[2] The book consists of stories that were written as letters from a professional baseball player, Jack Keefe, to his friend Al Blanchard in their hometown of Bedford, Indiana.

He begins the book as a minor leaguer in Terre Haute, Indiana, who gets accepted by the big leagues to pitch for the Chicago White Sox, circa 1913.

In his barely literate letters home to his friend Al, he details his first experiences in the big leagues, which ends in disaster as he pitches poorly and gets sent back down to the minors again.

Florence enjoys living in style on Jack's salary in Chicago, and refuses to move back to Bedford during the off season, which causes tension between the two.

Jack seems completely unaware that his parentage of Little Al (born eight months after his hastily-arranged marriage to Florrie) is potentially ambiguous.

[3] He used his experiences as a baseball writer for his first published piece of fiction, "A Busher's Letters Home", for the Saturday Evening Post in 1914.

Stories 7 through 11 (all published in 1915) detail the round-the-world voyage (playing exhibition games) of Jack and his White Sox teammates, and their return home.

Story 12 ("Call for Mr. Keefe") sets up some important background elements, including the fact that Jack was drafted into the army against his will -- though he would later maintain he volunteered for duty.

Stories 16 through 21 (published in 1918-19, set in 1918) were collected as The Real Dope (1919), and detailed Corporal Jack Keefe's inglorious misadventures (including eventually being busted down to Private) as a WWI soldier in France.

The final set of stories (22–26, all from 1919) detail Jack's return to baseball as a member of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, a team that would gain infamy for throwing the 1919 World Series.