Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything

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.

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 the forthcoming book Runnin’ Redbirds: The World Champion 1982 St. Louis Cardinals.