The John Lardner Reader: A Press Box Legend's Classic Sportswriting

by John Lardner, John Schulian (Editor), Dan Jenkins (Foreword by)

This collection marks the return to print of John Lardner, one of America’s press box giants, a classic stylist whose wry humor and tireless reporting helped elevate sportswriting to art. The brilliant W. C. Heinz called Lardner “the best of us.” This book shows why. Lardner applied his singular touch not only to his era’s icons—Joe Louis, Ted Williams, Satchel Paige—but to the scamps, eccentrics, hustlers, and con men in the shadow of sports. Whether in snappy columns or leisurely magazine pieces, Lardner held sport of every description up to the light, forever changing the way people wrote, read, and thought about their heroes, from superstars to scrappers. These forty-nine pieces represent sportswriting at the top of its game.

Purchase the audio edition.

Genres: Sports

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

To many, John Lardner (son of Ring) is the greatest sportswriter who ever lived. If he wasn't the greatest he definitely was one of the most influential. Dan Jenkins, Jim Murray and Rick Reilly all said that they owed a heavy debt to Lardner with Murray's style being particularly close to Lardner's.

This anthology doesn't do a great job of gathering his columns but it does have some of his best long pieces like the profiles of Stanley Ketchel ("Stanley Ketchel was twenty-four years old when he was fatally shot in the back by the common-law husband of the lady who was cooking his breakfast."), and Babe Herman ("Babe Herman did not triple into a triple play, but he doubled into a double play, which is the next best thing.") and the great article called "The Sack of Shelby." ("Jack Kearns became almost legendary in the prizefight business between the two world wars because of his ability to make money in large, bold scoops without recourse to day labor.").

To better appreciate Lardner's work it is best to go right to the source although all of his books are out-of-print, "The World of John Lardner;" "It Beats Working;" "Strong Cigars and Lovely Women;" his boxing collection, "White Hopes and Other Tigers;" and his great book of war correspondence, "Southwest Passage; The Yanks in the Pacific."

[Mike Lackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may not be the best John Lardner collection -- I'm partial to "It Beats Working," probably because it was my first exposure to this wonderful writer -- but any John Lardner collection is pretty damn good. It's just a tragedy that he didn't live longer and write a lot more.

[Sull McCartney · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great writer. The chapter on the Sack of Shelby was worth the price of the book.

[Stuart Shiffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Lardner, the son of Ring Lardner was a columnist for several national magazines in the 1940s as well as a sportswriter before World War II. He was a correspondent during the War. He died at age 48 in 1960. In reading a collection of his father’s work I came across references to collection of the son’s writings. This was one of them and it is extraordinary and wonderful to read. This collection is all sports and I fully intend to dive into some of his other works.

[David]

My favorite sportswriter ever.