Similarly, does Roy Hobbs die in the natural? [6], Waitkus returned to play in the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies season as the leadoff hitter for the Whiz Kids team that won the 1950 National League pennant. [9] She said she had first seen Waitkus three years before, and that he reminded her "of everybody, especially my father. She left this note for him: “It is extremely important that I … He was given two transfusions, but surgeons were afraid to … …Waitkus, on June 23, 1946, hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs with Marv Rickert — a Major League first. Upon his return to baseball he quickly became a star for the Chicago Cubs. Waitkus, a Phillies first… [7][12], Steinhagen was arrested and then arraigned on June 30, 1949. [7], "Ruth Ann Steinhagen Is Dead at 83; Shot a Ballplayer", "Waitkus, Baseball Star, Shot By Strange Girl", "Obsessed fan who shot player, inspired movie, dies", "Assassin profiles not an easy mark, report says", "Chicago woman was real-life stalker from 'The Natural, "Ruth Ann Steinhagen Trial: 1949 â "I Just Had To Shoot Somebody", "near Miraculous" Recovery, Obsession At First Sight", "Take me out to the movies: The Daily Mail sports department picks its top 10 baseball movies of all time", "Phillies' 10,000 losses don't come easy", "The Real Roy Hobbs â The Natural Facts", "An Unnatural Obsession: An insane woman's attack on a ballplayer on whom she had a crush eventually inspired a famous Robert Redford movie", The Shootings of Billy Jurges and Eddie Waitkus,", "Girl In Waitkus Shooting Pens Her Life Story", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruth_Ann_Steinhagen&oldid=1008513512, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 23 February 2021, at 17:59. [11] According to Meyer, Waitkus believed the note was from a friend of Ruth Ann Burns, a woman whom he was dating. [7], On June 14, 1949, the Phillies came to Chicago for a game against the Cubs. Obsessed fan Ruth Steinhagen who shot player, inspired movie 'The Natural', dies. "Ruth has a place in Chicago crime history because of the good old-fashioned moxie she used to carry out her plan — to kill Eddie Waitkus," Theodore said via email Thursday. [5], While she never actually met him during that time, at home she created a "shrine" to Waitkus with hundreds of photographs and newspaper clippings, often spreading them out and looking at them for hours, according to her mother. She shot Phillies’ baseball star Eddie Waitkus once in … [2] Born Ruth Catherine Steinhagen, she adopted the middle name Ann at some point in her youth. In the movie, the femme fatale was played by actress Barbara Hershey and her character commits suicide after shooting Redford's character, Roy Hobbs . [21] Waitkus biographer John Theodore said about her, "She chose to live in the shadows and she did a good job of it. Ruth Ann Steinhagen (born Ruth Catherine Steinhagen; December 23, 1929 – December 29, 2012) was an American woman who shot and nearly killed Eddie Waitkus, star first baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, on June 14, 1949 in one of the first instances of what later became known as stalker crimes. The Unnatural Shooting of Eddie Waitkus Lyrics: Ruth Ann Steinhagen, who was an office typist / Went to a baseball game at Wrigley Field / With a couple of her girlfriends, it … Press, 1996), 174-177; Robert A. Greenberg, “Swish Nicholson — A Biography of Wartime Baseball’s Leading Slugger (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2008), 194-196; Mark McGuire and Michael Sean … Waitkus was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital with a bullet in his chest. Waitkus was in uniform for the first time since he was shot, June 14, 1949, in a Chicago hotel by 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen. [13] He said he asked her, as she knelt beside his prone body with her hand on his, "Oh, baby, what did you do that for? [12][10][11] Steinhagen still intended to shoot herself, but evidently could not find another bullet. 