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The handsome, thirty-five-year-old Harvard-educated meteorologist was the ideal scientist--soft spoken, modest, and articulate. No fast-talking prairie huckster, he took credit for nothing he couldn't prove with sound empirical data. Howell's meticulous nature often baffled jaded New Yorkers. \u003cbr\u003e Over the next year, his leadership of a small ground and air armada, and his unprecedented scientific campaign to replenish the city's upstate reservoirs in the Catskills, captured the imagination of the world. 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Elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938, the right-hander remains a compelling—and tragic—figure. “Pete” Alexander’s military service during World War I was the demarcation line between his great seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and his years of struggle and turmoil with the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals after the Great War. Indeed, Alexander’s service during World War I has all but been forgotten, even though it dramatically changed his life—and his game.   Alexander served in the 342nd Field Artillery Regiment, which included big leaguers and star athletes among its officers and men. Naturally, the regiment fielded an outstanding baseball team, but it also faced hard service during the final weeks of the war. After the armistice in November 1918, the unit undertook occupation duty in Germany.  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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. Remarkably, five of the seven-Christy Mathewson, Branch Rickey, Ty Cobb, George Sisler, and Eppa “Jeptha” Rixey-are now enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. The son of a sixth Hall of Famer, player and manager Ned Hanlon, was a young officer killed in action in France with the First Gas Regiment. 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Once an All-American tackle at Syracuse University, Luciano turned to umpiring after an injury derailed his professional football career, and he quickly moved up the Minor League ladder to reach the Majors in 1969. As a big, likable loser-Oliver Hardy in blue-he became a fan favorite in the American League, “shooting” runners with his forefinger, conducting a legendary feud with Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver, and entertaining writers with outlandish baseball stories-some of which were even true. Even as he added years to his umpiring career and was considered among the game’s best, some players and managers thought his showmanship detracted from his abilities. He later became a baseball color analyst on national TV before coauthoring a series of rollicking best-selling sports books. Away from the game, he loved Shakespeare and birdwatching. But his upbeat public face was at odds with his private struggle with depression. 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