You Know Me Al - Softcover

Lardner, Ring

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0020223420 ISBN 13: 9780020223429

Publisher: Touchstone, 1991

Synopsis

"You Know me Al" is a classic of baseball--the game and the community. Jack Keefe, one of literature's greatest characters, is talented, brash, and conceited. Self-assured and imperceptive, impervious to both advice and sarcasm, Keefe rises to the heights, but his inability to learn makes for his undoing. Through a series of letters from this bush-league pitcher to his not-quite-anonymous friend Al, Lardner maintains a balance between the funny and the moving, the pathetic and the glorious.

Nostalgic in its view of pre-World War I America--a time before the "live" ball, a time filled with names like Ty Cobb, Charles Comiskey, Walter Johnson, and Eddie Cicotte--this is not a simple period piece. It is about competition, about the ability to reason, and most of all it is about being human. First published in 1914, "You Know Me Al" says as much to us about ourselves today as it did seventy-five years ago.

About this title

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 naļvete, 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.

About the Author:

RING LARDNER is considered the greatest writer of all time on the sport of baseball. His works include "You Know Me, Al, Gullible's Travels, Treat 'Em Rough, The Real Dope, Own Your Own Home, The Big Town," and many others. He died in 1933, at the age of forty-eight.
JEFF SILVERMAN, a former columnist for the" Los Angeles Herald Examiner," has written for" The New York Times, "the" Los Angeles Times," and several national magazines. He is also editor of "The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told" (page 206), "Classic Baseball Stories" (page 14), "The Greatest Golf Stories Ever Told "(page 169), "Classic Golf Stories" (page 170), "Bernard" "Darwin on Golf" (page 21), and "The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told "(page 206). He lives with his family in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

About this edition

• Publisher: Touchstone
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0020223420
• ISBN 13: 9780020223429
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224