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You Know Me Al

Ring Lardner

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Summary

You Know Me Al

By: Ring Lardner

Narrarated by: Dennis McKee

Jack Keefe is a talented, brash, and conceited young bush-league pitcher. Impervious to both advice and sarcasm, Keefe rises to the heights, but his inability to learn from his mistakes might just be his undoing. Told through a series of letters written from Keefe to his friend, Al, this baseball classic 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 tells us as much about ourselves today as it did nearly a hundred years ago.

Sample Audiobook
Audiobook Information

Total File Size: 138 MB (5 files) Total Length: 5 Hours, 2 Minutes

eMusic Review 0

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Tobias Carroll

eMusic Contributor

09.17.07
Ring Lardner, You Know Me Al
2007 | Label: Blackstone Audiobooks

An up-and-coming pitcher learns how to play hardball. Sort of.
Jack Keefe, the protagonist of You Know Me Al, is an up-and-coming pitcher in the years before World War I. Indomitable, stubborn, broke most of the time and unlucky in love, Keefe works his way to a spot in the Chicago White Sox rotation. Related via letters to his friend Al in their hometown, Jack’s story is told in a wry, winking manner. Never quite able to predict his future with much accuracy, Keefe quarrels with the front office over his salary, looks into the up-and-coming Federal League, occasionally clashes with his teammates, but remains an endearing underdog. At times, you can see the punchlines coming, whether Jack’s staring down Ty Cobb or trying to understand his contract. Nevertheless, Lardner strikes the right balance between laughing with and laughing at. Dennis McKee’s dry narration doesn’t exaggerate Jack’s mannerisms and leaves plenty of room for Lardner’s story to grow.

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