The Gas and Flame Men

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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. Jim Leeke discusses

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 19, 2024

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The speaker discusses their motivation for writing a book that explores the connection between baseball players and their service in the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. They note their past work on the intersection of sports and the military, particularly baseball, and highlight that many Hall of Famers served in the Chemical Warfare Service, although the U.S. Army was initially unprepared for chemical warfare.

The Chemical Warfare Service was established in May 1918, and its director, Major General William Seabert, had a background in engineering rather than chemistry. The first unit recruiting happened in late 1917 with the 30th engineers. The speaker conveys that while the Army was looking for diverse skills, baseball players were not specifically recruited, though some enlisted due to their other skills.

Key Hall of Famers, like Gabby Street and Christy Mathewson, served in various capacities, with Street seeing combat and being wounded. The narrative clarifies misconceptions about the impact of their military service, particularly regarding Mathewson’s death, which is commonly attributed to poison gas exposure but was due to tuberculosis.

The speaker wants readers to gain a realistic understanding of these athletes' service, the complexities surrounding Mathewson's death, and the lasting effects of military service on veterans. They emphasize the importance of public awareness regarding military service and its implications. The discussion reflects on how the realities of military service continue to resonate today, despite the historical context.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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I came to write this book

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because, in earlier works, I often came across,

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references to the US Army Chemical Warfare Service.

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I've written quite a bit on the intersection of sports,

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particularly baseball and the military during World War I,

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and, and I knew that a number of, members of the

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American National Baseball Hall

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of Fame served in the chemical warfare service,

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and I didn't really have a good sense

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of how that came about.

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The United States Army wasn't remotely prepared

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for chemical warfare, which had begun in 1915 with,

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the first large scale attack by the German army.

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Uh, England and France very quickly caught up.

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When the Americans joined the, the war in April, 1917.

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Uh, we weren't remotely ready.

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It it, it's interesting that the United States Army

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wasn't the, the lead in research in the chemical warfare,

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very early in the war and even

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before the war, it was the, United States,

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department of the Interior that was actually,

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leading the research.

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Uh, specifically the Bureau of Mines, a a Dr. Manning.

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There was very foresighted offered their services and,

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and the government accepted.

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So he, he accumulated hundreds of scientists to start the,

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initial research and preparations.

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Uh, the Chemical Warfare service was formed as part

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of the army, the United States Army in May, 1918,

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both for offensive and defensive operations.

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Um, the director of the Chemical Warfare Service was,

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major General William William Seabert.

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Uh, he was not a chemist.

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Uh, he was an engineer

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who earlier had worked on the Panama Canal

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and on construction, constructing various,

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American harbors.

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Uh, when the war began, he went overseas

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and was the commander of the, American First Division,

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the big red one, and then was called back

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and put in charge of the chemical warfare service.

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The first actual, unit

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was recruited in late 1917 as the 30th engineers.

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For the most part, chemical warfare,

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was under the engineers, at least in the, in the Army.

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Uh, the 30th engineers were very, active in recruiting.

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There was a huge newspaper campaign,

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something like 250 American newspapers carried articles,

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and, and were recruited.

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They went to France early in

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1918, and were the only American,

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what we called Gas

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and Flame, unit that operated in France.

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Uh, the others were training when the war ended.

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So there was the, the 30th engineers who later became,

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the first gas regiment once the chemical warfare

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service was, was formed.

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Uh, the research was very interesting.

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I had a lot of, of the research on the baseball side

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already, of course, because I'd done a, a number of books

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and journal articles and so forth.

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So I came to it from the baseball side,

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which meant I had to learn all about the chemical warfare

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service and why it was needed, how it came about and,

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and that type of thing.

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Um, for the baseball side, the,

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the background material came almost,

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entirely from newspapers as, as baseball, books

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and articles about that period tend to be,

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from the military side, again, typically for,

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for, for that genre, unit histories,

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governmental histories, that type of thing.

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And so there was an inter interaction

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or the inter intersection of, of the two plus.

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Beyond that, there was quite a lot of material,

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here in the States, in the Library of Congress

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and in the National Archives and,

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and also on the baseball side from the,

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the National Baseball Hall of Fame in, in Cooperstown.

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So I, I actually, dug into the archives at the,

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the National Research, or the National Archives in

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College Park, Maryland.

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Uh, I did some research in, in Cooperstown as well.

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I, I had a researcher look up some material at the

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National Archives in St.

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Louis, where the personnel records tend to be.

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So it was really a, a, a strange, collection of,

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of background materials.

