In this enthralling debut, Perron, along with journalist Chiles, discusses several outstanding Negro League ballplayers and how the league came to be ... The players’ stories shine throughout, and even readers who aren’t familiar with the league will enjoy hearing stories of Cool Papa Bell, Randolph Bowe, and Joe Elliot, among others, and how they fought for recognition ... Baseball fans will thoroughly enjoy this captivating look into a side of the sport they might not know about. This heartfelt book, with a foreword by Hank Aaron, is a must-read, and Perron’s personable writing succeeds in giving often overlooked players a voice.
In the mid- to late-1940s, when some of the best Black players left for the majors, their fans went with them, causing attendance at Negro League games to shrivel. Players who didn’t get tapped for the majors saw their careers sidelined. It was those former Negro League players who deeply fascinated a young Cam Perron after he first learned about them through baseball cards. In his book, Comeback Season: My Unlikely Story of Friendship With the Greatest Living Negro League Baseball Players, the Tulane graduate chronicles his transition from a precocious young baseball fan to a friend and advocate of scores of former professional Negro League players ... In this book, Perron, who is white, demonstrates a passion for this history and a respect for the players ... A few of them have space in the book to tell their own stories, which makes for meaningful reading. A simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming tale, Comeback Season gives the spotlight to these talented players whose contributions have long gone unsung.
Perron debuts with an inspiring account of how he came to help preserve the legacy of Negro League veterans ... Perron’s ability to channel his childhood interests into something meaningful for others is moving, and his extraordinary account uplifts. Even those who aren’t sports fans will root for this galvanizing story.
Perhaps Perron’s greatest accomplishment, apart from building a collecting company and adding tremendously to the history of the Negro League, was to secure MLB pensions for veterans ... Perron delivers an enthusiastic and detailed account of the players’ work, and his, and it’s a pleasure to read. Baseball fans of whatever stripe will enjoy Perron’s homage to an organization and players too long overlooked.
