Ex-baseball player Monty Hanks, lame from an injury and forced to retire early, is given a 1909 baseball card of a player that looks exactly like him. The card is magical in that he becomes drawn into it and lives out the life of the player in the past. Monty must choose between being healthy and playing his favorite sport in the past, or live in the present with his despairing wife who fears he'll never grow up. It's not much of a contest, and Monty returns to the past - for good, after his wife destroys the card.