Senior Year

In Senior Year, Dan Shaughnessy focuses his acclaimed sports writing talents on his son Sam's senior year of high school, a turning point in any young life and certainly in the relationship between father and son. Using that experience, Shaughnessy circles back to his own boyhood and calls on the many sports greats he's known over the years -- Ted Williams, Roger Clemens, Larry Bird -- to capture that uniquely American rite of passage that is sports.

Growing up, Dan Shaughnessy was so baseball-obsessed that he played games by himself and didn't even let himself win. His son, Sam Shaughnessy, came by his own love of sports naturally and was a natural hitter who quickly ascended the ranks of youth sports. Now nicknamed the 3-2 Kid for his astonishing ability to hover between success and failure in everything he does, Sam is finally a senior, and it's all on the line: what college to attend; how to keep his grades up and his head down until graduation; and whether his final high school baseball season, which features foul weather, a hitting slump, and a surprising clash with a longtime coach, will end in disappointment or triumph.

All along the way, Dad is there, chronicling that universal experience of putting your child out on the field -- and in the world -- and hoping for the best. With gleaming insight, wicked humor, and, at times, the searching soul of an unsure father, Shaughnessy illuminates how sports connect generations and how they help us grow up -- and let go.

It’s more than just a season of baseball—it’s a universal story of fatherhood, ambition, and the bittersweet pride of watching a child step up to the plate.

• A Father Son Story: Join acclaimed sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy as he navigates the foul lines of fatherhood, moving from the coach’s seat to the spectator’s bleachers for his son Sam’s pivotal senior year.
• The Pressure of High School Sports: Feel the tension of every at-bat as Sam, the "3-2 Kid," faces a hitting slump, the hopes of his team, and the daunting challenge of the college recruiting process.
• Legendary Sports Insights: Shaughnessy draws on decades of covering sports icons like Ted Williams, Roger Clemens, and Larry Bird to explore how the games we play shape the people we become.
• A Memoir About Letting Go: Discover a funny, poignant, and deeply relatable account of the moment every parent faces—when it’s time to let a child find their own way to win, on the field and in life.