Fifty years late, a man who grew up in suburban Detroit tried to return a baseball book to his childhood library.
The answer: you can keep it – and no fine.
Chuck Hildebrandt, 63, of Chicago, visited the Warren Public Library while in town for Thanksgiving, carrying a book called “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars.” He borrowed it in 1974 when he was a 13-year-old baseball fan, but never returned it.
“When you move with a bunch of books, you don’t go through them one by one. We throw them in a box and we leave,” explained Mr. Hildebrandt, who has lived in many cities. “But five or six years ago, I looked through my books and there was a Dewey Decimal library number on the book. What is this?”
Inside the book was a slip of paper indicating that it was to be returned to the Warren Library on December 4, 1974. Mr. Hildebrandt told The Associated Press that he decided to keep the book until 2024, the 50th anniversary, before trying to return it. He figured the library might want to publicize the long-awaited return.
He said he recently met with library director Oksana Urban, who listened to his pitch. Mr. Hildebrandt said he had not heard from him since, although Ms. Urban assured the Detroit Free Press that all was forgiven.
“Some people never come back to deal with the consequences,” she said of patrons whose books were overdue. “But there really were no consequences because he and the book were wiped from our system.” So, “Baseball’s Zaniest Stars” is back on Mr. Hildebrandt’s shelves. In exchange, he is trying to raise $4,564 for Reading is Fundamental, a non-profit literacy group. This amount represents approximately 50 years of overdue library fines. Mr. Hildebrandt finances the operation with $457 from his own pocket.