![]() ![]() We love us our heroes, especially the flawed ones. Americans love baseball, and the novel draws on plenty of real baseball history, with events based on legends like Babe Ruth and Shoeless Joe Jackson (as well as that unlucky Eddie Waitkus). But he ultimately fails in his quest to be the best there ever was. Years later, Roy finally makes it to the major leagues and becomes an instant hero with his incredible slugging and fielding. ![]() ![]() Sound too crazy to believe? Try this on for size: In 1949, Eddie Waitkus, a baseball player who was known as "the Natural," was shot by a stalker named Ruth Ann Steinhagen. A beautiful but psychotic woman shoots him, taking him out of the game for years. The story starts out with young pitching phenom Roy about to try out for the Chicago Cubs. But greed and temptation are there to stand between him and his dreams. Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel tells the story of Roy Hobbs, a player who comes back from a string of bad luck to have a chance at being the best baseball player the game had ever seen. The Natural is everything you could want from a sports story: greed, sex, betrayal, and a whole lotta baseball. ![]()
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