Here’s a brief look back in time on this day, March 15.
In 44 BC, Roman dictator Julius Caesar failed to “beware the Ides of March” and gets stabbed to death by his fellow statesmen in the Roman Senate house. Over 60 conspirators, led by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Longinus, each took a stab at the middle-aged conqueror who had toppled a multitude of governments in the name of the Roman Empire. The reason behind the conspiracy was to usher in a new Roman Republic led by Caesar’s great-nephew Gaius Octavius, who changed his name to Augustus (or, “The Revered”). While from within the Empire was peace and prosperity, the multiple countries Augustus helped overthrow would beg to differ, having greatly expanded the Roman Empire by forcefully annexing modern-day Egypt and the southern portion of Europe through bloody conflict. Caesar’s last words were believed to be “kai su, teknon?” (or, “you too, child?”), as opposed to Shakespeare’s popular “et tu, Brute?” (or, “you too, Brute?”).
In 1869, the Cincinnati Reds Stockings become the first professional baseball team to be organized. Now simply known as the Cincinnati Reds, they dominated their first game against the Great Westerners of Cincinnati by a score of 45-9 on May 4, 1869. This first team is also recorded as the first and only one to complete the season with a perfect 57-0 record. Major League Baseball (MLB) is founded a few years later as the National League in 1876, also in Cincinnati.