The Annotated Baseball Stories of Ring W. Lardner, 1914-1919 - by Ring W Lardner (Paperback)

About the Book

24 short stories, including the classic You Know Me Al collection, appear together in this annotated and copiously illustrated edition. Most of the stories describe real teams, real players, and real situations, and the annotation identifies the many references to the real world of early major league baseball that Lardner covered as a reporter. Includes 111 illustrations of ball players, teams, ball parks, newspaper items, and other memorabilia of one of the most fascinating and eventful eras in baseball history.

Book Synopsis

This is an annotated and copiously illustrated edition of 24 baseball stories by Ring W. Lardner, including the six classic stories later collected as You Know Me Al. Two-thirds of the stories describe real teams, real players, and real situations, and the annotation and illustrations serve to identify the references of early twentieth-century major league baseball that Lardner covered as a reporter.

From the Back Cover

"24 humorous and revealing baseball stories [are] collected in this beautifully illustrated volume. . . Offers photos of the real players mentioned in the stories and footnotes about real events. A gem."--San Francisco Chronicle
"Meticulous notes help the modern reader laugh all the harder at lines like 'Crawford got the luckiest three-base hit I ever see' by noting that Wahoo Sam Crawford of the Detroit Tigers was the most prolific triples hitter in baseball history."--New York Times Book Review

Review Quotes

"Already timeless pieces of fiction in their own right, Lardner's stories benefit from the historical context that Hilton's annotations and pictures provide."--Choice

"This book is a superb introduction to the work of Ring Lardner for a new generation of readers. . . . Hilton's annotations are informational and entertaining."--Antiquarian Bookman

"After eight decades the tales remain as charming as ever, and the annotations and illustrations will multiply the enjoyment for any reader, new or old."--American Heritage

"I'll give this book the ultimate reviewer's accolade. If it hadn't been sent to me to review, I would have gone out and bought it anyway. If you're a lover of baseball or American literature, you will, too."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Meticulous notes help the modern reader laugh all the harder at lines like 'Crawford got the luckiest three-base hit I ever see' by noting that Wahoo Sam Crawford of the Detroit Tigers was the most prolific triples hitter in baseball history."--New York Times Book Review

"24 humorous and revealing baseball stories [are] collected in this beautifully illustrated volume. . . Offers photos of the real players mentioned in the stories and footnotes about real events. A gem."--San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

George W. Hilton is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has been a baseball fan since 1936 when his father took him to his first game at Comiskey Park.