Ring Lardner's fictional collection of letters from "busher" Jack Keefe has been praised and heralded since its first publication in 1915. The book has since been declared the finest baseball fiction ever and faced no competition for that title until Mark Harris published his Henry Wiggen series in the 1950s. Lardner's novel is actually a collection of letters from Jack, the narrator and protagonist, to his best friend and "old pal" Al in his hometown of Bedford. Jack Keefe's character is very amusing because he is talented but arrogant and never takes responsibility for anything. Closed- and simple-minded, Jack pitches for the White Sox and manages, or attempts to manage, relationships with women. I was very excited to read this masterpiece of sports literature, but upon reading it I found that, although slightly amusing, the book was quite slow, and it failed to really grip the reader's interest and attention. However, Lardner does have his moments; his story is charming and his angle of storytelling is unique.

Ring Lardner's classic of baseball humor, consisting of the fictional letters between Jack Keefe, a lifelong "busher", and Al Blanchard, his best friend back in their hometown of Bedford, Indiana. The letters show Keefe as a naive, boastful athlete who always complains about his expenses and blames others for his own faults on and off the field. Lardner incorporates real players of the times (circa 1914), and paints his humor with a broad bush. Some of the comedy is too dated to be effective today, but much of it still rings true, and the book is a good portrait of the times and what it was like to be a ballplayer then. ( )