This collection of fiction by writer, critic and sports editor Ring Lardner celebrates the American pastime of baseball.

An annotated and copiously illustrated edition of the 24 short stories published between 1914 and 1919 by Ring Lardner, which include the stories collected later and known as "You know me, Al."

Surveying the vast body of nonfiction writing devoted to baseball and exploring the recurrent themes and myths that typify it, the book gives special attention to the familiar essay, the in-depth personal profile, and the memoir or autobiography, while never skirting seminal works of baseball lore, whether early sports guide, dime novel, or oral history. The result is a dozen thematically arranged chapters that inspect the works of scores of writers - including Christy Mathewson, Stephen Crane, Donald Hall, Jim Bouton, Roger Angell, and Annie Dillard - and provide a thoroughly entertaining compendium of the history and culture of baseball.

A revealing look at the history of women's exclusion from America's national pastime