The Tale Of Carl Crawford And His Antiquarian Bookstore

This is a story best presented in timeline fashion: 

• Late last Wednesday night, the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford to a seven-year deal
• On Sunday, Will McDonald of the excellent Royals Review wrote a (clearly satirical) post, explaining the only reason Crawford signed with Boston was because he wanted to own a antiquarian bookstore:

Crawford's passion for New England history began at Jefferson Davis High School in Houston when he read William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation in the 9th grade. "At Jeff Davis at that time, it was very much the old Bercovitch reading of history that dominated. To prepare, I'd read The Puritan Origins of the American Self in eighth grade. Eventually however, I wanted to return to the primary materials."

It's a great, hilarious post by McDonald, but also very, very much a joke. We continue ... 

• Eventually, the story was picked up on Twitter, getting retweeted by "the literary/bookstore community." Everyone agrees it's great Crawford is opening an antiquarian bookstore. 
• Then McDonald gets contacted by the Los Angeles Times, and confirms to their reporter, Carolyn Kellogg, that his post was indeed satire: "It was intended to be a joke ... though I wish it was true."
• Then in the most bizarre twist of all, late Tuesday night, Carl Crawford tweeted he is going to open a bookstore. 

So is Carl Crawford in on the joke started by Will at Royals Review? Sure seems like it.