Book Birthdays, Potomac Books

Happy Book Birthday to The Gas and Flame Men

Book Birthdays celebrate one year of a book’s life in social media posts, reviews, and more. This month we’re saying Happy First Book Birthday to The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I (Potomac Books, 2024) by Jim Leeke.

About the Book:

When the United States officially entered World War I in 1917, it was woefully underprepared for chemical warfare, in which the British, French, and Germans had been engaged since 1915. In response, the U.S. Army created an entirely new branch: the Chemical Warfare Service. The army turned to trained chemists and engineers to lead the charge—and called on an array of others, including baseball players, to fill out the ranks.

The Gas and Flame Men is the first full account of Major League ballplayers who served in the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. Four players, two club executives, and a manager served in the small and hastily formed branch, six of them as gas officers.

A Word from the Author:

The Gas and Flame Men is my fifth book about World War I baseball, a hybrid category of nonfiction that I sometimes think of as “armed sports.” The topic appeals to me as a former print journalist, sportswriter, and navy petty officer. I also write for the Society for American Baseball Research, whose chapter in my hometown, Columbus, Ohio, is named for Hank Gowdy, the first active Major Leaguer to enlist during WWI.

This latest book brought my first overseas publicity. It came in an interview from London with Faculti, a streaming platform that produces videos by authors, scientists, and researchers worldwide. Faculti was most interested in the chemical-warfare aspects of my book. But as an elector for the British Baseball Hall of Fame, I also spoke about the American game, aware that interest in our pastime is growing in the UK. I soon had a second international audience as well, via a video talk with Canadian war historian Brad St. Croix on his OTD Military History podcast.

I was particularly pleased by a live-stream book chat with the East Coast Doughboys, an American living history group known for marching in the Veterans Day parades in Manhattan. I fielded questions from viewers after a lengthy discussion with host, historian, and author Kevin Fitzpatrick. Later guest appearances included the Hooks & Runs podcast, Books & Looks video podcast, and a radio interview with KXEL-AM, Waterloo, Iowa. I also spoke about baseball during WWI on a state historical society Our Missouri podcast. I greatly appreciated these interviews and more.

I’m often asked what I hope readers will take away from my WWI books. My reply is always the same, although not specifically related to baseball. I hope readers who’ve never served in the armed forces come to understand that the experience changes people—some slightly, some in life-altering ways, but everyone to some degree. It’s as true today as it was more than a century ago. I explored this theme in more detail in an earlier book, The Best Team Over There: The Untold Story of Grover Cleveland Alexander and the Great War (2021).

As a writer and veteran, I believe it’s important for citizens to know what service members see and do and how it affects them afterward, no matter whether they’re famous athletes or kids off the block or farm. In most instances I write about, baseball and other sports help warriors cope with the stresses they endure. So, happy birthday to The Gas and Flame Men!

— Jim Leeke

Reviews:

“The Gas and Flame Men was thoroughly researched, as evidenced by its twenty-seven pages of endnotes and seven-page bibliography. It also includes nineteen pages of pictures. This book should find a broad audience as it will appeal to casual baseball fans, historians, serious students of the game, and those interested in the World War I era of American history.”—J.L. Steele, NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture

“Baseball fans will find joy here. Military readers too will find interest. Even generalist readers will enjoy as the book is only 256 pages and you will learn new things.”—Calvin Daniels, SASKToday

“Extensively researched, yet thoroughly accessible to readers of all backgrounds . . . The Gas and Flame Men is a choice pick for baseball enthusiasts, as well as public and college library history collections.”—Paul T. Vogel, Midwest Book Review

“Historian Leeke . . . offers a meticulous and informative account of the Chemical Warfare Service, an army unit hastily formed when the U.S. entered WWI to catch up to the conflict’s extensive reliance on new weapons like flamethrowers and poison gas. . . . [The Gas and Flame Men is] an enjoyable and distinctive blend of war story and sports chronicle. It will appeal especially to baseball history buffs.”—Publishers Weekly

“Readers who enjoy military literature or baseball books will want a copy of this book.”—Guy who Reviews Sports Books

On Social Media:

Book birthday! Published a year ago today, by Potomac Books. Also watch for Big Loosh, my biography of umpire/author Ron Luciano, coming in July from @univnebpress.bsky.social.

— Jim Leeke (@jimleeke.bsky.social) 2025-02-01T18:37:16.696Z

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