 weeks after the start of World War I, and with news of that war overshadowing the Canal's opening -- the Panama Canal opened.
Alexander Heron was the last surviving worker on the Canal, living until January 24, 2000, just short of his 106th birthday.
The U.S. Canal Zone remained under American control until 1999, the result of a 1978 treaty handing it over to Panama. Today, it takes an average of 11 hours and 23 minutes to travel through the Canal's 51-mile system of locks from Atlantic to Pacific, or vice versa. Every year, about 15,000 vessels make the voyage.
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew was born in the Panama Canal Zone. So were the singing Del Rubio Triplets, engineer Edward A. Murphy Jr. who coined "Murphy's Law" ("Anything that can go wrong, will"), sportscaster Sage Steele, and Senator and Presidential candidate John McCain.
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August 15, 1914 was a Saturday. There was, as yet, no NFL, no NBA, and no NHL. But there were games played that day in what we would now call Major League Baseball.
In the American League:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. A single by Hall-of-Famer Harry Hooper won the game in the 8th inning. Babe Ruth had made his major league debut on July 11, and had also pitched on July 16. But he did not play in this game, since he was sent back to the Red Sox' top farm team, the Providence Grays. He appeared for Boston again on October 2 and 5.
* The Cleveland Naps beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-1 at League Park in Cleveland. After this season, Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the Cleveland team's manager, 2nd baseman, best hitter and namesake, left, and the team was renamed the Cleveland Indians.
* The St. Louis Browns beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 6-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Albert "Chief" Bender, the Hall of Fame pitcher from the Chippewa tribe, pitched a 5-0 hit shutout.
In the National League:
* The Brooklyn Robins swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies at Ebbets Field. The Brooks won the opener 8-4, and the nightcap 13-5. This was their 1st season with Hall of Fame manager Wilbert Robinson, and the team was renamed for him. He was fired after the 1931 season, and the name they had before was restored: The Brooklyn Dodgers.
* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Braves, 2-0 at the Polo Grounds. George "Lefty" Tyler pitched a 5-hit shutout over 10 innings, and a triple by Hank Gowdy beat Christy Mathewson.
The Giants had led the NL race most of the way, and the Braves were in last place on the 4th of July. But the Giants tailed off, and the Braves went on a tear. They would win the Pennant, and, in perhaps the biggest upset in World Series history, swept the defending World Champion A's, and become known as "The Miracle Braves."
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Joe Conzelman pitched a 7-hit shutout.
* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at West Side Park in Chicago.
This was the 1st of 2 seasons for the Federal League:
* The Brooklyn Tip-Tops, New York City's entry in the FL, lost to the St. Louis Terriers, 11-6 at Handland's Park in St. Louis.
* A doubleheader was split at Federal League Park in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Hoosiers won the 1st game, 5-4. The Buffalo Blues won the 2nd game, 8-3.
* The Chicago Whales beat the Pittsburgh Rebels, 10-6 at Weeghman Park in Chicago. The Cubs would move into Weeghman Park in 1916, after the FL folded. It was renamed Cubs Park in 1920 and Wrigley Field in 1926, and was pretty much the last remaining FL ballpark already. It still is.
* And the Kansas City Packers swept a doubleheader from the Baltimore Terrapins at Gordon and Koppel Field in Kansas City. They won the opener, 4-3; and the nightcap, 11-2.