Eddie Waitkus is the baseball player who inspired the novel "The
Natural" by Bernard Malamud, which was
made into the movie
Der Unbeugsame (1984), starring
Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs. Waitkus was a top defensive first baseman
and left-handed line-drive hitter. He was one of the toughest men in
the league to strike-out. He spent 11 years wearing a major league
uniform. Although his numbers were not Hall of Fame numbers he did have
a lifetime batting average of .285.
He was shot by Ruth Ann Steinhagen on June 14, 1949. Waitkus was taken
to Illinois Masonic Hospital with a bullet in his chest. The bullet had
punctured his lung and lodged next to his spine and was near his heart.
He was given two transfusions, but surgeons were afraid to remove the
bullet because of its location. As it turned out, Waitkus had to have
four operations before he was able to go to Clearwater, Florida for
rehabilitation. Upon his return to baseball in 1950, Waitkus worked
hard as the Phillies' leadoff hitter, helping them win the National
League pennant. He hit 284 and scored 102 runs while playing in 154
games. According to family and friends of Eddie Waitkus, he was never
the same after the shooting. It cost him an All-Star spot, and he had
missed another season. His outgoing and friendly nature was gone. It
was replaced with a man who was withdrawn and just generally suspicious
of people. He went through some tough times after baseball, including
going into treatment for alcoholism. In the end he was working at
Ted Williams' baseball camp in the summer and basically collected
unemployment during the winter. He entered a Boston Veterans
Administration Hospital in the summer of 1972, and it was there that he
died of cancer on September 15, 1972, eleven days after his 53rd
birthday.
