Jim Leekes Battlefields: The Chicago White Sox and the Great War, is a well-written and beautifully researched book on how the war affected a legendaryand soon to be infamousmajor league team. Along with covering the wars impact on White Sox players, management, and other personnel, Leeke skillfully outlines the discord on the team that would lead to the 1919 Black Sox scandal. His book is a work of great value to anyone interested in the scandal and in this important period of baseball history. -- Don Zminda, author of Double Plays and Double Crosses: The Black Sox and Baseball in 1920 Judge them as you will, Jim Leeke cautions us, as he concludes his Introduction to Battlefields. Focusing on eighteen men, many supporting figures, and a nation navigating their way through the greatest cataclysm of the twentieth century, he takes us on a journey of twists, turns, irony, and complex motivations worthy of an absorbing novel. Indeed, judge them as you will. Its good advice. -- Jan Finkel, 2012 recipient of SABRs Bob Davids Award From ballfields to battlefields, Jim Leekes absorbing depiction of how the Chicago White Sox franchiseplayers and ownersresponded to World War I is a readers delight: a flawless blend of baseball and military history that illuminates a critical time for our national pastime. -- Thomas Wolf, author of Baseball in the Roaring Twenties
