Ring Lardner Tonight: Countdown to Opening Day in Part 3 of "You Know Me Al"

As the White Sox complete their spring-training swing out West, before returning East for the season opener in Cleveland, Jack for the first time joins his teammates in a poker game. He winds up winning a pot, then takes the money and announces he's "through," to the considerable annoyance of Kelly, "a bush outfielder from the New England League."

Lord and some of the boys laughed but Kelly got nasty and begun to pan me for quitting and for the way I played. I says Well I won the pot didn't I? He says Yes and he called me something. I says I got a notion to take a punch at you.

He says Oh you have have you? And I come back at him. I says Yes I have have I? I would of busted his jaw if they hadn't stopped me. You know me Al.

-- from Jack's March 26 letter

by Ken

As worldly as the world has become, an awful lot of young baseball players are living on their own for the first time, and some have a harder time of it than others. For someone like Jack Keefe, who has never experienced anything but adulation for his athletic prowess, it's a difficult adjustment on and off the field.

Tonight's installment takes us up to Opening Day.


FOR PART 3 OF YOU KNOW ME AL, CLICK HERE

RING LARDNER'S YOU KNOW ME AL

John Lardner's Introduction (1958), Part 1 and Part 2

Chapter I: A Busher's Letters Home
Part 1: Ring's Preface, and Jack's letters of September 6 and December 14 and 16
Part 2: The busher reaches the bigs -- March 2, 7, 9, and 16
Part 3: Countdown to Opening Day -- March 26 and April 1, 4, 7, and 10
Part 4: Jack makes his big-league debut -- April 11 and 15
Part 5: A major development for Jack -- April 19, 25, and 29

THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, and JEAN SHEPHERD TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

#