22 The account of the Waitkus shooting is taken largely from Robin Roberts and C. Paul Rogers, III, The Whiz Kids and the 1950 Pennant (Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Released by the Orioles in 1955, he returned to the Phillies[9] for the remainder of the season. [6][12] The book was published in 1952 and was made into a Hollywood film starring Robert Redford and Glenn Close released in 1984. [2] She lived there with her sister after their parents died in the early 1990s. [11] She told a psychiatrist before she went to court that "I didn't want to be nervous all my life",[13] and explained to reporters that "the tension had been building up within me, and I thought killing someone would relieve it"â a murderous impulse that had been with her for at least two years. [6], She told her doctors, after the incident, "I used to go to all the ball games to watch him. Similarly, it is asked, who shot Roy Hobbs and why? Waitkus led the team in scoring with 102 runs. He also became a popular media figure, as he was well-educated and was fluent in Lithuanian, Polish, German, and French. "[5] In 1948, Steinhagen's family sent her to a psychiatrist, but her obsession didn't diminish, even after Waitkus was traded to Philadelphia. [7][10][11][14] He also, according to Meyer, developed a drinking problem after the incident. Two-Time All-Star (once for the Cubs, once for the Phils). Hobbs' shooting is based on 1950s baseball player Eddie Waitkus who was shot by a deranged fan, but survived to continue his baseball career. When he arrived in her room, she shot him with a .22 caliber rifle, the bullet barely missing his heart. [3] Waitkus was taken to the Illinois Masonic Hospital,[4] where he nearly died several times on the operating table before the bullet was successfully removed. "[15] The petition requested a sanity hearing. Steinhagen never stood trial but instead was briefly confined to a mental institution. Barbara Hershey, right, played a character based on her in … "[9][13], Taken to Waitkus' hospital room the day after the shooting, she told him, as well, that she didn't know for sure why she had done it. As a rookie, he was known as "the natural," which gave the title to the book loosely based on his life. Eddie Waitkus fought in combat in World War II, returned home to resume a major-league baseball career and found himself in another life-and-death struggle against a determined foe. Credit... On the night of June 14, 1949, a young woman … Waitkus was in uniform for the first time since he was shot, June 14, 1949, in a Chicago hotel by 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen. Hobbs' shooting is based on 1950s baseball player Eddie Waitkus who was shot by a deranged fan, but survived to continue his baseball career. Waitkus, who played the season after he was shot, helping the Phillies win the National League pennant, decided not to press charges in 1952 when Steinhagen was deemed sane. [16] Chief Judge James McDermott of the Criminal Court of Cook County then directed the jury to find her insane, and ordered her committed to Kankakee State Hospital. [24] Court records and other background checks reveal no information about her career. Major League Baseball Player. …Waitkus hit an inside-the-park grand slam on August 24, 1947. [2], On December 29, 2012, Steinhagen died in a Chicago hospital of a subdural hematoma that she suffered as a result of an accidental fall in her home. "[13], Steinhagen indicated that she had planned to stab him, and use the gun to shoot herself, but changed her plans when he quickly took a seat. [19] She shunned publicity in the ensuing decades. However, it is unclear if Malamud was solely inspired by the shooting of Waitkus, or if he instead or also had borrowed from the life of Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges, who was shot by his ex-girlfriend in 1932 at the Chicago hotel in which they lived. [13] While Waitkus was lying on the floor bleeding from the chest, Steinhagen called down to the front desk of the hotel and told them "I just shot a man ..."[9] Thereafter, according to a Miami News report released on the following day, she went to wait for them on the benches near the elevator, although a much later article in The Washington Times indicates she held Waitkus' head on her lap until help arrived. FILE - In this Aug. 19, 1949 file photo, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus acknowledges the applause of fans at Shibe Park as he stands by gifts showered on him on "Eddie Waitkus Night" in Philadelphia. [6][13], Associated Press, “Eddie Waitkus, Major League Player, Shot,”, "Eddie Waitkus and "The Natural": What is Assumption? She was falling in love — obsessively — with the baseball player who in the Pacific