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Jim Leeke

@jimleeke.bsky.social

1.3K followers 1.5K following 830 posts

Writer, researcher, SABR member — sports, aviation and military history. Current book: Big Loosh (University of Nebraska Press). Previously: The Gas and Flame Men; The Turtle and the Dreamboat (Potomac Books).

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · Jul 1

PUB DAY! “Big Loosh” is now available everywhere. My thanks to @univnebpress.bsky.social for all the good work. Play ball!

Cover of Big Loosh: The Unruly Life of Umpire Ron Luciano.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 6h

#avgeeks #photogeeks

Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 1d

A DC-4 flying over Manhattan, 1939, by the great Margaret Bourke-White.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 8h

A look at my previous project, The Gas and Flame Men, available from Potomac Books and @univnebpress.bsky.social. (Cover image: US National Archives)

Book lying on rocky soil. Cover image shows doughboys playing baseball while wearing gas masks.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 1d

Umpire Ron Luciano calls Yankee runner Lou Piniella out at the plate during Game 3 of the 1978 ALCS. Sweet Lou blew a gasket, but replays showed that Ronnie was right. Read more in Big Loosh, from @univnebpress.bsky.social. — @apnews.com photo

Yankee runner pleads his case as umpire signals out and Royals catcher looks on.

Reposted by Jim Leeke

Jill Blake @biscuitkitten.bsky.social · 1d

“the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa”

Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 3d

Pilot Frank Hawks and mechanic Oscar Grubb with the Lockheed Air Express they flew to break the west-east transcontinental speed record, February 1929. Hawks’ employer, the Texas Co., then bought the monoplane and named it Texaco 5. (Photo: Texaco Star) — #avgeeks

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 4d

Budd BB-1 Pioneer, 1931 stainless-steel flying boat, outside Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, 2012 … still there! — #avgeeks

Gleaming metal fuselage mounted outside stone building.

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 5d

"Captain EDDIE GRANT former infielder with the Phillies, Cincinnati, and the Giants,—killed in the Argonne. (The first Gold Star in the baseball service flag.)" RIP "Harvard Eddie," killed in action 107 years ago today. (Artist: Robert Ripley) — #ww1 #EddieGrantLives

Sketch of doughboy in helmet and uniform, felled by explosion. Service flag in air above. Text in lower right.

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 6d

“America Needs Historians” — printed on shirt from National WWI Museum, Kansas City

Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 6d

“They asked for a sword, and we said, ‘Well, we do have swords, but we can’t give them away because they’re museum artifacts,’” said Todd Arrington, forced to resign as head of Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.”

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 6d

Boeing FB-5 Hawk, a US Navy and Marine Corps fighter from the 1920s. This one flew from the aircraft carriers Langley and Saratoga. See it at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Virginia, still open (for now) during the gov't shutdown. — #avgeeks

Biplane suspended from ceiling, numeral 4 painted on nose behind metal propellor.

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 7d

Hi-Road Drive-In, US 68, north of Kenton, Ohio, 2018. I like this old phone image better in black-and-white than the original color. Miraculously, the Hi-Road remains open.

Black and white photo of double entrance to HI-ROAD drive-in movie. Lettering on marquee says THANKS SEE YOU IN 2018.

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 8d

Trimotor Thursday! Fokker F-10 on the cover of the California Journal of Development, September 1928. (Artist: Schwartz) — #avgeeks

Sketch of trimotor with white wings and nose and red fuselage, flying over California landscape. Text beneath and behind windows says: Los Angeles - San Francisco.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 9d

An admirable and lovely human being. Imagine the multi-species greeting she received in heaven.

Dr Robert Bohan @robertbohan.bsky.social · 9d

This is a shock, Jane Goodall (1934-2025) has died. One of my dad’s cousins knew her & would regularly give me updates on her adventures & chimps. She was a great force for good & part of my childhood. 91 is a good age, but it’s personal when your heroes die.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 9d

👇👇👇

Wendy Harmer @wendyharmer.bsky.social · 9d

You won't read a better summation of the Hesgeth/Trump show than this one...

(From my subscription for you)
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Pete Hegseth Is Living the Dream

A man who retired as a major lectures hundreds of generals about the need to meet his standards

www.theatlantic.com

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 9d

Love the nose art! The crew dubbed their plane the Turtle. Navy PR added Truculent.

