April 19, 2021 – How did the trauma of the First World War follow a baseball legend home, sending both his game and his life into downward spirals? Returning to introduce us to this tragic Hall of Famer is Jim Leeke, who brings us The Best Team Over There: The Untold Story of Grover Cleveland Alexander and the Great War.
Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander is a legendary name in baseball, but a key factor in his career — months of service as an artillery sergeant in the Great War — has been overlooked. Jim is a contributor to the Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Biography Project, as well as the writer or editor of several books on U.S. and military history. Visit our archives wherever you’re watching or listening now for my previous conversations with Jim Leeke.
- Howell’s Storm: New York City’s Official Rainmaker and the 1950 Drought
- Nine Innings for the King: The Day Wartime London Stopped for Baseball, July 4, 1918
- From the Dugouts to the Trenches: Baseball During the Great War
- Matty Boy: A Civil War Novel for Young Readers
Follow Jim on Twitter at the handles @JimLeeke and @WW1Baseball.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 54:22 — 49.7MB)
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