Visit any Whole Foods Market and chances are you’ll run into (or find yourself waiting behind) some variation of a pastel-colored electric car. While it may appear that electric cars have sprouted up in the past two decades, their history can be traced way back to the early 1900s.
The first decade of the 20th century was considered a “golden age” for electric vehicles. According to the IEEE, nearly 28 percent of the 4,192 cars produced in the United States in 1900 were electric. In 1910, Thomas Edison even declared that “in 15 years, more electricity will be sold for electric vehicles than for light.” While he may have been off by just little, his prediction is understandable given the obsession with electric cars during the early 1900s.
The Baker Motor Vehicle Company was a large manufacturer of electric cars out of Cleveland from 1899 to 1914. Unlike the cars of the day, Baker cars had no gasoline smell, needed no cranking, drove silently, much like today’s hybrid vehicles, and were primarily maintenance-free. Therefore, they were chiefly marketed toward women—and even came with makeup kits inside. What a deal!
But what happened to this awesome car, and electric cars in general? As gas-powered cars became easier to operate with the invention of the electric starter, and the noise became more tolerable thanks to the newly introduced muffler by Hiram Percy Maxim, electric cars were reserved almost exclusively for the wealthy. On top of that, improved road infrastructure required cars with a greater range than electric cars, and the discovery of large amounts of oil allowed gas-powered cars to be sold even more cheaply. Henry Ford changed the game yet again with the mass production of gasoline-operated cars, and by 1912, an electric car sold for almost double the price of a gasoline car.
Although these early electric cars reflect a bygone era, their ingenuity and environmental friendliness foreshadowed a trend that would emerge almost a century later, in 1999, with the introduction of electric and hybrid cars by GM and Toyota. Maybe if we’d figured out how to mass-produce electric cars back then, our planet wouldn’t be decaying from global warming? Just a thought.
Nurse and patient smiling.
Holding hand of patientImage via Canva - Photo by Pitchaya Pingpithayakul
Holding the hand of a patient.Image via Canva - Photo by Portra
A stress-out employee reacts to an emailCanva
A woman stares at her cellphone after a car accidentCanva
An empty desk at workCanva
Ketel Marte was brought to tears during an MLB game after facing a shameful fan taunt.
Baseball manager's poignant support for a player brought to tears after shameful fan taunt
Whether they’re expecting perfection from their favorite players or, worse, behaving callously toward opposing teams, sports fans often forget that athletes are human beings. But athletic competition has the ability to unify and uplift, even amid such painful and unpleasant encounters. Take, for example, a major-league baseball game held June 24, 2025 between the home team Chicago White Sox and visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
A shameful low point occurred when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was at bat in the seventh inning. Per ESPN, a fan reportedly yelled out a comment regarding Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic. Team personnel, including manager Torey Lovullo, then requested the 22-year-old fan be ejected. (Though he was remorseful and admitted his actions were inappropriate, according to an ESPN source, he was nonetheless banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.) "We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan," the MLB said in a statement. Marte reportedly declined to comment.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
While the fan’s behavior is inexcusable, it did spark a powerful and inspiring moment. After hearing the comment, Marte was visibly upset, prompting Lovullo to walk on the field, put his arm around him, and offer some words of encouragement. "[I said,] 'I love you, and I’m with you, and we’re all together, and you’re not alone,'" Lovullo said in a post-game interview, as documented by The Rich Eisen Show. "'No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you’re heard, that guy is an idiot.’"
According to Arizona Republic, Lovullo heard the fan’s comment but didn’t want to repeat it. “I looked right at [Marte] when I heard,” he said. “I looked right at him, and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure."
Elsewhere in the post-game interview, the manager called the moment "terrible" and reflected on why he stood up for Marte. "Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes," he said. "I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them…I’ve known Ketel for nine years. He’s had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life. I know those. At the end of the day, we’re human beings, and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
The following day, the Chicago White Sox X account sent out a message in support of Marte, writing, "We’re with you" and "Baseball is family." On The Rich Eisen Show, the show's host addressed the need to eradicate this kind of toxic athlete-fan interaction: "I was hearing [people saying], 'There’s no place for this in major league baseball.' There isn’t. There’s no place for this in our society. I understand that people are saying the MLB has got to do something about this. Fans have a right to heckle players—this is something that has happened forever…But there is a line."
In another recent, depressing sports moment with a beautiful coda, let’s look to Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first quarter, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon—a devastating injury that could potentially sideline him for most of the 2025-2026 season. Following the game, in a lovely display of sportsmanship, Thunder point-guard and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the Pacers locker room to check on his competitor. In a press conference, he said, "You just hate to see it, in sports in general. But in this moment, my heart dropped for him. I can't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com