In 1965 Ronnie Preston was drafted by the Sacramento Angels shortly after he graduated from high school. He played for only half a season in the minors for a team called the Wilson Mets, and then was called up to the show at the age of 18, making him the youngest player in all of the major leagues. His powerful arm soon struck fear into the hearts of hitters throughout the league and a legend was born. During his nearly twenty-three year career, Ronnie Preston won an unprecedented seven Cy Young awards and broke nearly every pitching record possible, including becoming the first pitcher to throw faster than 100 mph. By the end of his career at the age of 45, he was widely regarded as the greatest pitcher to ever play the game. In the summer of 1982, a young man who might someday be the heir to Ronnie Preston's legacy took his first tentative steps toward greatness, quite by accident. As he walked to the mound on that fateful day, Michael Flynn was touched by magic, the magic of a girl named Annie Draper. The 1982 mid-Atlantic high school championship baseball game between Ellicott Mills High School and Stafford Falls High School is in the bottom of the ninth inning with Ellicott Mills ahead by one run, but in a bit of trouble with a runner on second and no outs. All hope seems lost when their ace pitcher, Peter Escalante, is hit in the face by a line drive and is unable to finish the game. A win here and they will advance to the national championship tournament in Syracuse, but Ellicott Mills head coach Don Beckman has no eligible pitchers left. He takes a gamble by putting his star catcher Michael Flynn in to replace Escalante. He hopes that Michael's familiarity with the pitching signals and his strong arm will be enough to keep the powerful Stafford hitters at bay for the final three outs. Michael is nervous about the unexpected move, but steps up to the mound and makes quick work of Stafford's best hitters. His girlfriend Annie Draper listens to the game on the radio in her bedroom, barely able to contain her excitement. Michael does more than a good job closing the game, and catches the attention of everyone, including the coach of Central Maryland University, who looks on with astonishment as he watches the final strike trip his radar gun at 92 mph. We now return to the year 1975 to the town of Ellicott Mills, located in the suburbs of Baltimore, where Michael and Annie both live and first meet as ten year old kids when their fathers take them to an amateur baseball game. Jake Flynn (Michael's father) is on the board for the county Little League organization, and during his conversations with Annie's father (Gary Draper), suggests that she might like to play baseball on Michael's team. At this time girls did not generally play baseball with boys, but Jake arranges it and Annie becomes one of the first girls to play Little League in Maryland, all to the dismay of her mother, Sandi Draper, the aristocratic daughter of a wealthy advertising mogul named Owen Burkhart. She is completely mortified by her daughter's desire to play baseball, and this marks the beginning of a mother/daughter conflict that will go on for most of Annie's teen years. Michael and Annie play baseball together for a couple of seasons, and spend much time with each other as their friendship grows ever stronger. By the time they are twelve they begin to discover something in each other, and on a summer night in 1977, they share their first kiss and promise to always be friends. From then on they are boyfriend and girlfriend, and by the time they are in high school, they know that they were meant to be together forever. Sandi has bigger plans for her daughter, however, and her relationship with Annie deteriorates to the point where she becomes verbally, psychologically, and even physically abusive. Her husband Gary is alarmed by what is happening and tries to intervene from time to time, but he is not entirely successful. It is now the summer of 1983, and Michael is pitching the game of his life in the national championship contest against a team from El Segundo, California. Much has happened during the past year. Michael's father (Jake) has done the work of harnessing Michael's considerable talent and transforming him into a major league caliber pitcher. Michael has broken nearly every record in the state of Maryland and seems destined to play professional baseball. Michael's performance in the game against El Segundo game is flawless, and with the help of his teammates, he pitches a perfect game, allowing no hits. His final pitch is clocked at 101 mph, officially tying Ronnie Preston's world record for the fastest pitch. In the months prior to the championship game, Annie has been keeping a secret from Michael. She is pregnant. Although she hasn't told him, Michael has somehow figured it out, and has already decided that he wants to marry her. After the game, Michael presents Annie with an engagement ring, an heirloom that was given to him by his grandmother shortly before her death three years earlier. Annie agrees to marry him, but only on the condition that Michael will not let their marriage and the baby keep him from pursuing his dreams of playing in the major leagues. Michael's parents (Jake and Linda) are shocked when they learn about Annie's pregnancy, but are completely supportive, as is Annie's father, Gary. Her mother Sandi is another matter. She reacts violently and goes completely out of control upon hearing the news and has to be