Ring Lardner Tonight: "You Know Me Al" II, Part 11 -- Reversal(s) of fortune

"I have lost all interest in the game and I don't care if Callahan pitches me to-morrow or not. My heart is just about broke Al."

-- Jack, in his letter of October 9

by Ken

Tonight, for a change, Jack's nemesis is that least comprehensible (and perhaps, to Jack, least justifiable) subspecies of mankind, left-handed pitchers. Here he is whining to his friend Al about a big rookie left-hander of the Detroit Tigers, Joe Hill:

Honest Al I don t see how he gets by. He ain't got no more curve ball than a rabbit and his fast one floats up there like a big balloon. He beat us the last game of the regular season here but it was because Callahan had a lot of bushers in the game.

FOR JACK'S TALE(S) OF WOE TONIGHT, CLICK HERE

YOU KNOW ME AL: Our story to date

John Lardner's Introduction (1958): Part 1 and Part 2
Chapter I: A Busher's Letters Home
Part 1, Preface and Jack's letters of Sept. 6 and Dec. 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: The busher makes his big-league debut -- April 11 and 15
Part 5: A major development for Jack -- April 19, 25, and 29
Chapter II: The Busher Comes Back
Part 1, The busher comes back -- May 13 and 20
Part 2, Big news for Al -- July 20
Part 3, A surprise for Jack -- August 16 (plus "The real Charles Comiskey")
Part 4, Back in the bigs -- August 27
Part 5, Big doings in Detroit -- September 6
Part 6, "Boston is some town, Al" -- September 12
Part 7, Bedford, IN, meets NY, NY -- September 16
Part 8, Rain day in Philly; arrival in D.C. -- September 19 and 22
Part 9, In D.C., it's Jack vs. Johnson -- September 22 and 27
Part 10, The "city serious," and Jack's biggest news yet -- October 3 and 7

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

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