Good reads for the dad who has everything

With Father’s Day approaching, let’s ponder what to buy for the man who has everything.

A necktie? Too cliché. A Ferrari? Too expensive. Two tickets to a Cubs’ game? More expensive. A movie starlet? Uh, mom vetoes this one. A new recliner? Too vegetative. A treadmill? Not vegetative enough.

How about a book?

Bingo!

Daddy certainly would enjoy something like “A Pictorial History of the Modern Supermodel,” but he probably already has one of those stashed away somewhere.

Around here a Bears’ fan probably wouldn’t care for a copy of the playbook a Denver Broncos’ linebacker circulated on the Internet last week.

Well, all that’s left — unless pops is into “War and Peace” and “The Brothers Karamazov” — is baseball literature.

Let’s start with “Ozzie’s School of Management: Lessons from the Dugout, the Clubhouse, and the Doghouse.”

Chicago newspaper columnist Rick Morrissey must not have been thinking of his mental health when he agreed to wrestle with writing 264 pages on Ozzie Guillen.

You could go crazy trying to get into the head of some sports figures, Guillen among them. I’m a big fan of the former White Sox manager but would rather just let Ozzie be Ozzie.

However, Morrissey accepted the challenge and took the unique approach of analyzing Guillen’s management style.

Chapter titles represent Guillen’s Ten Commandments of Ozzie, from “All Men are Created Equal, in Theory” to “It’s Better to Be the Matador Than the Bull (Usually).”

Morrissey weaves some great lines like, “The incident called for subtlety from Guillen, who is to subtlety what Hugh Hefner is to abstinence.”

We’ll let mom explain that one to junior and sis.

Next, let’s take a look at “The Baseball Hall of Shame: The Best of Blooperstown” by Bruce Nash and Rockford native Allan Zullo.

An obvious question comes to mind whenever the latest in this series of baseball shamefests is released: How is there any room for the other 28 teams after including the shameful gaffes of Chicago’s baseball teams?

Here’s one of the best Cub entries: Lou “Mad Russian” Novikoff “had the weirdest superstition of any batter in baseball — he insisted that his wife Esther taunt him from the stands. He claimed that her shouts of derision inspired him.”

One of the best White Sox entries: (Club owner) Bill Veeck threw Al Smith Night and fans booed the outfielder the whole game because he was acquired in trade for the beloved Minnie Minoso.

Finally, our third recommendation is a kids’ book — “All You Can Be: Learning and Growing Through Sports” by Kerry Wood with mlb.com Cubs chronicler Carrie Muskat. But what could be better for a family than mom buying dad something that he can read to the young ones?

With all due respect to the literary talents of Kerry and Carrie, the best of the book are the illustrations by students from the Chicago Public Schools.

Also featured are great photos of Wood from the days when he was a kid in Texas on the way toward being Kid K for the Cubs.

OK, so I’m partial to books with a lot of pictures. You got a problem with that?

Between the drawings and snapshots are meaningful words from Wood that encourage young people to chase and realize their dreams.

If you don’t think pops will appreciate one of these, force all three on him and make him write book reviews on them.

mimrem@dailyherald.com