Shortened Seasons: The Untimely Deaths of Major League Baseball's Stars and Journeymen

by Fran Zimniuch

Shortened Seasons recounts the stories of some of the baseball players who never made it back for the next game, who died with the suddenness of a walk-off homerun. For them, there was no next year. From Hall of Fame caliber players such as Roberto Clemente, Thurman Munson, and Ed Delahanty to players who were still finding their niche in the game like Ken Hubbs, Lyman Bostoc, and Darryl Kile, this book explores the lives and deaths of ball players of all categories and abilities who were struck down at the height of their careers.

Genres: Sports

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2007

About the author

A dusty box discovered in the wreckage of a once prosperous plantation on Agate Hill in North Carolina contains the remnants of an extraordinary life: diaries, letters, poems, songs, newspaper clippings, court records, marbles, rocks, dolls, and bones. It's through these treasured mementos that we meet Molly Petree.

Raised in those ruins and orphaned by the Civil War, Molly is a refugee who has no interest in self-pity. When a mysterious benefactor appears out her father's past to rescue her, she never looks back.

Spanning half a century, On Agate Hill follows Mollys passionate, picaresque journey through love, betrayal, motherhood, a murder trialand back home to Agate Hill under circumstances she never could have imagined."

Reviews

[Jeffrey Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great. It told some interesting stories about the tragic demise of certain ball players.


From a historic perspective, the one section that got me was in the “Accidents” chapter. The Ray Chapman section was really eerie. To think that he died at the hands of a pitcher who threw what is now an illegal pitch in the game, just absolutely tragic.

But, Fran Zimniuch did an amazing job researching and compiling all of this tragic data. Would absolutely recommend to any baseball fan.

[Eric Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Organized by cause of death it’s an interesting catalog of baseball tragedy.