In Red, the personality, career, and world of one of America's best writers and most honored sports journalists are brought warmly to life. From Red Smith's first story for the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1927 to his last column for the New York Times five days before his death in 1982, his inimitable style graced the country's sports pages for over half a century. Even in his earliest column, his writing showed evidence of the wit, clarity, and eloquence that would become his hallmarks. In 1976 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism.   The people who appear throughout Red comprise a distinguished twentieth-century hall of fame: Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Joe Louis, Ernest Hemingway, Grantland Rice, Ring Lardner, and Damon Runyon. A biography of one of this country's finest writers, Red is also American history of a rich and lasting sort.