The Art of Fielding

The Harpooners line up for the national anthem, and they watch their parents in the stands. Schwartz wishes that his mother were still alive. When they return to the dugout, Schwartz finds that he has several missed calls from Pella.

Coach Cox reads the lineup and asks Schwartz to pump up the team. Schwartz originally planned to bring an A-game speech full of fire and brimstone but realizes that this isn’t what his teammates need right now. They all stare at each other intensely and head out to the field.

Henry isn’t wearing his uniform but carries his large Westish bag. The usher won’t let him into the stadium. Henry eventually gets in after he finds his jersey in his bag. He sits on the first-base side, trying not to draw attention to himself; however, Owen spots him, and they all start waving. They invite Henry to sit in the dugout. To cross the field, he must walk past Schwartz and is angry at himself, thinking that if the Harpooners lose, everyone will blame him, viewing him as a jinx. Coach Cox asks him to coach first base. The pitchers’ arms are burned out.

Owen asks Henry if he has seen Guert. Henry was picked up at six o’clock in the morning, but Guert wasn’t there to meet him. Henry congratulates Izzy on a good play. Six Amherst softball players harass Henry from the stands. They read his stats from the roster, and the stadium falls silent to listen. The Harpooners are exhausted and make several errors. Schwartz strikes out. The pitchers on both sides intentionally hit a batter.

The bullpen phone rings. Coach Cox answers and starts to hang up but then agrees to get Schwartz. On the phone, Pella tells Schwartz that Mrs. McAllister found her father dead in his office, and Schwartz then relays this information to Owen. Henry tells Coach Cox that Owen can’t bat, and the coach orders him to pinch-hit. Henry finds the pitcher intimidating. He sets up farther from home plate than he normally would, prompting the pitcher to throw his fastball tighter than usual. Henry steps directly into the pitch.

Henry wakes up in the hospital. Schwartz tells him that he went down after he was hit in the helmet but insisted on running to first. On the next hit, Henry rounded the field to home, scoring the game-winning run. Everyone dog-piled on top of him at home plate, but Henry didn’t get up.

Schwartz tells him that he shouldn’t have stepped onto the pitch. The fastball was 92 miles an hour. Henry now has a concussion. He was extremely malnourished, and Schwartz explains that Henry is in the psychiatric ward for consultation about his anorexia.

Henry receives a call from Dwight, the Cardinals scout, who tells him that the Cardinals selected him in the 33rd round. Dwight offers him $100,000 dollars as a signing bonus. The Cubs picked up Starblind in the 32nd round.

Two months after Guert’s death, Pella walks through the quad. Professor Eglantine is supervising her. She heads to Dean Melkin’s office to finalize her fall enrollment. He tells her that they’ve secured her housing, but she wants to live off-campus with Schwartz. Melkin asks her if Guert’s death was suspicious or intentional. She’s flabbergasted that Melkin thinks that Guert may have wanted to die by suicide.

Pella tells Melkin that Guert’s death has been hard on Owen and confirms her suspicion that Melkin knew about their relationship. She realizes that this is why he asked if Guert died by suicide. Pella is angry at her father for getting caught and not telling her.

She wants to run to Bartleby’s to drink with Schwartz. She thinks about Melkin saying that nothing meant more to Guert than having Pella at Westish. She decides not to tell Owen that the administrators knew about their relationship, fearing that Owen will feel guilty.

Pella has walked to the cemetery without realizing it. She visits her father’s grave and looks at Lake Michigan. She recalls Guert’s favorite anecdote about Ellen Emerson and thinks that her father would have preferred his final resting place to be in the lake.

Schwartz’s new job starts in August. Until then, he’s working at Bartleby’s. He returns home to find Pella asleep in a chair and carries her to bed. Schwartz continues his investigation of Guert’s office, where he’s organizing books and papers. Owen often joins him. Schwartz is considering compiling Guert’s writing into a book.

Pella tells Schwartz her plan. She wants to dig up her father’s body and move him to the lake. Owen approves and says that they should call Henry.

Henry has lost a lot of weight. They all meet at the Herman Melville statue with shovels, a cooler, a picnic basket, and a large equipment bag. Contango follows them. They pass around a bottle of scotch and dig, and when they reach the coffin, they carefully excavate around it. It weighs 240 pounds, and they strategize about how to remove it from the earth. They don face masks, nose plugs, and rubber gloves. Owen takes Pella to the cemetery’s edge while Schwartz and Henry open the casket. They move Guert’s body into the large equipment bag and then load it into a rowboat. Owen, Pella, and Contango join them, and they begin rowing out into the lake.

They drift further from shore, drinking to pass the time, and procrastinate on saying their final goodbyes. Owen asks Pella if he can say a few words. He speaks about how Guert impacted his life. Pella reads “The Lee Shore,” her father’s favorite chapter of Moby Dick. Schwartz and Henry scoop Guert’s body out of the boat and drop it into the water.

When they return to shore, Pella heads to work. Owen is about to leave for Tokyo. Henry and Owen return to Guert’s grave, where they return the dirt to its hole.

Henry thinks about his therapist, Dr. Rachels. She considers his relationship with Schwartz unhealthy and has suggested that Henry gain more independence from him.

Henry shows Schwartz his offer from the Cardinals, and Schwartz urges him to mail his acceptance. Henry tells Schwartz that the school’s baseball team needs a captain and offers to fill that role. Schwartz tells him that if he stays, he needs to prioritize the team.

They head to the field, where Henry wears Schwartz’s glove. Schwartz hits grounders to Henry, whose first throws are erratic. Finally, after dozens of balls, Henry makes a perfect throw.