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Um, but this, this is an area where not a lot

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of people work, baseball or sport.

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And, and the, the crossover with the military.

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Uh, so, so, I,

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I think some academics

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or some professors, might look

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as scats at the, at the way.

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Uh, it has to be researched.

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But the Army didn't specifically recruit ballplayers at the

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start, with the 30th engineers.

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The, the Army was looking for a wide range of, of

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specific skills, from, they wanted machinists,

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needed gas workers, pipe fitters, blacksmiths,

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mechanics, all, all types of skills.

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And one of the early,

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enlistees was a ball player, but not

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because he was a ball player,

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because he was a railroad,

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railroad worker during the off season.

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And that was Charles, Gabby Street, who became a,

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a sergeant in the 30th engineer's first gas regiment and,

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and served and, and fought in France.

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Uh, another early ball player, who didn't enlist in the

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30th engineers, but enlisted in the Army, was,

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a future hall of famer named, epi Ricky, who was a,

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a pitcher for the, Philadelphia Phillies.

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Uh, that's sort of a, a long story,

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but he, he got mad at his team and enlisted in early 1918.

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Um, but he did have a chemical background,

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so he was very well suited,

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and he eventually did end up in, in France as well.

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Now, when the Hall of Famers, came in, that, that was

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late in the war, that was in the summer and fall of 1918.

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And, and the first, major athletic figure

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to join the, the Chemical Service, was actually a,

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a, a football coach, an American football coach,

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at Harvard, named, Percy Houghton.

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And he had been in heavily involved in, pre-war

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military, preparedness movement

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in, in the United States.

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And so he was very well connected,

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and he, joined the,

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chemical warfare service as a major.

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And it was, Percy, I think that,

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brought in some of the others.

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I know he personally recruited, branch Rickey, who at

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that time was the president of the St.

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Louis Cardinals, and is known in the United States for,

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breaking the, the color barrier in Major League baseball in

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1947 when he brought Jackie Robinson up.

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So, branch Rickey also became a major,

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branch Rickey was, instrumental in recruiting,

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Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers, one of the, one of the great,

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sluggers and base Steelers in baseball.

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And, and, and there were others.

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Uh, Ricky was also involved in,

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bringing into the service, another player from,

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from the, the Browns, George Siler, who's,

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who's also in the Hall of Fame, who, who did,

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did not get overseas.

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Um, as I mentioned earlier,

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Gabby Street was already in combat.

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Uh, now Padden got overseas

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and was a gas officer with one of the New England divisions,

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branch Rickey, Ty Cobb, and,

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and, Christie Matthewson all got overseas.

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Christy Matthewson was one of the great pitchers in,

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American baseball history, and at the time

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of the war was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

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Uh, it, it appears that he enlisted on his own.

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He actually went into the chemical warfare service,

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recruiting office in New York City when the Reds were in

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town and enlisted, and was called up later.

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So, Ricky Cobb and, and Matthewson were all in France,

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and were all in training at a place called Hanlin Field,

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an experimental station in,

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in France, learning to be gas up.

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The, the war ended before they had much, effect, really.

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Uh, Matthewson got to his division

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on the day of the Armes.

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Ricky and, and Cobb, never did, at Cabby Street,

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was in very heavy combat.

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He was gassed and wounded and,

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and, was a, a convalescent for quite a while,

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of the Hall of Famers.

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The American baseball fans are most familiar

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with Christie Matthewson, Matt, he's, he's often called,

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and it's popularly believed in the United States,

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that Maddie died because of exposure to poison

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and gas, when he was in France.

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The truth is, is I see it is much more complicated than

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that, and I, I don't believe poison gas,

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actually contributed to his death.

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It, it certainly didn't help,

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but he, he, he died of tuberculosis, and,

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and there's a, a, a story, a, that Ty Cobb

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produced that he and

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and Maddie were both gassed in a training accident.

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But that, that account, i i,

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is very, very questionable.

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And, and when Maddie died in 1925,

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the story began to emerge that he had died

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because of poison and gas.

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And then when D Cow came out

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with his book in the early 1960s,

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that's when it really took hold.

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But, the, the truth of that, the truth

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of Matthew's death is not quite that clearcut, as I

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explained in the book.

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And, and fans can make up,

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readers will take, several things from this book.

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One, I hope they'll take away a realistic look,

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a realistic understanding of the service of, these Hall

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of Famers and others during the war.

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Uh, I spoke once a couple years ago about the

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Gabby Street and others,

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and someone asked what I was most interested in

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by the newspaper coverage of the, of the day.

