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   Book Info

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You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters  
Author: Ring W. Lardner
ISBN: 1417917156
Format: Handover
Publish Date: June, 2005
 
     
     
   Book Review



In his day, Ring Lardner was a legendary humorist (a job-description he disavowed), and You Know Me Al shows why everyone loved him so. In the letters of Jack Keefe, a bush-league pitcher who finally gets his chance in the majors, Lardner shows not only a faultless ear, but also a keen eye for the amusing details of human folly. Keefe is no comical bumbler--he has talent--but also possesses astonishing naïvete, and a lack of self-awareness that is unerringly hilarious. The busher blames everyone but himself for his failures (a trait that Lardner uses to wonderful comic effect in the story "Alibi Ike"). Still, thanks to Keefe's mixture of hubris and puppy-dog trust, you want to see him come out all right.

Lardner--who played a role in breaking the infamous "Black Sox" scandal of 1919--wrote You Know Me Al while covering pro baseball in the teens; for baseball fans, the book is an intriguing glimpse into the past. Athletes haven't changed much, poor devils. They're just as funny as ever, only richer.


From Library Journal
Lardner's famous collection of humorous short stories gets the no-frills treatment from Dover's "Thrift Editions" series. A buck here buys a million dollars worth of laughs.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.




You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Ring Lardner's first published fiction created a sensation, catapulting a regional sports journalist into the national literary spotlight. Presented as semi-literate letters written to a friend by a baseball player embarking on a professional career, Lardner's short stories first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1914. Readers couldn't get enough of "busher" Jack Keefe, the unpolished, exasperating, charismatic narrator. Since being published in book form in 1916, You Know Me Al has retained its place on the list of essential readings in baseball literature. In a 2002 ranking of the one hundred greatest sports books ever, the editors of Sports Illustrated placed Lardner's masterpiece at number five.

About the Author
Born in Niles, Michigan, in 1885, Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was raised in prosperous isolation on acreage that included a private baseball diamond. Ring followed his brother Rex into journalism at age twenty, talking his way into a sports-writing job with the South Bend (Indiana) Times. He later spent five years traveling with the White Sox and the Cubs, perfecting the listening skills that not only made him the confidant of players but also enabled him to reproduce their vernacular in his writings. His reputation grew after he joined the Chicago Tribune staff in 1909, and in 1913 he was invited to take over its most prestigious column, "In the Wake of the News."

     



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