restrained by her husband as she lashes out at Michael. Later, she attempts to have him charged with statutory rape. Her actions push both Annie and Gary away, and she finds herself an inch away from a divorce. Her father Owen, who is retired and living in Florida, learns of what Sandi has done and decides that he is at least partially to blame for what has happened. He decides that his lack of leadership in Sandi's life following the loss of her mother at the age of eight, is what turned her into the cruel and elitist person that she became. He intervenes and sends Sandi to live in Florida for a while to let things settle down before she does something that she will regret. Annie gives birth to a little girl named Bella, and it seems that everything will be okay after all. However, soon after Bella is born, Annie is diagnosed with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer that nearly takes her life. Annie's brush with death renews her determination about making sure that Michael pursues his dreams of playing professional baseball, a dream that seems more important to her than it is to him. Michael is affected most of all by what has happened to Annie, and playing baseball is the farthest thing from his mind. Holding her hand as she nearly died in the hospital room has put his priorities in the harshest perspective imaginable, and it takes much convincing before he can seriously devote himself to playing baseball. After a shaky start playing for CMU, he finds the magic and makes the 1988 Olympic baseball team and during an exhibition game in Baltimore meets the legendary Ronnie Preston. By 1988 Ronnie Preston has reached the twilight of his career, his best pitching days long behind him. He is suffering from nerve damage caused by severe tendinitis in his right elbow, but hides it from everyone including his manager and his wife (Jamie Preston). As a ball player, he exists now only on his fame, as he continues to disappoint the Sacramento Angels manager, who would like him to step down and retire. The manager has become so frustrated by Ronnie's insistence that he can still play at a high standard, that he leaves Ronnie in a losing game in the hope that he will humiliate himself. Ronnie is too stubborn to take himself out, and stays in the game even though he can no longer feel the fingers on his pitching hand. He suffers a humiliating loss and gets in a fight with a young rookie who charges the mound after being hit by one of Ronnie's wild pitches. The next morning Jamie hears a crash in the kitchen and rushes to find Ronnie on his hands and knees picking up pieces of the broken coffee pot. When he stands to reassure her that everything is okay, she notices that he has cut his finger badly and is bleeding profusely, but doesn't feel it. Finally, he tells her the truth about his condition, and she consoles him as he falls into her arms. Shortly after this, Ronnie is put on the disabled list. Rumors have begun to surface about the 1988 U.S. Olympic starting pitcher, Michael Flynn coming to Sacramento to take Ronnie's place. He remembers Michael very well from the night he watched him pitch at the exhibition game, because ever since that night, he has known deep in his heart that his time was over, and that even at his best, he was never as good as Michael. As he struggles with the decision about retirement, he decides to travel to the tiny town of Bakersfield, Maryland to see Michael's professional debut against the Hagerstown Stars. He wears dark glasses and a beat up baseball cap as he sits in the stands and watches Michael take apart the Stars with his 102 mph fastball. After the game he watches a press conference with Michael in which the reporters as him to comment on the rumors about him taking Ronnie Preston's place on the big club in Sacramento. Michael replies only that he is happy to be playing in Bakersfield and that Ronnie Preston is the greatest pitcher to ever play the game. While he was away in Maryland, Ronnie's wife starts looking into Michael Flynn's background and discovers that he is nearly a legend in his hometown. She finds many newspaper articles about him and even a touching radio documentary describing the struggles that he and Annie endured during her battle with cancer. She shares what she has learned with Ronnie and he is moved by Michael's story and even more impressed by his talent. He finally decides that Michael's time has come, and he is ready to retire. Ronnie speaks with the Angel's manager, and asks that he be allowed to pitch one more game. At Ronnie's request, they schedule Michael's major league debut for the game against the Baltimore Raptors, a game that will be played in Baltimore in front of his hometown crowd. Ronnie pitches a solid game for about five innings and then his fingers begin to go numb again. With the bases loaded and his team up by one run, he calls time and tells the manager that it's time. As Michael walks up to the mound, a teary eyed Ronnie Preston hands him the ball and walks off of the field to a standing ovation from the sentimental Baltimore crowd. No sooner than he leaves the field, the crowd is on its feet Michael takes the mound. It matters not to the crowd that Michael plays for the team in Sacramento because he will always be the kid from Ellicott Mills, one of their own. Michael saves the game, and Ronnie smiles as Michael breaks his record for fastest pitch when he throws the last strike of the game at 105 mph, setting a new world record.