Category Archives: Writers Series Legacy
In Memoriam
George Mitrovich
Chairman
The Great Fenway Park Writers Series
(1935-2019)
A message from Dick Flavin:
As many of you know, George Mitrovich, the founder and keeper of the flame of The Great Fenway Park Writers Series, passed away on July 24 in his native San Diego, California. George had many dear friends in the Boston area and was a much loved member of the Red Sox family who will be greatly missed. A memorial service will be held in San Diego in August when the Red Sox are scheduled to play there. George was a unique personality whose enthusiasm for baseball, the Red Sox and books was contagious. The Writers Series is the only literary series sponsored by a baseball team, a fact of which the Red Sox are proud and for which they are greatly indebted to George. Please remember our great friend in your thoughts and prayers.
John Updike – A Tribute
A great writer creates a world of his own and his readers are proud to live in it.
Cyril Connolly
In my role as chairman of The Great Fenway Park Writers Series for the Red Sox, I tried several times to persuade John Updike, the literary immortal, to come to Fenway and speak at one of our luncheons. I thought it would be an easy sale, as Mr. Updike lived not far away in Beverly Farms, but to my very great regret those efforts failed – and now the great man is gone.
Jackie Robinson – A Tribute
On March 2nd, 2005, in the Great Rotunda of the Capitol of the United States, President George W. Bush presented to Rachel Robinson the Congressional Gold Medal, given posthumously in honor of her late husband, Jackie Robinson. Ms. Robinson’s daughter, Sharon, and her son, David, were present at the special ceremony, as were Congressional leaders and more than 500 people.The Congressional Gold Medal given Mr. Robinson took place 58 years after he became the first black player in major league baseball. It is worthy of note that the first recipient of the Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian award, was first presented to George Washington.
Civil Society and the Boston Red Sox
Community is a word often invoked. Its usage, however, has so many subtexts its meaning is frequently puzzling; it’s become a coin of the realm word, but the value of its coinage is devalued; its unspecific nature confounds the public’s understanding.
To be sure community is a wholly valid word. The Latin of its origin denotes its honorable lineage. But its application in today’s society is so common that one wonders what specifically does it mean? When one says “community” to what “community” does one refer? There is an African-American community, Hispanic community, Asian community, business community, education community, arts community, faith community – but there is no one specific community unless otherwise designated.
Community has thus become a self-limiting word. Its overuse leading to its misuse.
There is a better expression, an all-encompassing phrase – “civil society.” That phrase speaks to interests beyond one group, reminding us America’s greatness is indivisible from participation by all its communities, for only by coming together in behalf of one great civil society are the interests of all served – and the life of our nation strengthened.
Original “About Us” Page
Originally written by our late Chairman, George Mitrovich, this text that used to adorn the About Us section of the website still describes the principles of the Great Fenway Park Writers Series today.
Fenway Park Writers Series written up in Boston Globe
Boston Globe Columnist Brian McGrory has taken an interest in the Great Fenway Park Writers Series, another of the public forums supported by President George Mitrovich and wrote a fabulous column in yesterday’s paper. You can read the full article by clicking here. It’s a very well written piece, giving a brief history of the founding of the Series and the people who make it all possible.
“Ben Bradlee Jr. is responsible for persuading McGrory The Writers Series was worth a column,” said George Mitrovich, Chairman of the Series. “I’m grateful.”
The Denver Forum Celebrates 25 years
Our 25th anniversary luncheon last Friday was by any measure, an exceptional event. But 9,134 days after The Forum’s first event with Senator Alan Simpson, March 1, 1985, should it have been anything less?
You Are What You Read
This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post.
Paras’ newsstand in San Diego’s North Park community has been there as long as I can remember (if only I could remember how long that’s been).
I love newsstands, and no matter where I’ve lived over the years, there have been newsstands in my life.
When we lived in Pasadena and Whittier, I thought nothing of driving to Hollywood to a newsstand that first opened in 1937 (no, I didn’t make the opening). Then and now the stand had just about everything – from foreign newspapers and magazines to the broadest possible range of American periodicals. Why would I make that trip? because neither Whittier nor Pasadena offered anything comparable.
Buck O’Neil – The Human Spirit Triumphant
By
George Mitrovich
9 October 2006
Buck O’Neil at age 94 has passed into the eternal presence of God; the God he believed in, the God he loved, the God he worshipped, and the God he honored by the quality and character of his life – not least his loving acceptance of others, of their inherent dignity as God’s children. His death came in Kansas City, where he lived, and where his greatest achievement stands – the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