Theater during... An insurance-company . By Cliff Corcoran. [2], As one of the first instances of what later became known as stalker crimes,[1][3][4] the incident for several years "had a profoundly anti-aphrodisiacal effect on traveling athletes", according to The Boston Globe. "[10] A 2001 Chicago Times story claims that Steinhagen said, "You're not going to bother me anymore. She checked into the hotel using the alias of a former high school classmate of his and left a note at the desk, asking him to come to her hotel room on an urgent matter. [2][21] She steadfastly maintained her privacy, avoided reporters, and refused to comment publicly on her shooting of Waitkus. [8] Claiming to be "Ruth Anne Burns," Waitkus opened her note:[9], It's extremely important that I see you as soon as possible, We're not acquainted, but I have something of importance to speak to you about I think it would be to your advantage to let me explain it to you, After insisting that she was leaving the hotel the next day and pressing the timeliness of the request, she concluded:[9], I realize this is a little out of the ordinary, but as I said, it's rather important, Please, come soon. ", https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHI/1950.shtml, "Waitkus, Who Beat Death Rap, 'Comeback King, Phillies release Waitkus, Lowrey; Sell Bob Kuzava, "This Day in Philly Sports History: A Demented Fan and the Natural", "Show Girl and the Shortstop: The Strange Saga of Violet Popovich and Her Shooting of Cub Billy Jurges", "The Shootings of Billy Jurges and Eddie Waitkus", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eddie_Waitkus&oldid=1011595671, Sportspeople from Cambridge, Massachusetts, Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players, United States Army personnel of World War II, Articles with dead external links from August 2020, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, September 20, 1955, for the Philadelphia Phillies, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 11 March 2021, at 19:29. He was elected to the National League All-Star team twice (1948 and 1949). [23][22] She lived in the home for the rest of her life. Ruth Ann Steinhagen (born Ruth Catherine Steinhagen; December 23, 1929 â December 29, 2012) was an American woman who shot and nearly killed Eddie Waitkus, star first baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, on June 14, 1949 in one of the first instances of what later became known as stalker crimes. Eddie Waitkus, the Fightin’ Phillies first-sacker, is best remembered not for his 182 hits and .284 average on the 1950 National League pennant-winners and not for any other on-field accomplishment.Instead, his name is inexorably linked to the plight and fate of the central character in an all-time classic baseball novel. [28], The bullet that struck Waitkus lodged in a lung, threatening his life and preventing his returning to baseball for the rest of the season. The incident is one of the inspirations for the 1952 baseball book The Natural, made into a film in 1984. [7] Waitkus made his only post-season appearance in the 1950 World Series. Ruth Ann Steinhagen shot Philadelphia Phillies first basement Eddie Waitkus in 1949. (With or without a silver bullet, Waitkus was no Hobbs, but he did score over 100 runs one year in his career.). [15][17] The judge also struck "with leave to reinstate" the grand jury's indictment of Steinhagen on a charge of assault with intent to commit murder, meaning that prosecutors could refile the charge if Steinhagen recovered her sanity. [11] Waitkus's son later speculated that his father may have "thought he had a hot honey on the line. [15], Steinhagen was confined and treated at the institution until 1952, when she was declared cured and released. Waitkus, who played the season after he was shot, helping the Phillies win the National League pennant, decided not to press charges in 1952 when Steinhagen was deemed sane. [8], Prior to the 1954 season, the Baltimore Orioles purchased Waitkus from the Philadelphia Phillies for $40,000 (equivalent to $381,000 in 2019). The bullet had punctured his lung and lodged next to his spine and was near his heart. [1] The incident is one of the inspirations for the 1952 baseball book The Natural, made into a film in 1984. Eddie Waitkus was in a wheelchair at a 1949 hearing for Ruth Ann Steinhagen. Waitkus, the son of Lithuanian immigrants, grew