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THE STALKER
Good evening. This is Dead Legends. We dig up forgotten baseball history and deliver it to you every night on a silver platter.
Let's dive in.
Today's story is about an obsessed fan who took it too far, and a ballplayer's incredible comeback.
Eddie Waitkus' life inspired the novel, “The Natural” by Bernard Malamud.
The book is the fictionalized account of a ballplayer named Roy Hobbs, who is shot by a mysterious woman.
You may have seen the movie, which is based on the novel, but features a happy ending.
So, who is Eddie Waitkus?
Waitkus got signed with the Cubs in ‘39, and after two years in the minors, he made his MLB debut.
After that first season, he went back down to the minors; then he went off to serve our country in World War II.
He experienced extensive combat in the Pacific, including New Guinea and the Philippines, narrowly escaping being taken prisoner by the Japanese.
Waitkus returned to Chicago after the war and slotted in as their starting first baseman from '46-'48.
He hit between .292 and .304 in all three seasons, and made his first all-star team in ‘48.
During the season in '47, Waitkus gained a new fan - Ruth Ann Steinhagen - she was absolutely obsessed with Waikus.
Ruth waited outside the Cubs’ clubhouse after games to get a glimpse of Eddie, but they never actually met.
She even built a shrine to Waitkus in her bedroom.
According to her mother, Steinhagen had hundred of pictures of Eddie, and would look at them for hours on end.
In '48, the Cubs traded him to the Phillies, and Steinhagen, then 18, moved out of her parents' house.
She took her obsession to the next level - filling her entire apartment with mementoes of Waitkus.
In May of the following year, Steinhagen says she made the decision to kill Eddie Waitkus.
Why? She gave a few main reasons:
Revenge for everything that had ever happened to her.
She liked Eddie too much to let anyone else have him.
If she couldn't have him forever, the next best thing was spending their last dying moments together.
According to United Press, she told her mom and one of her friends about her intentions to commit the murder, but they thought she was bluffing.
When the Phillies came to play the Cubs during the summer of '49, Steinhagen was ready to carry out her plan.
She purchased a .22-caliber rifle, and brought it to the Edgewater Beach Hotel, where the Phillies were staying.
She also brought a pairing knife with a 3.5-inch blade.
Based on statements she made after the incident, Steinhagen planned on stabbing Eddie and then killing herself with the gun afterwards.
Then came June 14th; it was like any other day at the ballpark...
Waitkus had a single, a walk and scored twice in the Phillies’ 9-2 win.
After the game, Eddie had dinner with some friends, and Ruth paid a bellhop $5 to deliver this note to him.
Waitkus asked who was registered to Room 1297-A and was told it was "Ruth Anne Burns of Boston."
He thought it might be a relative of his hometown baseball mentor, Jack Burns.
He called the room and asked Ruth what the note was about.
She only gave him a cryptic answer, letting him know that it was important and urgent, but not giving him much information besides that.
Waitkus arrived to 1297-A around 11:30pm, and Steinhagen was ready for him.
She opened the door, holding a purse with the knife inside it, but Eddie came in so quickly that she didn't have the chance to pull it on him.
He walked toward a far corner and sat down in an armchair.
Steinhagen reached into the closet for the rifle, pointed it at him and told him to stand near the window.
Waitkus said he literally thought the whole thing was a practical joke set up by his teammates.
But then it got real very fast.
Steinhagen told Eddie that he wasn't going to "bother her anymore" and shot him in the chest at close range.
The bullet pierced a lung, ripped into his back muscles and lodged near his spine.
Ruth couldn't muster up the willpower to carry out the suicide as planned, so she called the hotel operator and told them she shot a man.
Waitkus was rushed to a hospital and Steinhagen was arrested.
She told police that she just “had to shoot someone” and that it was “the only way to remove the tension" she had felt over the previous two years.
Two weeks after the shooting, Steinhagen was arraigned on assault charges with intent to commit murder.
She was indicted by a grand jury, and found to be insane.
Waitkus was seriously injured, but somehow didn't die.
He spent a month in the hospital, undergoing six operations before returning to Philly on July 17th.
In November, Eddie started a grueling three-month program to get back in baseball shape.
By the time the Phillies reported for Spring Training, Waitkus was ready to rock.
He batted .284, with 182 hits and 102 runs score for the Phillies in '50.
They won the National League pennant that year.
Shortly after the start of the '52 baseball season, Steinhagen was released from the psychiatric hospital where she had spent three years.
She moved back into her parents house and disappeared into obscurity.
Eddie Waitkus continued to play until '55 and finished his career with a .285 batting average and 1,214 hits.
Unfortunately, the incident with Ruth haunted him for the rest of his life.
I never pass up on an opportunity to watch old Ken Griffey Jr. highlights.
Junior was almost superhuman on a baseball field, which is why our friends at Homage created a whole collection inspired by him.
Here’s a few of my top picks:
And if you’re looking for a fourth of July shirt - their USA collection is also on sale tonight.
STRANGE NAMES
If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.
Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.
If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.
Today's winner is:
Just rolls right off the tongue, don't it?
Unfortunately for BJ, his name is the coolest thing about him; the guy was terrible at baseball.
Of course, WAR isn’t the only meaningful stat in baseball, but a negative WAR is certainly not a good sign.
Robidoux now umpires high school baseball games in Western Massachusetts.
THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE
If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:
That's it for today. Tomorrow we're back at it like a bad habit. See ya!
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