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And I said, the thing

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that I had mo noticed most was a great deal

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of hypocrisy from virtually every quarter.

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And the audience applauded, which surprised me quite a bit.

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And what I meant was that the ballplayers were,

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on one hand, heavily criticized for taking

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what some people saw as safe non-combat roles,

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and that wasn't strictly accurate.

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And on the other side, they were idolized as these,

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these great American heroes,

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and they certainly did their duty.

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They certainly went overseas and served,

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but, for the most part, Gabby Street

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and, some others aside,

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service wasn't particularly heroic.

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And in fact, some of them didn't even get into combat.

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Another thing I like readers to take is, I want them

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to take their own look at, at Maddie's death.

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Uh, there are quite a few, influences

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and factors that, that feed into that, and,

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and I, I, I tried to provide them all.

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So, readers, please, make up your own mind.

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And the final thing I wanted readers to take away is

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I want them to have a more complete understanding

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of the effect of military service on

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any service member, on any veteran.

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Uh, when you go into the military, your life changes

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and it stays changed.

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And, and most civilians have very little

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or no understanding of that.

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And I've tried to include that in all of my books and,

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and, and articles because I think it's dangerous

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if civilians don't know

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what they're sending their military members into.

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So, I know this story is from more than a hundred years ago,

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but the, the, the facts and the effects

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and the the cost of military service haven't changed.

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So that's the,

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maybe even the most important thing I would like readers

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to take away.

Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service

00:00:00 - I came to write this book because, in earlier works, I often came across, references to the US Army Chemical Warfare Service. I've written quite a bit on the intersection of sports, particularly baseball and the military during World War I, and, and I knew that a number of, members of the American National Baseball Hall of Fame served in the chemical warfare service, and I didn't really have a good sense
00:00:35 - The United States Army wasn't remotely prepared for chemical warfare, which had begun in 1915 with, the first large scale attack by the German army. England and France very quickly caught up. When the Americans joined the, the war in April, 1917. we weren't remotely ready. It it, it's interesting that the United States Army
00:01:11 - very early in the war and even before the war, it was the, United States, department of the Interior that was actually, leading the research. specifically the Bureau of Mines, a a Dr. Manning. There was very foresighted offered their services and, and the government accepted. So he, he accumulated hundreds of scientists to start the,
00:01:40 - the Chemical Warfare service was formed as part of the army, the United States Army in May, 1918, both for offensive and defensive operations. the director of the Chemical Warfare Service was, major General William William Seabert. he was not a chemist. he was an engineer
00:02:10 - and on construction, constructing various, American harbors. when the war began, he went overseas and was the commander of the, American First Division, the big red one, and then was called back and put in charge of the chemical warfare service. The first actual, unit was recruited in late 1917 as the 30th engineers.
00:02:40 - was under the engineers, at least in the, in the Army. the 30th engineers were very, active in recruiting. There was a huge newspaper campaign, something like 250 American newspapers carried articles, and, and were recruited. They went to France early in 1918, and were the only American, what we called Gas and Flame, unit that operated in France.

Baseball's Intersection with Chemical Warfare

00:03:11 - So there was the, the 30th engineers who later became, the first gas regiment once the chemical warfare service was, was formed. the research was very interesting. I had a lot of, of the research on the baseball side already, of course, because I'd done a, a number of books and journal articles and so forth. So I came to it from the baseball side, which meant I had to learn all about the chemical warfare service and why it was needed, how it came about and,
00:03:42 - for the baseball side, the, the background material came almost, entirely from newspapers as, as baseball, books and articles about that period tend to be, from the military side, again, typically for, for, for that genre, unit histories, governmental histories, that type of thing.
00:04:16 - or the inter intersection of, of the two plus. Beyond that, there was quite a lot of material, here in the States, in the Library of Congress and in the National Archives and, and also on the baseball side from the, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in, in Cooperstown. So I, I actually, dug into the archives at the, the National Research, or the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.
00:04:47 - I, I had a researcher look up some material at the National Archives in St. Louis, where the personnel records tend to be. So it was really a, a, a strange, collection of, of background materials. but this, this is an area where not a lot of people work, baseball or sport. And, and the, the crossover with the military. so, so, I, I think some academics
00:05:18 - as scats at the, at the way. it has to be researched. But the Army didn't specifically recruit ballplayers at the start, with the 30th engineers. The, the Army was looking for a wide range of, of specific skills, from, they wanted machinists, needed gas workers, pipe fitters, blacksmiths, mechanics, all, all types of skills.
00:05:53 - enlistees was a ball player, but not because he was a ball player, because he was a railroad, railroad worker during the off season. And that was Charles, Gabby Street, who became a, a sergeant in the 30th engineer's first gas regiment and, and served and, and fought in France. another early ball player, who didn't enlist in the 30th engineers, but enlisted in the Army, was,

