Includes bibliographical references.

More than any other writer in the twentieth century, Ring Lardner (1885-1933) was identified with baseball. He was the first writer to match the American language with the great American pastime. His years covering the Chicago White Sox and Cubs gave him the inside knowledge of the sport and how it reflected the American experience; starting in 1906 as a reporter, Lardner responded to baseball as a social phenomenon. His short stories remain the core of his career, and the basis of his enduring reputation. Here are Ring Lardner's complete baseball stories, twelve of them collected in print for the first time. With his unerring eye for detail and his sense of the absurd, Lardner ranges over the entire game. His first published magazine series, "You know Me Al," recounts the travails of Jack Keefe, a minor-league player who remains a Busher even after he reaches the big leagues. Although he eventually wanted to "bench" the character, Lardner continued to write Keefe stories to satisfy the public's hunger. At the same time, though, he began to expand his work, introducing new characters, new concerns, new slants on the sport. He went on to probe not only the nature of the game, but also the lives of the men who played it. His famous portraits in "Alibi Ike" and "My Roomy" convey his profound understanding of baseball and the people associated with it. Historically accurate, richly textured, Ring Around the Bases reveals the master at the height of his craft, and celebrates America at play. This collection, then, is the ultimate lineup in baseball fiction.

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