From the Dugouts to the Trenches

<p>2018 SABR Baseball Research Award Winner</p><p></p><p>Baseball like the rest of the country changed dramatically when the United States entered World War I and Jim Leeke brings these changes to life in <em>From the Dugouts to the Trenches</em>. He deftly describes how the war obliterated big league clubs and largely dismantled the Minor Leagues as many prominent players joined the military and went overseas. By the war's end more than 1250 ballplayers team owners and sportswriters would serve demonstrating that while the war was over there it had a considerable impact on the national pastime.</p><p>Leeke tells the stories of those who served as well as organized baseball's response including its generosity and patriotism. He weaves into his narrative the story of African American players who were barred from the Major Leagues but who nevertheless swapped their jerseys for fatigues as well as the stories of those who were killed in action--and by diseases or accidents--and what their deaths meant to teammates fans and the sport in general.</p><p><em>From the Dugouts to the Trenches</em> illuminates this influential and fascinating period in baseball history as nineteen months of upheaval and turmoil changed the sport--and the world--forever.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jim Leeke</strong> a former news journalist and U.S. Navy veteran has covered Major League Baseball for a Northern California suburban daily. He is the author of several books including <em>Nine Innings for the King: The Day Wartime London Stopped for Baseball July 4 1918</em> and <em>Ballplayers in the Great War: Newspaper Accounts of Major Leaguers in World War I Military Service</em>.</p><p></p>