Joe Castle starts his career with home runs in his first three Major League Baseball at bats as well as hits in his first 15 plate appearances and is able to keep his batting average over .500 for the first six weeks of his season.[3][4] In a late-summer visit to Shea Stadium, Castle hits a home run in his first at-bat against Warren. Paul Tracey is a huge fan of Castle's.[3] Castle's career is ended later in the game when Warren intentionally hits him with a pitch.[2] Castle goes into a prolonged coma, suffers a stroke and is incapacitated for life, his ball-playing days definitely over. The Traceys become estranged and Paul does not watch another baseball game for 30 years.[4]
When Warren Tracey is on the verge of death from pancreatic cancer, Paul Tracey decides to try to arrange a meeting between him and Castle,[2] a far from easy task. Paul visits Joe's hometown of Calico Rock, Arkansas, where Joe lives, devotedly tending the town's baseball field and being supported by his two brothers. The sympathetic editor of the local Calico paper tells Paul that Joe hardly ever talks to strangers - much less to Warren Tracey, who destroyed his career. In fact, there is a concrete danger of Warren being physically assaulted, should he appear in Calico Rock - the townspeople still angry at what he did to their hero. Paul travels to Florida to visit with Warren, who has retired there with his fifth wife. Paul finds his long-estranged father as egoistic and vindictive as ever - reiterating, as he did for thirty years, that his hitting Joe Castle was an accident, that he had nothing to apologize for and that he had no interest in meeting Joe.
However, with cancer ravaging his body, Warren eventually has a change of heart. He does travel to Calico Rock, and Joe does consent to meet him. In a moment of sincerity, Warren admits to having deliberately hit Joe out of pure spite and offers an apology, asking, "Do you hate me," to which Joe answers, "No, you have apologized". Warren then says "You are a greater man than me" and the two shake hands.
Having brought about such a startling reconciliation between the old foes, Warren Tracey and Joe Castle, Paul Tracey finds himself unable to reach similar closure with his father - too many memories of abuse blocking his way. When saying goodbye to his dying father, despite knowing he will never see him again, Paul is unable to offer the embrace his father hopes for.
After Warren's death, Joe Castle and his brothers surprisingly turn up at the sparsely-attended funeral in Florida. When Warren's will is opened, it is revealed that he left $25,000 to the town of Calico Rock's baseball field - Joe's last link with the world of baseball.
