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The Natural

The origin of Roy Hobbs

August 28, 2011

Eddie Waitkus

Phillies first-baseman Eddie Waitkus, Clearwater, Florida, 3/9/53 (source). On June 19, 1949, Waitkus was shot in the chest by a deranged fan, Ruth Ann Steinhagen, in a Chicago hotel room. The incident inspired the similar episode in Bernard Malamud’s The Natural.

Filed Under: Books, Sports Tagged With: baseball, Bernard Malamud, The Natural

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