Baseball Players and Chemical Warfare Service

00:06:25 - a pitcher for the, Philadelphia Phillies. that's sort of a, a long story, but he, he got mad at his team and enlisted in early 1918. but he did have a chemical background, so he was very well suited, and he eventually did end up in, in France as well. Now, when the Hall of Famers, came in, that, that was late in the war, that was in the summer and fall of 1918.
00:06:59 - to join the, the Chemical Service, was actually a, a, a football coach, an American football coach, at Harvard, named, Percy Houghton. And he had been in heavily involved in, pre-war military, preparedness movement in, in the United States. And so he was very well connected, and he, joined the,
00:07:28 - And it was, Percy, I think that, brought in some of the others. I know he personally recruited, branch Rickey, who at that time was the president of the St. Louis Cardinals, and is known in the United States for, breaking the, the color barrier in Major League baseball in 1947 when he brought Jackie Robinson up. So, branch Rickey also became a major,
00:08:02 - Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers, one of the, one of the great, sluggers and base Steelers in baseball. And, and, and there were others. Ricky was also involved in, bringing into the service, another player from, from the, the Browns, George Siler, who's, who's also in the Hall of Fame, who, who did, did not get overseas. as I mentioned earlier, Gabby Street was already in combat.
00:08:33 - and was a gas officer with one of the New England divisions, branch Rickey, Ty Cobb, and, and, Christie Matthewson all got overseas. Christy Matthewson was one of the great pitchers in, American baseball history, and at the time of the war was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds. it, it appears that he enlisted on his own. He actually went into the chemical warfare service,
00:09:04 - town and enlisted, and was called up later. So, Ricky Cobb and, and Matthewson were all in France, and were all in training at a place called Hanlin Field, an experimental station in, in France, learning to be gas up. The, the war ended before they had much, effect, really. Matthewson got to his division on the day of the Armes. Ricky and, and Cobb, never did, at Cabby Street,

Exploring Christie Matthewson's Complicated Legacy

00:09:36 - He was gassed and wounded and, and, was a, a convalescent for quite a while, of the Hall of Famers. The American baseball fans are most familiar with Christie Matthewson, Matt, he's, he's often called, and it's popularly believed in the United States, that Maddie died because of exposure to poison and gas, when he was in France. The truth is, is I see it is much more complicated than
00:10:11 - actually contributed to his death. It, it certainly didn't help, but he, he, he died of tuberculosis, and, and there's a, a, a story, a, that Ty Cobb produced that he and and Maddie were both gassed in a training accident. But that, that account, i i, is very, very questionable.
00:10:45 - the story began to emerge that he had died because of poison and gas. And then when D Cow came out with his book in the early 1960s, that's when it really took hold. But, the, the truth of that, the truth of Matthew's death is not quite that clearcut, as I explained in the book. And, and fans can make up, readers will take, several things from this book.
00:11:15 - a realistic understanding of the service of, these Hall of Famers and others during the war. I spoke once a couple years ago about the Gabby Street and others, and someone asked what I was most interested in by the newspaper coverage of the, of the day. And I said, the thing that I had mo noticed most was a great deal of hypocrisy from virtually every quarter. And the audience applauded, which surprised me quite a bit.
00:11:49 - on one hand, heavily criticized for taking what some people saw as safe non-combat roles, and that wasn't strictly accurate. And on the other side, they were idolized as these, these great American heroes, and they certainly did their duty. They certainly went overseas and served, but, for the most part, Gabby Street and, some others aside, service wasn't particularly heroic.
00:12:20 - Another thing I like readers to take is, I want them to take their own look at, at Maddie's death. there are quite a few, influences and factors that, that feed into that, and, and I, I, I tried to provide them all. So, readers, please, make up your own mind. And the final thing I wanted readers to take away is I want them to have a more complete understanding

Understanding the Impact of Military Service

00:12:53 - any service member, on any veteran. when you go into the military, your life changes and it stays changed. And, and most civilians have very little or no understanding of that. And I've tried to include that in all of my books and, and, and articles because I think it's dangerous if civilians don't know what they're sending their military members into.
00:13:39 - but the, the, the facts and the effects and the the cost of military service haven't changed. So that's the, maybe even the most important thing I would like readers to take away.

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The Gas and Flame Men

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