In 1949 I Was Shot By A Deranged Girl
The story behind the greatest baseball card back of all time
In 1949 I Was Shot By A Deranged Girl
The history of baseball cards has seen a lot of oddities. Obscene gestures, visible curse words, horrible airbrush jobs, black boxes covering up vulgar imagery — we’ve seen a lot over the years.
But I don’t think anything can top the back of Eddie Waitkus’ 1955 Bowman card.
The front doesn’t look like anything special:
If you’re an old school card collector, you know already that the 1955 Bowman cards have split the community for decades. Some love the old style television feel; others bemoan how far Bowman had fallen since the glory days of its famous 1953 color set.
But the back of this card in particular is simply awesome:
When you learn how to write, your teacher will tell you that the opening is everything. You need a hook to grab the attention of your reader and keep it. And I don’t think there’s any better hook than talking about how you were shot by a deranged girl.
Now, the story of Waitkus is actually pretty well known. As most of you are probably already aware, it formed the basic backstory for the famous movie The Natural. Waitkus was shot by an obsessed fan named Ruth Ann Steinhagen. The best explanation of the story comes from Waitkus’ SABR biography:
As you can imagine, this story was a media sensation in 1949, making the front page of newspapers all around the country.
It would be impossible for me to provide examples from the daily newspapers of the coverage, since there were simply too many articles to feature. A look at some of the magazines will give you a good idea.
This was from Time:
Newsweek had a similar approach:
However, my favorite spread comes from Life, a magazine that was clearly oriented towards women:
Steinhagen spent over 3 years in a mental institution before being released. She lived an otherwise quiet life, passing away in Chicago at 83 in 2012.
And Waitkus did recover, though he was never quite the same ballplayer.
Recently, I think. I read of a similar incident befalling a player from the thirties who was managing in the 1950s. Perhaps, Billy Jurges? You may want to check it out. I’m not sure where I first learned about it.