Eddie Waitkus Is Shot by an Obsessed Fan

On the night of June 14, 1949, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus was shot in the chest with a .22-caliber rifle in Room 1297A of the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The shooter was Ruth Ann Steinhagen, a 19-year-old typist from Chicago who had developed an obsession with Waitkus during his years playing for the Cubs. When the Cubs traded him to Philadelphia after the 1948 season, Steinhagen's fixation turned dangerous.

Steinhagen checked into the hotel under the name Ruth Ann Burns. She left a note at the front desk asking Waitkus to come to her room, saying she had something important to discuss. Waitkus, 29 years old and in the middle of a road trip, went upstairs. When he walked through the door, Steinhagen retrieved a rifle from a closet and shot him. The bullet entered his chest near the heart and lodged in a lung. He collapsed on the floor.

Surgeons at Illinois Masonic Hospital operated through the night. Waitkus nearly died on the table multiple times before doctors removed the bullet. He spent the rest of the 1949 season in recovery, missing 72 games during what had been a strong year for the Phillies.

Waitkus came back in 1950 and reclaimed his spot at first base. He played all 154 games as the leadoff hitter for the "Whiz Kids" Phillies team that won the National League pennant. He scored 102 runs that season and was named the Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year. The recovery was physical and psychological. He told reporters he had nightmares about the shooting for years.

Steinhagen never stood trial. A criminal court judge ruled her insane and committed her to Kankakee State Hospital, where she remained until 1952. Waitkus did not press charges.

The shooting became one of the inspirations for Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel "The Natural," in which a fictional ballplayer is shot by a mysterious woman in a hotel room. Robert Redford starred in the film adaptation in 1984. Waitkus, who died in 1972 at age 53, never received royalties from either version.