up in Boston and attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and Boston College. Ruth Ann Steinhagen, then-19, in the Cook County Jail after she shot Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus in 1949. [12] Meyer said that Waitkus told him that when he entered the room, the woman he met claimed to be a friend of Ruth Ann's, introducing herself as Mary Brown, and saying that Ruth Ann would be returning to the room immediately. Ruth Ann Steinhagen, the obsessed Cubs fan who shot Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus, a former Cub, in a Chicago hotel on … What is Fact? Ruth is likely referencing Ruth Ann Steinhagen, the woman who stalked and shot Eddie Waitkus, that inspired the novel and film The Natural. He began his professional career in 1938 playing for the Worumbo Indians, a semi-professional team sponsored by Worumbo Woolen Mill in Lisbon Falls, Maine. Questioned about the shooting, she told police she did not know why she had done it, telling an assistant state's attorney that she wanted "to do something exciting in my life. [20] Little information is publicly available about the remainder of her life, which was quiet and secluded. A 19 year-old woman who idolized Waitkus … It was reported today that the woman who famously shot Phillies’ 1Bman Eddie Waitkus on June 14, 1949, inspiring Bernard Malamud’s 1952 novel The Natural, which was later turned into the even more well known 1984 movie starring Robert Redford, has died. She would even set an empty place across from her at dinner for Waitkus. [3] After the shooting, police found extensive clippings in her suitcase and even pictures papering the ceiling of her bedroom. [2], A 19-year-old typist at the time of the incident,[3] Steinhagen had developed an obsession with Waitkus after seeing him play as first baseman with the Chicago Cubs. After the game, which she attended, Steinhagen sent Waitkus a handwritten note through a bellboy, inviting him to visit her in her 12th floor room in the Edgewater Beach Hotel where they were both registered. He died in 1972. Ruth Ann Steinhagen, who shot baseball player Eddie Waitkus, inspired a movie starring Robert Redford By DON BABWIN • Published March 17, 2013 • Updated on March 18, 2013 at 2:22 pm [25] It prompted a magazine article from sports writer Al Stump entitled "Baseball's Biggest Headacheâ Dames! Just a few years into the start of what seemed a very promising career, Ruth Ann Steinhagen, an obsessed fan, shot Waitkus at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel on June 14, 1949,[2] in one of the earliest recognized cases of criminal stalking.[3]. [5] However Waitkus did return in uniform, although not to action, on August 19, 1949, for "Eddie Waitkus Night" at Shibe Park, at which he was feted by the Phillies and showered with gifts. Social media Share this article. This June 16, 1949, wire photograph is titled “Ruth Confers with Parents.” The caption reads: “Chicago: Ruth Steinhagen confers with her parents, Walter (left) and Edith (right) before arraignment today (6/16) in felony court on charge of attempted murder. Edward Stephen Waitkus (September 4, 1919 – September 16, 1972) was a Lithuanian American first baseman in Major League Baseball who had an 11-year career (1941, 1946–1955). . Baseball’ s Natural: The Story of Eddie Waitkus is John Theodore’ s true account of the slick-fielding first baseman who played for the Cubs and Phillies in the 1940s and became an immortalized figure in baseball lore as the inspiration for Roy Hobbs in Bernard Malamud’ s The Natural. He played for the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies in the National League and for the Baltimore Orioles of the American League. While that’s not much of a story in itself, some baseball writers have used her death to point out the similarities and differences between Waitkus and Roy Hobbs, the character he inspired in Bernard Malamud’s baseball epic, The Natural. By Staff Writer Published 03/18/2013 02:58:00 | Views: 2149. She had been obsessed with him, and lured Waitkus to a Chicago hotel … In the movie, the femme fatale was played by actress Barbara Hershey and her character commits suicide after shooting Redford's character, Roy Hobbs. I won't take up much of your time, I promise, According to Waitkus' friend and roommate, Russ Meyer, Waitkus received the note, which was affixed to the door of