Eddie Waitkus - the inspiration for Malamud's "The Natural"

I found this news article incredibly interesting, both as an aficionado of baseball history, and as someone who enjoyed both the book and movie "The Natural". I never knew it was based on actual events - I assumed it was all fiction.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/obsessed ... movie-dies

Fellow historical baseball fans, enjoy!

Was just reading about this also since the news broke that she died. Very interesting read.

Thanks for posting. I had read somewhere that it was based on a real life event, but the specifics were unknown to me.

I've got Eddie Waitkus on a Phillies theme-team.

He's playing like he's been shot - .238 average.