The concept embodied in this quote evokes a feeling, the sensation that you get when you are a fan in a stadium, where 50,00 people's hearts beat as one, all for the team.  Togetherness, unity, sunshine and the simplicity of the game.  The cheering crowd, the winning team, all is right with the world. 

These moments of shared glory, like when your favorite team wins the World Series, or the Superbowl are uniquely joyous, yet are shared by millions. 

For Shoeless Joe, who loved the game with a passion, and who was marked by the scandal and may have accepted money, was more a victim in the process, manipulated by the greedy owners.

Shoeless Joe loved the game so much that he would play for next to no money.  That is heaven, when you love something so much that you would do it for nothing.

Unfortunately, as Joe found out, even baseball is complicated by life and people who are greedy. Shoeless Joe's life was made very complicated by forces within the organization of baseball, but not the game itself, which for him was pure joy.  He paid an exceptionally high price for his participation in the scandal, banned for life from baseball, which made him feel like he was no longer a whole person.