Home Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum

Crazed CUBS Fan (1949)

I was researching the '49 season and came across this...

June 14 - Following the Phillies 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, first baseman Eddie Waitkus is shot by Ruth Ann Steinhagen, an obsessed fan, at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. The shooting occurs just before midnight. The bullet punctures Waitkus' lung and lodges near his heart. After undergoing four operations, he recovers enough to play the following season, but he is not the same ballplayer. At the time of the shooting, Waitkus was batting .304 and leading the all-star voting among National League first basemen. Waitkus' shooting serves as the inspiration for the "Roy Hobbs" character in the Bernard Malamud novel, The Natural, and its subsequent film adaptation.
"Must these Englishmen Live That I Might Die? Must They Live That I Might Die?" - The Blue Oyster Cult

Comments

Sign In or Register to comment.