their 9th-floor room, after 11:00 p.m., after having been out to dinner with Meyer's family and fiancée. "[11] For whatever reason, he went to meet her in the room. [10] The incident, which required four surgeries, is said to have influenced Waitkus' career and probably his personal life as well, as his numbers after the shooting were never the same and as he developed a great concern that others might not understand why he had visited Steinhagen's room. She had been obsessed with him, and lured Waitkus to a Chicago hotel room. He was first baseman for the 1950 Phillies Whiz Kids. [15] At the ensuing sanity hearing (which also occurred on June 30, 1949), Dr. William Haines, a court-appointed psychiatrist, testified that Steinhagen was suffering from "schizophrenia in an immature individual" and was insane. "[9], Steinhagen's counsel presented a petition to the court saying that their client was "unable to cooperate with counsel in the defense of her cause" and did not "understand the nature of the charge against her. Matron Ann Markov plays umpire. After the 1955 baseball season was complete, the Phillies released Waitkus. [1] Following the 1948 season, the Cubs traded Waitkus with Hank Borowy to the Philadelphia Phillies for Monk Dubiel and Dutch Leonard. [5] Since the ballplayer was from the Boston area, she developed a craving for baked beans, and, because Waitkus was of Lithuanian descent, she even studied Lithuanian for a time. "[13] Waitkus, who later said he believed the woman was joking, stood and was shot. Ruth Ann Steinhagen, the Cubs fanatic who shot Eddie Waitkus in 1949, died late last year. "[26] It was fictionalized as one of the inspirations for the 1952 baseball book The Natural, which was made into a film in 1984, where actress Barbara Hershey played the role, inspired by Steinhagen. Steinhagen is mentioned by Archer in "Robert De Niro" in comparison to himself being shot by Veronica Deane. Once he was traded to the Phillies, Steinhagen's obsession grew to dangerous proportions. Her name was Ruth Ann Steinhagen. According to a 1949 Time magazine article, she had seen him play in 1946,[4] although John Theodore's 2002 biography of Waitkus indicates she later told her doctor she first saw Waitkus on April 27, 1947. [18], After her release, Steinhagen moved back home to live with her parents and her younger sister in her parents' small apartment on Chicago's North Side. Another baseball player shot: 70 years ago, Eddie Waitkus was a stalker’s victim Throughout the 1948 . Ruth Steinhagen, right, plays ball in 1949 with inmates of the Cook County Jail in Chicago, where she was held after shooting Eddie Waitkus. [10] The Sunday Gazette Mail says Waitkus knew some people named Burns. Waitkus had had an eventful life before he met Steinhagen. Ruth Anne before shooting Sterling Archer. Ruth Ann Steinhagen Is Dead at 83; Shot a Ballplayer. Waitkus — like Redford's character — survived. That true story involves the 1949 shooting of Phillies’ first baseman Eddie Waitkus by an obsessed fan. She immediately called the desk to report the shooting and was found cradling his head in her lap. [2] Her death was not publicly reported until nearly three months after it occurred;[1] the Chicago Tribune learned of it while searching death records in connection with another story. 1949 Portrait photograph of Ruth Steinhagen, the troubled young women who had an obsession with baseball player Eddie Waitkus and took it to the extreme by shooting him in a hotel room. [7][14] Waitkus did not press charges against Steinhagen after she was released, telling an assistant state's attorney that he wanted to forget the incident. A neighbor of hers told John Theodore that Steinhagen had said that she worked in an office job for 35 years, but Steinhagen never told the neighbor where she worked and the neighbor never asked her. [23] Discoverable evidence of employment that she may have had is virtually nonexistent. On June 14, 1949, Waitkus, 29, was shot in the chest by a deranged admirer, 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen, in a Chicago hotel room. Steinhagen died of natural causes at 83 in late December 2012. The real life inspiration for "The Natural", this is a creepy image as she appeared in court after the incident. Ruth Ann Steinhagen was 19 when she shot Eddie Waitkus, a Philadelphia Phillie.
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