The publication of You Know Me Al brought instant fame to Ring
Lardner (1885-1933), one of the great American humorists of this century.
Considered the satirist's greatest work, the book is a collection of letters
from one Jack Keefe, a baseball "busher," to his longtime friend,
Al Blanchard, in their midwestern hometown.
The voice of Jack Keefe perfectly echoes the vernacular of the baseball
players Lardner had covered for years as a newspaper reporter following
the exploits of Chicago's Cubs and White Sox. Readers instantly recognized
in Jack the full range of human foibles. This universality accounts for
the enduring appeal of You Know Me Al.
"Ring Lardner is the idol of professional humorists and of plenty
of other people, too."
-- E. B. White
"His work is a contribution of genuine and permanent value to the
national literature."
-- H. L. Mencken
"Mr. Lardner . . . lets Jack Keefe the baseball player cut out his
own outline until the figure of the foolish, boastful, innocent athlete
lives with us."
-- Virginia Woolf
