AUG: THE  101st  ARTICLE FOR BASEBALL GURU

ONEMOREINNING

     LoVESICK MaIDENS:PaRT OnE

   Her name was Ruth Ann Steinhagen and at the age of 19 she felt that it was time for her to act upon her secret passion that she had kept locked up inside of her for several years. Her room was filled with pictures of  Waitkus over her walls, newspaper and magazine articles that featured stories about him, and several of her diaries documenting her feelings.

   His name was Eddie Waitkus. He had established himself as one oF the better players in the Major Leagues while with the Philadelphia Phillies and Ruth Ann adored him.......better yet she was madly in love with him. It had become obsessive!  And it had become time for her to act .....to do something about  her feelings.

    It was 1949, the Phillies had returned from a long road trip. They checked into a local hotel and the next day Ruth Ann checked in there as well. She wrote a note to Waitkus saying she had something important to tell him and would like him to come up to her room. She had a bell boy deliver it to Waitkus. He replied saying he would be there shortly. When he walked in she asked him to please sit down and then began to tell him about her feelings. He quickly felt that she was acting incoherently . He got up and began to walk out the door. Before he reached it she shouted out if she couldn't have him then nobody could, pulled out a shotgun from her closet and shot him in his chest. He fell to the floor.

   She then called down to the desk, told them what had happened, and they rushed up to her room. When they came in they foud her holding Waitkus' hand and heard her repeatedly saying that nobody else would ever have him.

   He was rushed to the hospital and after a series of operations he recovered and resumed his career. He never again was able to perform the way he had before the shooting and died at an early age. Although Waitkus never pressed charges against her Steinhagen was declared insane and was in an asylum for three years.  After several a shock treatments she was returned to society and seemed to live an uneventful life.

    Next month we'll talk about VIOLET VIOLA POPOVICH and BILLY JURGESS