June 14, 1949: Inspiration for "The Natural"

The real Roy Hobbs

The NaturalCHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus was shot by a deranged fan on this date in 1949. The event became the inspiration for The Natural, first a novel, then a movie. The book was written by Bernard Malamud in 1952. The movie came out in 1984 starring Robert Redford. The character in the book and movie, Roy Hobbs, was out of baseball for a while after being shot, but eventually made a dramatic comeback. Eddie Waitkus didn't make quite as dramatic a comeback, but was back in the Phillies lineup in 1950, and went on to play six more years in the majors.

Waitkus started out his career with the Chicago Cubs in 1941, but World War II interrupted and he ended up in the Philippines. He didn't return to the Cubs until 1946. It was during this time that a young Chicago secretary named Ruth Ann Steinhagen became obsessed with Waitkus. The Cubs first baseman was oblivious to the attraction.

Waitkus was traded to the Phillies before the 1949 season. The Phillies played a one-game series in Chicago in May, but a three-game series in June brought Waitkus closer to Steinhagen for an extended period for the first time since he left the Cubs. She got a room at the upscale Edgewater Beach Hotel where the Phillies were staying. She lured him to her room by using the name of a former high school friend of his. When he arrived Steinhagen shot him in the chest. He was close to death several times before the bullet was successfully removed.

Ruth Ann Steinhagen was never put on trial for the shooting, instead she was committed to a mental institution.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
More on Eddie Waitkus
The Natural by Bernard Malamud, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1952


Carvel William "Bama" Rowell

Carvel William "Bama" Rowell played six seasons in the big leagues, hitting just 19 homers and batting .275. Normally, a player with numbers like that might not be remembered, but Rowell was involved in one of the most bizarre plays in baseball history on May 30, 1946, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Rowell, born in Citronelle, Alabama, was an excellent athlete coin purse who attended Louisiana State University on a football scholarship, and signed his first baseball contract in 1935. An outfielder when he first arrived in the majors, Rowell made his big league debut with the Boston Braves on September 4, 1939, playing under manager Casey Stengel. As a rookie in 1940, Rowell played second base and batted .305 with 58 RBI in 130 games. After the 1941 season, Rowell enlisted in the Army, serving more than three years in World War II. When he returned in 1946, Rowell was moved back to the outfield by Braves manager Billy Southworth. On May 30, Rowell and delsey luggage the Braves were in Flatbush facing the Dodgers in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader. In the second inning of the second game, facing Hank Behrman, a Brooklyn-native, Rowell launched a high fly ball to right field that struck the famous Bulova Clock that stood atop the scoreboard. Bama's blast shattered the face of the clock, raining glass down on Dodgers right fielder Dixie Walker. The ball was in play, and Rowell ended up on second base with a double that kept a Boston seven-run rally alive. The clock however, was not alive. It stopped working exactly one hour after the ball's impact, which occurred at 4:25 p.m. The Bulova Clock Company had promised a free watch to anyone who hit the clock, but Rowell, for some reason fossil handbags, didn't receive it during his playing days. More than 40 years later, in 1987, on "Bama Rowell Day" in Citronelle, Rowell received his wristwatch from Bulova. Rowell's long drive off the clock at Ebbets Field inspired the scene in Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel The Natural, in which Roy Hobbs belts a home run off the light tower, which rains glass all over the diamond. Malamud was a Brooklyn-native and a Dodgers fan. Bama Rowell died on August 16, 1993, in Citronelle.

"one game series" is an

"one game series" is an oxymoron.

You got me on that.

You got me on that.