Sophomore Campaign

An autistic teenage baseball sensation confronts racism in the 1940s in this novel from the author of The Legend of Mickey Tussler. It’s 1949, and eighteen-year-old pitching phenomenon Mickey Tussler is back. He and his team, the minor league Brewers, continue their journey in this sports novel. Despite Mickey’s claim that he will never play baseball again after the violent end of the last season, his manager (and now surrogate father) Arthur Murphy convinces the socially awkward, autistic, and emotionally fragile boy to try it again. Mickey comes back and must learn to deal with the hatred and destruction around him . . . When a young African American player joins the Brewers, the entire team hears racial threats and is subjected to violence. Mickey witnesses one violent episode firsthand. Struggling to understand such hatred and ugliness, and afraid of the consequences of telling anyone what he saw, Mickey’s field performance suffers. Now, the boy needs to deal with a part of human nature that he barely understands. Praise for Sophomore Campaign “A curiously poignant baseball tale of adversity and intolerance, compassion and hope, that elevate autism fiction to fantastic heights.” —Daryl Strawberry “Yet another brilliant baseball tale by a first-rate storyteller. The ongoing saga of Mickey Tussler will speak powerfully to young readers as well as anyone of any age who truly loves our national pastime.” —Howie Rose, WFAN Sports Radio “Will win over kids and parents alike. Read it together one summer between ballgames and on a family vacation.” —Peter Schilling, author, The End of Baseball “Not just a baseball masterpiece, but a clever, delightful, touching tale that is a triumph of imagination and empathy.” —Father Tom Hartman, “The God Squad,” Good Morning America