You Know Me Al: A Busher's Letters (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

by Ring W. Lardner, Gabriel Schechter (Introduction)

Overview

Ring Lardners 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, Lardners short stories first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1914. Readers couldnt 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 Lardners masterpiece at number five.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781411431331
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Series:	Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	456 KB
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

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."