A compelling memoir at the intersection of baseball and American
history.
Cleon Jones has never forgotten where he came from. As a child, growing
up in a Mobile, Alabama shotgun house with no electricity or running
water, he yearned to follow the path of hometown heroes Satchel Paige
and Hank Aaron, and his community uplifted him.
Navigating the perilous norms of the Jim Crow South, Jones ascended to
baseball's highest ranks, leading the 1969 New York Mets with his bat
and catching the final out to clinch the "miracle" World Series title.
But after 13 years in the major leagues, Jones returned to the place he
loves, the neighborhood where it all started: Africatown.
Coming Home is Jones's love letter to his roots in Alabama's most
historic Black settlement, whose origins can be traced back to the last
known illegal transport of slaves to the United States aboard the
Clotilda. Jones candidly discusses how his Africatown neighbors helped
supply him with a bat and glove when his family could not afford
equipment, the opposition he faced as a Black player after leaving
Alabama, his fond memories of the Miracle Mets, and his post-baseball
fight to save his dying community.
Also featuring Jones's outlook on the modern game and American
society, this timely chronicle is a profound slice of history for all
baseball fans.
