About the Author
Born in Niles, Michigan, in 1885, Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was raised in prosperous isolation on acreage that included a private baseball diamond. Ring followed his brother Rex into journalism at age twenty, talking his way into a sports-writing job with the South Bend (Indiana) Times. He later spent five years traveling with the White Sox and the Cubs, perfecting the listening skills that not only made him the confidant of players but also enabled him to reproduce their vernacular in his writings. His reputation grew after he joined the Chicago Tribune staff in 1909, and in 1913 he was invited to take over its most prestigious column, “In the Wake of the News.”
