How Red Sox great Bobby Doerr made my day in Chicago
In 1954, I was 13. We lived about two blocks from the old Del Prado Hotel, in Hyde Park, which was where the American League baseball teams stayed when they were in Chicago to play the White Sox. ( A footnote: African- American players were not allowed to stay at the Del Prado, so they had to stay elsewhere.) On a sunny day in June, I took my younger brother with me to the Del Prado. I intended to get the Boston Red Sox team to sign a new baseball that I had received for my birthday that month. For three days, we stood in front of the hotel and asked each player to sign the ball, always imploring them to save the sweet spot on the ball for my hero Ted Williams to sign.
By the third day, every one of the Red Sox team had signed the ball, but the sweet spot was still vacant, and Ted Williams walked past me, saying “not now, kid,” as he had done on the preceding two days without signing. I must have looked quite dejected because Bobby Doerr, a future Hall of Famer, got off the bus and took me by the hand, leading me onto the bus. He took me straight back to the rear where Ted Williams was sitting and said, “Ted, this kid has been out here for three days and we have all autographed his ball. He saved the sweet spot for you to sign. Please sign the ball for him.”
Ted Williams signed the ball and opened up the bus window and dropped it out on the curb. He said, “There’s your ball kid.” I rushed out and retrieved the ball, which I still have, but my memory of those days is saddened by the recent passing of Bobby Doerr at age 99.
Steven Schwab, lakefront
Defies reason
I was aghast to learn in your recent article, “CPS CEO Forrest Claypool admits ‘ mistake’ he made in IG interview ( Nov. 18),” that the purported malfeasance stemming from the district’s contract with Jenner & Block was for a paltry sum of $ 250,000 — before the firm agreed to pursue the work for free. Really? Law firms like Jenner make over $ 250,000 a day. It defies reason to assume the firm received the ( meager) contract due to an existing severance arrangement with the Chicago Public Schools general counsel. My read is that the lawsuit explicitly helped put pressure on the governor and state legislators to provide CPS $ 450 million this fiscal year; $ 250,000 is a bargain.
Ambrose Wilde, South Loop