May 26, 1908: The 1st Discovery of Oil In the Middle East

May 26, 1908: At Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia, the 1st major commercial oil discovery in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.

As a result, one of the major fronts of World War I turned out to be in the Middle East, where Britain and France sided with local leaders who were already rebelling against the Ottoman Empire. This resulted in the creation of several new nations that were home to old civilizations, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and the modern nations of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Persia changed its name to Iran in 1935. But post-World War II intervention by the Soviet Union led to Britain and America assisting in a coup that removed the apparently (but not actually) Soviet-friendly elected President, Mohammed Mossadegh, and the re-installation of the monarch, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. This would have consequences with which the West would have to deal with well into the 21st Century.

Calendar year 1908 featured not only the Masjed Soleyman discovery, but also the start of Ford Motor Company producing the Model T. This combination helped make the modern automobile industry, and the modern oil industry, possible.

The Persian discovery of 1908 was followed by the discovery of oil in other Middle Eastern nations, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1938. The world, already addicted to the automobile, became addicted to oil, and the Middle East, particularly the Persian Gulf, has been a key part of the world ever since, subject to the whims of monarchs who pretended not to be dictators, of dictators who pretended not to be monarchs, and of religious tyrants who pretended to be neither monarchs nor dictators.

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May 26, 1908 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Highlanders lost to the St. Louis Browns, 5-3 in 10 innings at Hilltop Park in Upper Manhattan. The Highlanders were renamed the Yankees in 1913.

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-4 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. These teams would play 1 game for the National League Pennant at the end of the season.

* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at The Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati. The Superbas, while their manager was Ned Hanlon, were named for a circus troupe called Hanlon's Superbas. They became the Dodgers in 1911.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 16-5 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 1-0 at Columbia Park in Philadelphia. "Wild" Bill Donovan pitched a 6-hit shutout, to outpitch Eddie Plank, who allowed a run on 3 hits. Ty Cobb went 0-for-3.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Naps, 3-2 at American League Park in Washington. Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the manager and slugging 2nd baseman for whom the Cleveland team was named, went 3-for-4, but the Naps only got 1 other hit. The team became the Cleveland Indians in 1915, and the Cleveland Guardians in 2022.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Doves, 8-1 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 1-for-5 with an RBI. The Doves were named for their owners, the Dovey brothers. William H. Russell bought them in 1911, and renamed them the Boston Rustlers. He died after his first season, and they were bought by James Gaffney, who was an official, a "Brave," in New York's Tammany Hall political organization. He renamed the team the Boston Braves.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0 at Robison Field in St. Louis.