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Eddie Waitkus -(D. 1972) had an 11-year career (1941, 1946-1955). He played for the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies in the National League and for the Baltimore Orioles of the American League. He was elected to the National League All-Star team twice (1948 and 1949).
Just a few years into the start of what seemed a very promising career, Waitkus was shot in the chest by Ruth Ann Steinhagen, an obsessed fan, on June 14, 1949, at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. Steinhagen had become infatuated with him when he was a Cub, but seeing him every day in-season apparently kept her obsession in check. Once he was traded to the Phillies and would only be in Chicago 11 games in the season, her obsession grew to dangerous proportions. 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. She then shot him with a rifle, the bullet barely missing his heart. He nearly died several times on the operating table before the bullet was successfully removed. Steinhagen never stood trial, but instead was confined to a mental institution. Steinhagen's obsession and stalking was covered at length in one of the Fireside Book of Baseball entries. Author Bernard Malamud, who was not a baseball fan himself, took the basic elements of the Waitkus story and wove them along with various baseball legends (notably Joe Jackson), into a novel, a morality tale called The Natural.
Offered is a signed government postcard that has been signed in bold blue ink postmarked from Chicago July 1, 1948. Highly sought after!
Item: 12395
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