Joe Boyd is a middle-aged fan of the unsuccessful Washington Senators, and his obsession with baseball widens the gap between him and his wife, Meg Boyd. Meg leads a chorus of wives who lament their husbands’ fixation with the sport, a grievance summed up in their refrain about “Six Months Out of Every Year.” When Joe lashes out in fury at another loss by the Senators, Meg, sensing that he isn’t really listening to her, retires for the night, leaving him alone with his fevered thoughts.
Driven to desperation, Joe blurts out that he would sell his soul to the Devil to see his team triumph over the New York Yankees. In a flash, the Devil arrives in the form of a suave con man, Mr. Applegate. He offers a better version of Joe’s wish: youth and athletic brilliance that could carry the Senators to the pennant. Joe pushes for an escape hatch—an escape clause that would allow him to back out the day before the season’s final game, after which his soul would belong to the Devil. With a bittersweet farewell to a sleeping Meg, his transformation is complete, and the newly minted hero becomes the dashing Joe Hardy.
The next morning, the team comes to life in a way it never did before. The manager, Benny Van Buren, delivers a rousing pep talk that electrifies the squad, and Applegate arrives as a talent scout, unveiling the sensational Joe Hardy to fans and press alike with a confident smile. Joe’s first at-bats are nothing short of explosive—one blistering hit after another, as he proves to be a natural in the batter’s box. A zealous female sportswriter, Gloria Thorpe, sets in motion a rapid-fire campaign to push Joe into the national spotlight with the catchy rallying cry of his nickname, Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.
With a string of spectacular feats—home runs that sail out of the park and catches that save the day—the new sensation becomes a national phenomenon. Yet beneath the roar of the crowds, Joe aches for Meg and keeps slipping away to his old neighborhood to catch a glimpse of her. Sensing trouble for his plans, Applegate summons Lola, a former beauty who sold her soul for eternal youth. Lola’s orders are simple: break Joe’s attachment to Meg and make him forget his wife. Lola’s challenge seems almost impossible, because Joe’s heart remains loyal to the woman he loves, and his resolve falters under her temptations. Lola exhorts him with temptations like “A Little Brains, A Little Talent,” but Joe’s fidelity proves stronger than the spell.
As the season nears its climax, Washington fans celebrate with a lavish tribute to the team’s surge toward the pennant. Gloria, having unearthed a troubling inconsistency in the Hannibal backstory, confronts Applegate about Joe’s true identity. He hints that Joe might actually be Shifty McCoy, a corrupt minor leaguer using a false name, and the newspapers begin to paint Joe in a troubling light. The pressure mounts as Joe faces a hearing with the baseball commissioner just as the clock ticks toward the moment of truth, with Meg and other witnesses stepping forward to vouch for his character and to defend the idea that his journey began in Hannibal. The commissioner eventually clears Joe, but midnight is approaching, and Applegate’s plan to snatch the pennant away—while forcing millions of Yankee-haters into their most dramatic breakdowns—hangs over everyone.
Applegate’s grim arithmetic becomes cruel theatre: if the pennant slides away, there will be panic and despair in cities across the country. Lola reveals she’s drugged Applegate so he’ll sleep through the crucial last game; the pair retreat to a nightclub to console their doomed fate with the melancholy number “Two Lost Souls.” But as the ninth inning unfolds, Applegate awakens to discover Lola’s affection for Joe has grown, and he reverses her transformation back into the grotesque hag she once was.
In a nail-biting finish, the Senators trail by a single run with two outs and a runner on base. Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle drives a long ball toward center, and Joe Hardy makes a final, dramatic sprint to catch it in time. The play preserves the pennant for Washington, but Joe quietly slips away from the chaotic celebration and returns to his ordinary life, unseen by the crowd. He reunites with Meg in a private moment, and they share a tender duet, [“There's Something about an Empty Chair”]—a sign that love and integrity endure even when other worlds clash with them.
The moment of truth arrives when Applegate appears again, offering Joe the chance to resume being Joe Hardy just in time for the World Series. He also makes Lola young and beautiful again to tempt him. Joe resists, and Applegate’s tantrum vanishes into the night for good. The story closes on a quiet, hopeful note: Joe and Meg, standing together, face an uncertain world but choose the bond that truly matters, a choice echoed in their gentle, intimate finale.
