The uplifting, unlikely, and inspirational true story of the friendships formed between Cam Perron-a white, baseball-obsessed teenager from Boston-and hundreds of former professional Negro League players, who were still awaiting the recognition and compensation that they deserved from Major League Baseball more than fifty years after their playing days were over. Featuring the players' fascinating stories and original photographs.
Cam Perron always loved history, and from an early age, he had a knack for collecting. But when he was twelve and bought a set of Topps baseball cards featuring several players from the Negro Leagues, something clicked.
Cam started writing letters to former Negro League players in 2007, asking for their autographs and a few words about their careers. He got back much more than he expected. The players responded with detailed stories about their glory days on the field, and the racism they faced, including run-ins with the KKK. They explained how they were repeatedly kept out of the major leagues and confined to the historic but lower-paying Negro Leagues, even after Jackie Robinson-who got his start in the Negro Leagues-broke the color barrier. By the time Cam finished middle school, letters had turned into phone calls, and he was spending hours a day talking with the players.
In these conversations, many of the players revealed that their careers had been unrecognized over time, and they'd fallen out of touch with their former teammates. So Cam, along with a small group of fellow researchers, organized the first annual Negro League Players Reunion in Birmingham, Alabama in 2010. At the celebratory, week-long event, fifteen-year-old Cam and the players-who were in their 70s, 80s, and 90s-finally met in person. They quickly became family.
As Cam and the players returned to the reunion year after year, Cam became deeply involved in a complicated mission to help many players get pension money that they were owed from Major League Baseball. He also worked to get a Negro League museum opened in Birmingham, and stock it with memorabilia.
Sports fans-and anyone who enjoys a heartfelt story-will have their eyes opened by this book about unlikely friendships, the power of memories, and just how far a childhood interest can go.
Comeback Season is a memoir and history of Cam Perron's involvement with baseball fandom which led to his befriending by many former Negro League Baseball players and the establishment of a hall of fame museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Due out 30th March 2021 from Simon & Schuster on their Gallery Books imprint, it's 272 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.
This is one of those engaging real life stories which I really felt on a deep emotional level. The fact that the author chose to let the athletes speak for themselves added a lot of impact. I was often uncomfortable reading their matter-of-fact stories of absolutely horrible racism and inequality (I got chills reading about "Cowboy" Atterbury and teammates' encounter face to face with the KKK). Their stories of perseverance and dignity in the face of daunting odds are inspiring. I'm so glad that the author and others worked very hard to document and negotiate the pensions many of them were owed by major league baseball.
Four and a half stars. I would heartily recommend this to sports fans (especially the ones who love knowing minutiae about their favorite athletes and teams), readers of biography and memoirs, fans of history. This would also make a good acquisition for public or school library use.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
