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Baseball Shootings, Part Two:
Eddie Waitkus Shot by an Obsessed “Femme Fatale”
“If I can’t have you, nobody else can either!” –Ruth Ann Steinhagen to the object of her obsession, Eddie Waitkus, just before shooting him.
Some of you will remember in Part One of this series, I highlighted the shooting of Cub shortstop Billy Jurges in 1932 by scorned lover, Violet Popovich Valli.
Today, in Part Two, we turn our attention to another baseball shooting. The victim was a former Cub who was now a member of the Phillies, Eddie Waitkus. Unlike the Jurges shooting, this time the shooter wasn’t a scorned lover. Ruth Ann Steinhagen was an obsessed fan who shot and nearly killed Waitkus on July 14, 1949.
Edward Stephen Waitkus began his professional career in 1938 for a team with the improbable name of the Worumbo Indians, a semi-professional team in Lisbon Falls, Maine. An outstanding athlete seemingly headed for bigger and better things, his teammates soon pegged him as “the natural,” a nickname Eddie carried with him throughout his career.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts native was 21 when he broke into the majors with the Cubs on April 15, 1941, but he only saw action in 12 games that year. Back in the minors for the 1942 season, Eddie then missed the next three seasons due to military service during World War II (earning four Bronze Stars for heroism under fire). Upon his return from the Army, the 6’0″ 170 lb. first baseman was entering his prime as a budding star for the Cubs, hitting .304, .292, .295, and .306 from 1946-1949, giving him a combined .300 average (519-for-1726) prior to the shooting.
And then it happened…
Nineteen-year-old typist Ruth Ann Steinhagen, the obsessed fan, was the daughter of German immigrants. She shot Waitkus at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel, room 1297A, not far from the Hotel Carlos, the scene of the Jurges shooting. The incident is recognized in criminal history as one of the first recorded cases of felony stalking. Characterized in Chicago newspapers as a “femme fatale,” the seriousness of her obsession is revealed in the following passage:
While she never actually met him, at home she created a “shrine” to Waitkus with hundreds of photographs and newspaper clippings, often spreading them out and looking at them for hours, according to her mother. She would even set an empty place across from her at dinner for Waitkus. Since the ballplayer was from the Boston area, she developed a craving for baked beans, and, because Waitkus was of Lithuanian descent, she even studied Lithuanian for a time.
She told her doctors after the incident, “I used to go to all the ball games to watch him. We used to wait for them to come out of the clubhouse after the game, and all the time I was watching I was building in my mind that idea of killing him.” In 1948, Steinhagen’s family sent her to a psychiatrist, but her obsession didn’t diminish, even after Waitkus was traded to Philadelphia. After the shooting, police found extensive clippings in her suitcase and even pictures papering the ceiling of her bedroom.
Steinhagen became infatuated with Waitkus during his tenure with the Cubs when she could see him on a daily basis at Wrigley Field. The obsession turned psychotic after the trade to the Phillies. She developed a demented plan: She checked into the Edgewater Beach Hotel where the Phillies stayed while in Chicago using an alias that she thought Waitkus would recognize. She then left a note at the front desk via a bell boy asking Waitkus to come to her hotel room for an urgent matter. Here’s what the note said:
Mr. Waitkus–
It’s extremely important that I see you as soon as possible. We’re not acquainted, but I have something of importance to speak to you about. I think it would be to your advantage to let me explain it to you. I realize this is a little out of the ordinary, but as I said, it’s rather important. Please, come soon. I won’t take up much of your time, I promise. –Ruth Ann Burns
Eddie fell for the sick ploy, thinking it might have something to do with a gal he was dating at the time, although his son was later quoted as saying: “He may have thought he had a hot honey on the line.” When he arrived in her room, she called out, “If I can’t have you, then nobody else can either!” and shot him with a .22 caliber rifle.
Eddie barely avoided instant death as the bullet just missed his heart. In a bizarre twist, Steinhagen then called the desk to report the shooting. Police found her cradling his head in her lap. He was rushed to nearby Illinois Masonic hospital where complicated surgery was performed to remove the bullet from his chest. It was reported in the Chicago papers that Eddie nearly died on the operating table during the delicate surgical procedure.
Steinhagen was charged with assault with intent to kill, but never stood trial for the near-fatal shooting. Instead, she was declared mentally insane and was committed to Kankakee State Mental Hospital until her release in 1952. As for Eddie, he made a miraculous recovery and was back in uniform barely a month later on August 19, 1949, in time for a celebratory “Eddie Waitkus Night” at Shibe Park.
Eddie continued his recovery during the 1950 season with the pennant-winning Whiz Kids, serving as their lead-off man and scoring a team-leading 102 runs. He made his only post-season appearance in the 1950 World Series, hitting .267 (4-for-15), and was later named the 1950 Comeback Player of the Year.
A two-time All-Star, Eddie Waitkus played 11 years in the major leagues (1941, 1946-1955), for the Cubs (1941, 1946- ’48), Phillies (1949-’53, ’55), and the Orioles (1954-’55). Sadly, Eddie was enjoying his finest season when he was shot at age 30 and was never the same player. For his career, he hit a respectable .285 with 24 home runs and 373 RBIs. Affable, well-educated, and fluent in four languages, he was popular with the Chicago sportswriters and other local media. Following the 1948 season, the Cubs traded Waitkus along with Hank Borowy to the Phillies, a trade away from Chicago that exacerbated the Steinhagen obsession and led directly to the near-fatal shooting.
The shooting was woven into The Natural by author Bernard Malamud in 1952, a book loosely based on Eddie’s life. The incident became a theme of the movie starring Robert Redford and Glenn Close in 1984.
Eddie Waitkus passed away on September 16, 1972 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts of esophageal cancer at age 53. Ruth Steinhagen lived in virtual seclusion on Chicago’s north side until her passing on December 29, 2012.
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search
Information: Excerpts edited from Eddie Waitkus Wikipedia page
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