significance of Aparicio's "The Art of Fielding"

One of Henry's greatest symbols of prowess and calm is a baseball tract called "The Art of Fielding," which was authored by legendary (and completely fictional) shortstop Aparicio Rodriguez. This is one of the few books that Henry explores with any discernible dedication or passion, but it is just as much a sacred book for him as Moby-Dick is for the more scholarly Affenlight. After all, this volume gives Henry a code of conduct for his own life: "You couldn't choose to think or not to think. You could only choose to work or not to work. And hadn't he chosen to work?" (305). In doing so, it embodies a set of ideals and symbolizes a kind of excellence (the effortless control of Rodriguez himself) that Henry hopes to replicate.