Eddie Waitkus Stats & Facts

Eddie Waitkus Essentials

Positions: Outfield 
Bats: L Throws: L
Height: 72 Weight: 170
Born: Thursday, September 04, 1919 in Cambridge, MA USA
Died: 9 16 1972 in Jamaica Plain, MA USA
Debut: 4/15/1941
Last Game: 9/20/1955
Full Name: Edward Stephen Waitkus

Notable Events and Chronology for his Career

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June 23, 1946

Eddie Waitkus and Marv Rickert of the Chicago Cubs hit consecutive inside-the-park home runs

August 8, 1947

At Wrigley Field‚ Bill Nicholson breaks up a pitching duel between Johnny Schmitz and Ewell Blackwell with an 11th-inning solo homer

June 14, 1949

Eddie Waitkus of the Philadelphia Phillies is shot with a .22-caliber rifle by an obsessed 19-year-old fan

June 15, 1949

Eddie Waitkus is shot by 19-year-old Ruth Steinhagen

November 10, 1950

Seventeen months after nearly being mortally wounded by an obsessed fan’s rifle shot to the chest, Eddie Waitkus is named the Comeback Player of the Year by the Associated Press. The Phillies’ infielder hit .284 this season and continued to be one of the best fielding first basemen in the league.

September 30, 1951

Jackie Robinson hits an upper-deck home run in the 14th inning off Robin Roberts to give the Dodgers a critical 9 – 8 win over the Phils

March 16, 1954

The Baltimore Orioles purchase first baseman Eddie Waitkus from the Philadelphia Phillies.

April 15, 1954

big league ball returns to Baltimore 

Biography

 Waitkus was a top defensive first baseman and a lefthanded line-drive hitter. After his All-Star 1948 season, he was traded by the Cubs to the Phillies. He was hitting more than .300 in mid-June 1949 when, in a bizarre incident in a Chicago hotel, he was shot in the chest and almost killed by a young woman he did not know – the real-life inspiration for Bernard Malamud’s The Natural. Waitkus worked hard to come back in 1950 and, as the Phillies ‘ leadoff hitter, helped them to win the NL pennant; he batted .284 and scored 102 runs, playing in 154 games. After being sold to the Orioles during spring training of 1954, he returned to Philadelphia in late 1955 and retired that fall.@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IGp1c3QgY2xpY2sgdGhlIHRhZ3MhICAiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsImxpbmtfdG9fdGVybV9wYWdlIjoib24iLCJzZXBhcmF0b3IiOiIgfCAiLCJjYXRlZ29yeV90eXBlIjoicG9zdF90YWcifX0=@