All Over the Place

First, my daughter called yesterday to say she’d scored Taylor Swift tickets at Soldier Field next June, not to be confused with her scoring a seat in the audience to see Michelle Obama on the Today Show in NYC. Unfortunately, Daddy called dibs on the family jet for Monday, and Clare will have to wait until next month to see the former First Lady, when she comes to the Chicago Theater on her book tour. But I mustn’t be too much the ogre-dad. Clare called a second time—when I was on the phone talking with someone about the upcoming Rule 5 draft—to tell me that ex-White Sox reliever Bobby Jenks was named manager of the year in the Pioneer League. Good for Bobby. There were actually two Rule-5 draft stories in the Trib today, one for each Chicago team. As a baseball fan, I feel blessed. After reading those, I drove out to Half Price Books, the best and worst of places at the same time. I doubt if I got pennies on the dollar for two boxes full of books. The Progressive historian Charles Beard must be worth a lot less than I figured. But I nearly made enough to pay for the Mickey Mantle biography and the account of Jackie Robinson’s 1947 season. I actually know one of the authors. Won’t he be happy to find out his one book is selling, no royalties accrued?