Summary

Chapter 49 deals with the immediate aftermath of Henry's decision to leave the Westish-Coshwale game. He walks into the dugout and approaches Izzy, a talented player who normally serves as a second-string shortstop. Henry tells Izzy to get in the game. Izzy takes over as shortstop, and Henry, after removing his jersey, sits next to Owen and watches the game progress.

In Chapter 50, the novel shifts to the perspective of President Affenlight, who is watching the Westish-Coshwale game in the company of Dwight Rogner and Aparicio Rodriguez. Dwight and Aparicio talk about a few baseball players who suffered from the kind of paralysis that now afflicts Henry; one of these was Steve Sax, who had played against Aparicio. President Affenlight discovers that Sax's kind of paralysis and self-doubt became prominent in baseball in the 1970s. For a moment, President Affenlight dwells on a hypothesis...