Comeback Season My Unlikely Story Of Friendship With The Greatest Living Negro League Baseball Players

In 2007, at the age of twelve, Perron bought a set of Topps baseball cards featuring several players from the Negro Leagues. He started writing letters to former Negro League players asking for their autographs and a few words about their careers. The players responded with detailed stories about their glory days on the field, and the racism they faced, including run-ins with the KKK. The letters turned into phone calls, and in these conversations many of the players revealed that they had fallen out of touch with their former teammates. Perron and a small group of fellow researchers organized the first annual Negro League Players Reunion in Birmingham, Alabama in 2010. This is the story of his mission to help many players get pension money that they were owed from Major League Baseball-- and to get a Negro League museum opened in Birmingham, stocked with memorabilia. -- adapted from jacket

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.

In Fatherhood, beloved NBA player, poet, children’s advocate, and devoted dad Etan Thomas speaks from his heart on what matters most in his life: being there for his children. As a leading participant in President Obama’s Fatherhood Initiative, Etan has reached out to young men (often young fathers) in the juvenile detention system and in local communities. He knows firsthand the difference having a father in your life every day can make. Now he brings together a chorus of voices to weigh in on the importance of being a father in our nation today and to share what they’ve learned from being a father, having a father, or in some cases not having a father around. With Original Essays and Poems from Taye Diggs • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar • Malcolm-Jamal Warner • Ice Cube • Howard Dean • Tony Hawk • Isaiah Washington • Yao Ming • Al Sharpton • John King • Lamman Rucker • Derek Fisher • Kevin Durant • Russ Parr • Michael Moore • Chuck D • Malcolm Shabazz • Talem Acey • Will Downing • Chris Paul • Allan Houston • Talib Kweli • Black Ice • Cornel West • Elijah Cummings • Mumia Abu-Jamal • Grant Hill • Coach John Thompson • Roland Martin • Joakim Noah • Arn Tellum • Damian Marley • Abiodune Oyewole • Styles P • Baron Davis • David Aldridge • Stuart Scott • Dave Zirin • Kevin Powell • John Carlos • Derrick Coleman • J. Ivy • Joe Johnson • Al Horford • Pastor John Jenkins • Julian Thomas • Ed Gordon Jr. • Tito Puente Jr. • Billy Hunter • 13 of Nazareth • Messiah Ramkissoon Through these inspiring personal experiences, Etan and the men he’s gathered together hope to share the message that by standing up and taking an active role as fathers, men not only find their own lives more joyful and fulfilling—they pass on to the next generation an unshakable legacy of love, wisdom, responsibility, and strength.

Overcome toxic thoughts and negative thinking with Tim Storey’s easy-to-follow instructions and simple guidance. During challenging times, toxic thoughts can drag you into a mindset that’s mundane, messy, and mad. Negative thinking can undermine all aspects of your life, from family and romantic relationships to career satisfaction, financial stability, and physical and spiritual health. In The Miracle Mentality, life coach, speaker, and author Tim Storey provides you with a road map to transcend negative thinking, leading you to bigger adventures, more opportunities, and deeper meaning. In this book, experience a miracle mentality transformation with: Tim’s honest and powerful testament that will strengthen your perspective, positivity, and personal?choice Essential coaching that will help you navigate friendships and romantic?relationships? Tips on establishing a fulfilling work-life?balance An encouraging and practical approach to physical, mental, and spiritual health The discovery of a new mindset and freedom that can be applied to your personal?finances Honest talk about the influential role of a parent and information to help you improve your parenting?skills To overcome these obstacles, you need a new mindset--a miracle mentality--where dreams are achievable, hope is actionable, and spiritual healing is possible. Let The Miracle Mentality guide you there with Tim’s tips that will magically transform your life.

From the author of The Sistahs' Rules and her husband comes a Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus for African Americans.Denene Millner's sassy, shrewd reaction to The Rules became a bestseller. The Sistahs' Rules spent six months on the BlackBoard list. Then, proving the value of her own advice about dating and mating, Denene married Brother Mr. Right, Nick Chiles. Once she'd laid claim to his heart, she took a really long look at his head to find out what his words and actions really meant. Together they decided to go boldly where few couples dare: inside the minds of a sistah and a brotha to reveal the real deal on what Black men think of commitment, monogamy, and other mysteries--and what sistahs know about staying true to themselves. What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know is the first book for African Americans that decodes the inscrutable ways of the opposite sex. In this funny, honest, provocative book, Millner and Chiles step across the great divide to create--once and for all--real understanding between sistahs and brothers. They give the real deal on: * The perfect date * Why brothers think all sistahs are angry * Why so many men could run down Michael Johnson in an effort to escape commitment * Whether it's fair for sistahs to scream when brothers chase white girls * Why good sex matters What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know covers everything from first dates to lasting commitments, from myths and misunderstandings between brothas and sistahs to the kind of communication that fosters love and respect. It reveals, for the very first time, the motivations and fears coursing through that warm-blooded animal on the other side of the bed.

The riveting story of four men—Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige—whose improbable union on the Cleveland Indians in the late 1940s would shape the immediate postwar era of Major League Baseball and beyond. In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history. In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy. Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series--all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.

Lord knows, Reverend Al has had his personal and very public ups and downs, but he's come out bigger and better than ever—though the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation is as fiery and outspoken as ever about the events and issues that matter most, he's learned that the only way we can get right as a nation is by getting right from within. In his instant New York Times bestselling book, Rev. Al will take you behind the scenes of some unexpected places—from officiating Michael Jackson's funeral, hanging out with Jay-Z and President Barack Obama at the White House, to taking charge of the Trayvon Martin case. And he will discuss how he came to his unexpected conclusions in such areas as immigration, gay rights, religion, and family. But the heart of the book is an intimate discussion of his own personal evolution from street activist, pulpit provocateur, and civil rights leader to the man he is today—one hundred pounds slimmer, and according to The New York Observer “the most thoughtful voice on cable.” The Rev. Al you met ten years ago isn’t the same man you’ll meet today. And he has a simple promise: We can transform this nation and we can all lead better lives if we're willing to transform our hearts and transform our minds.

With a winning combination of wit and dead-on savvy, Millner and Chiles apply their delicious he said/she said approach to the story of two childhood friends who wonder if their once-in-a-lifetime friendship would be in danger of snapping if they become lovers.