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On the night of June 14, 1949, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus was shot in the chest by a deranged admirer, Ruth Ann Steinhagen, in a Chicago hotel.1 Hours earlier, at Wrigley Field, Waitkus – a Chicago Cub until a December 1948 trade brought him to Philadelphia – had a hit, a walk, and […]

In the interrogation room at Cook County Jail, Ruth Ann Steinhagen said, “I had my first good look at him on April 27, 1947. All the time I was watching I was building in my mind the idea of killing him.”1 One of the largest crowds of the season came out for that cold game […]

“I didn’t know if I’d ever play ball again,” Eddie Waitkus understated during spring training in Clearwater, Florida, “not even when I came down here in November. Once I got down here I felt better. I didn’t do too much for the first month, just picking up weight. I weighed 140 when I got out […]