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 9d

#OTD in 1946 the US Navy P2V Neptune "Truculent Turtle" landed at Port Columbus (Ohio, USA) airport after an 11,236-mile nonstop flight from Perth, Western Australia. For more on this flight, see my 2022 book, The Turtle and the Dreamboat, from Potomac Books / @univnebpress.bsky.social. — #avgeeks

Black-and-white photo of P2V Truculent Turtle in flight. (NavalHistory & Heritage Command)

Cover of THE TURTLE AND THE DREAMBOAT: The Cold War Flights that Forever Changed the Course of Global Aviation, by JIM LEEKE.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 10d

Before becoming an umpire, sportscaster and author, Ron Luciano was an All-America tackle at Syracuse University. Here the semipro Triple Cities (NY) Jets fit him out during a “Meet the Jets” day in 1980. Learn more in Big Loosh, from @univnebpress.bsky.social. (Binghamton Press photo)

Photo of players fitting Ron Luciano with a helmet and jersey. Text: "Triple Cities Jets linebacker Kevin Loveland, left, and center Kell Purdy fitted umpire-turned-baseball announcer Ron Luciano with some equipment during 'Meet the Jets' program at TC Community Stadium last night. Though the 'recruiting' was done in jest, Luciano certainly has the football credentials, having been a 2-way lineman at Syracuse University."

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 11d

Gorgeous shot of Frank Hawks landing Texaco 13, his Travel Air Mystery Ship, at Portland OR in January 1932. (Oregon Historical Society) — #avgeeks

Black-and-white photo of striped, low-wing monoplane, on tarmac with propellor spinning and man walking beside left wing, with misty hills in background.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 12d

The fabled Lysander, a favorite plane I had never seen in person. Often used to deliver spies and weapons during WW2. You'll find this Westland Lysander IIIA hanging at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. #avgeeks

Black Lysander with yellow propellor cone, suspended from high ceiling.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 12d

What’s your sign?

EDINBURGH
THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL
THE THROWING OF CONFETTI OR SIMILAR ON THESE PREMISES SURROUNDINGS IS FORBIDDEN.
BY ORDER

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 13d

Thanks to Jeff Cohen and Leonard Aberman of @baseballandbbq.bsky.social for an entertaining interview about Big Loosh, from @univnebpress.bsky.social. My segment starts at 01:06:30.

Baseball and BBQ: Leslie Roark Scott, the Barbeque Princess Shares Her Family’s Deep-rooted BBQ History and Jim Leeke is the Author of Big Loosh: The Unruly Life of Umpire Ron Luciano

Episode 310 features The Barbeque Princess, Leslie Roark Scott who is from a family with an important and deep-rooted barbecue history and Jim Leeke the author of Big Loosh: The Unruly Life of Umpire ...

bleav.com

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 14d

Detail from an ad for the National Air Tour, also called the Ford Reliability Tour, June 27, 1927. (@freep.com) — #avgeeks

Black-and-white drawing of high-wing monoplane flying directly toward viewer, flanked by two others and clouds behind, word RELIABILITY below.

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 15d

👇👇👇

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 15d

OBAMA: It's fair to say that 80% of the world's problems involve old men hanging on who are afraid of death and insignificance, and they won't let go. They build pyramids, and they put their names on everything. They get very anxious about it.

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 15d

#OTD 2022, a good feature piece in @dispatch.com about The Turtle and the Dreamboat, from Potomac Books / @univnebpress.bsky.social — #avgeeks #history

Clip of Joe Blundo column, headline reads "How a flying 'Turtle' brought worldwide attention in 1946."

Jump page of Blundo column, with photos of Truculent Turtle and cover of book.

Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 16d

Beautiful little Alexander Eaglerock A-14, Concourse B, Denver International Airport, 2018. #avgeeks

Red, yellow and gray biplane, tail number NC205Y, suspended from ceiling.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 17d

Researching my bio of 1930s flier Frank Hawks leads me to gliders, since he crossed America in a towed glider in April 1930. Germany was much more active in soaring than the US. I saw this Grunau Baby II B-2 recently at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in suburban Virginia. — #avgeeks

Simple yellow glider with LZ-NC in black lettering along fuselage and swastika on tail