Fenway 1946: Red Sox, Peace, and a Year of Hope
Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/29/2021
7:00 pm-8:00 pm
FREE ZOOM EVENT*
APRIL 29th, 7-8 p.m. EASTERN
FENWAY 1946: RED SOX, PEACE, AND A YEAR OF HOPE
Save the date: Thursday, April 29, at 7 p.m. for our next Zoom event featuring “Fenway 1946: Red Sox, Peace, and a Year of Hope” by author Michael Connelly. Just as Major League Baseball tries to navigate its way through a global pandemic, the 1946 season marked the return to some semblance of normalcy after World War II, with hundreds of major leaguers returning from military service. For the Red Sox, welcoming back such stars as Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr, the season took on an added aspect of celebration, as the club played fabulously, winning 104 games and the American League pennant and returning to the World Series for the first time since 1918, coincidentally the year World War I ended.
Connelly, a Boston native, captures the way a war-weary nation embraced the return of baseball, which at that time reigned unchallenged as the national pastime, no more so than in New England. As the Amazon review of Connelly’s book notes: Baseball had always been a thread that connected the country–a sport that linked generations. Opening Day 1946 was a tangible reminder that the country was at peace – back to the way things were. Nowhere was this more relevant than in Boston. From Scollay Square to South Boston to the North End, veterans in their uniforms, kids with bats over their shoulder and housewives were talking about the return of Ted Williams and a roster that was considered the best in the league. Expectations were high – as always, at Fenway Park. Fans somehow knew this would be their year. Connelly will be joined by Bill Nowlin, who has written numerous books on Red Sox history and Williams. And, of course, the night will include a discussion of the 1946 World Series against Stan Musial’s St. Louis Cardinals, and a fateful seventh game.
The Great Fenway Park Writers Series would like to encourage you to make use of the great local bookstores in your community! For this event, we have partnered with Frugal Bookstore in Roxbury.
If you don’t live in Boston, you might consider looking for an independent bookstore closer to home.
*Donations to the Red Sox Foundation are Encouraged
About the Book and Author
Boston writer Michael Connelly captures the magic of American’s return to normalcy after World War II in this intimate portrait of a city and the baseball team it loves.
Fenway 1946 celebrates the city and the team and the spirit of that wonderful 1946 season in Boston–a season, as usual the broke fans’ hearts–as America returned to return to peacetime pastimes. And none was more American than baseball.
Along the way he brings out the stories and personalities that made that year so special in the Hub. From returning veterans like Ted Williams and young Congressman John F. Kennedy and thousands of others and their families who worried while they were in Europe or the Pacific, the 1946 Red Sox season was a celebration. It was catharsis. It was what made American great.
Husbands and sons were coming home to the open arms of a grateful nation. This included five hundred major leaguers who fought in World War II. The homecoming of America’s best sparked a spirit of collective pride from coast to coast–and New England was not exempt. For the previous five years, America sat around its radio listening to war reports. Now they would gather in the parlors to enjoy baseball once again.
Baseball had always been a thread that connected the country–a sport that linked generations. Opening Day 1946 was a tangible reminder that the country was at peace – back to the way things were.
Nowhere was this more relevant than in Boston. From Scollay Square to South Boston to the North End, veterans in their uniforms, kids with bats over their shoulder and housewives were talking about the return of Ted Williams and a roster that was considered the best in the league. Expectations were high – as always, at Fenway Park. Fans somehow knew this would be their year.
Michael Connelly is a lifelong Bostonian and the author of 26 Miles to Boston; Rebound!: Basketball, Busing, and Larry Bird, and the Rebirth of Boston; The President’s Team (featured in the CBS documentary Marching On); The Great Book of Boston Sports Lists; and NBA List Jam. For fifteen years, he has written the popular blog “The Top Ten,” first with The Boston Herald and now with trifectasports.com.
