"Any team can have a bad century." (Jack Brickhouse, Chicago Cubs TV Announcer, 1948-81) Which is more important, tradition or victory? Rachel Caravetti, a star athlete with gaps in her past, pushes professional baseball to answer that question. She has the pitch to win. Does baseball have the guts to hire her? The owner of the Chicago Cubs is dying of cancer. He is desperate for his team to make it into the World Series, but the team's relief pitching is hurting. Kevin Boswell, the slumping ace pitcher, stands to lose his job if Rachel succeeds; he is also the only man Rachel has ever loved. To what lengths will the devious manager of the Cubs, the commissioner of baseball and Mike's scheming granddaughter go to keep Rachel out of professional baseball? In this struggle for a World Series Cub appearance, anger, skill, fear, dreams and raw talent lock in deadly battle. The beloved "Friendly Confines" cradles the last dreams of a dying man and the struggling romance between two people who love baseball as much as they love each other. On its pitcher's mound, Rachel faces her deepest fear and learns that her biggest challenge has nothing to do with baseball.