Season of Shattered Dreams - by Eric Vickrey (Hardcover)

About the Book

In 1946, a bus carrying the Spokane Indians baseball team crashed, leaving nine players dead and six hospitalized. This book tells their stories, primarily through the lives of three key players, following them through WWII, into the 1946 season that was greatly impacted by me...

Book Synopsis

The story of one of the most significant and overlooked seasons in professional baseball, told through the travails of the Spokane Indians

On June 24, 1946, a bus carrying the Spokane Indians baseball team crashed to the bottom of a deep ravine in Washington state's Cascade mountains, killing nine players. To this day, it remains the deadliest accident in the history of American professional sports.

In Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything, Eric Vickrey details the series of events that occurred before, during, and after the heartbreaking accident. Vickrey chronicles the often-overlooked impact that the end of World War II had on the major and minor leagues, now crowded with players returning from military service. The Spokane Indians were no exception, with several top prospects and former big leaguers arriving that season. The journeys of three Spokane players in particular--Vic Picetti, Ben Geraghty, and Jack Lohrke--reveal the impact of the war on players' lives, the struggles of a minor-league career, and the devastating impact of that catastrophic crash.

The Spokane Indians were not your average minor-league team, and though their story has been largely forgotten with time, it is one that deserves to be told. Featuring original interviews, as well as letters and photos from the personal collections of players and their families, Season of Shattered Dreams offers incredible insight into one of the most singular seasons in professional baseball.

Review Quotes

"A long forgotten tragedy--the horrendous, fatal bus crash of a minor league baseball team in 1946. Eric Vickrey has done tremendous research and gives us this well-written, gripping tale in remarkable detail. It's a baseball story we all should know." --Marty Appel, New York Yankees historian and author of Pinstripe Empire, Munson, and Casey Stengel

"It's surprising there wasn't previously a book about Spokane's tragic 1946 season. Fans of baseball and history are fortunate that Eric Vickrey has devoted countless hours to researching Season of Shattered Dreams to assemble this thorough, well-written book. It tells the stories of ballplayers, a devastating crash, and American life in the mid-1940s." --Tim Hagerty, broadcaster for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas and author of Tales from the Dugout

"Eric Vickrey has hit a home run with his tremendously powerful book, Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything. You almost feel that you are a part of the 1946 Indians team who careened from success on the diamond to tragedy in the Cascades." --James Francis McGee, son-in-law of Jack "Lucky" Lohrke and author of The Baseball Odyssey series

"Eric Vickrey's Season of Shattered Dreams is a comprehensive and meticulously researched account of a long-overlooked tragedy involving the 1946 Spokane Indians. It's also an entertaining snapshot of minor-league baseball in the post-war era and the motivated and heroic men who made it thrive. A must-read for any baseball historian or simply a baseball fan." --Larry Stone, Seattle Times sports columnist and author of Edgar: An Autobiography

A long forgotten tragedy--the horrendous, fatal bus crash of a minor league baseball team in 1946. Eric Vickrey has done tremendous research and gives us this well-written, gripping tale in remarkable detail. It's a baseball story we all should know.

Eric Vickrey has hit a home run with his tremendously powerful book, Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything. You almost feel that you are a part of the 1946 Indians team who careened from success on the diamond to tragedy in the Cascades.

Eric Vickrey's Season of Shattered Dreams is a comprehensive and meticulously researched account of a long-overlooked tragedy involving the 1946 Spokane Indians. It's also an entertaining snapshot of minor-league baseball in the post-war era and the motivated and heroic men who made it thrive. A must-read for any baseball historian or simply a baseball fan.

It's surprising there wasn't previously a book about Spokane's tragic 1946 season. Fans of baseball and history are fortunate that Eric Vickrey has devoted countless hours to researching Season of Shattered Dreams to assemble this thorough, well-written book. It tells the stories of ballplayers, a devastating crash, and American life in the mid-1940s.

Well-written and researched, this hardcover should be a wakeup call to every team in professional sports. The chapter on the actual accident is riveting.

About the Author

Eric Vickrey is a baseball writer who has published dozens of articles online and in print through the Society for American Baseball Research. He is the author of Runnin' Redbirds: The World Champion 1982 St. Louis Cardinals.