DETROIT– Fifty years later, a man growing up in suburban Detroit tried to return a long-overdue baseball book to his childhood library.
The answer: you can keep it – and no fine.
Chuck Hildebrandt, 63, of Chicago, said he visited the public library in Warren while in town for Thanksgiving, with a book titled “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars.” He borrowed it in 1974 as a 13-year-old “baseball nut” but never returned it.
“When you move with a lot of books, you don’t research every book. You throw them in a box and go away,” says Hildebrandt, who has lived in many cities. “But five or six years ago I was looking through the bookshelf and there was a decimal library number of Dewey on the book. What is this?”
Inside the book was a slip of paper stating that it would be delivered to the Warren Library on December 4, 1974. Hildebrandt told The Associated Press that he decided to keep the book until 2024 — the 50th anniversary — and then try to return it. . He thought the library might want to publicize the long-awaited exchange.
He said he recently met with library director Oksana Urban, who listened to his pitch. Hildebrandt said he hasn’t heard anything since, though Urban told the Detroit Free Press that all is forgiven.
“Some people never come back to face the music,” she said of customers with overdue books. “But there really was no music to face, because he and the book had been erased from our system.”
So “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars” is back on Hildebrandt’s shelf. In return, he is now try to increase $4,564 for Reading is Fundamental, a nonprofit literacy group. The amount roughly represents a 50-year library fine paid late. Hildebrandt starts the effort with $457.