Review: A Well Researched Piece of Sports History
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 13, 2014
On June 14, 1949, Eddie Waitkus, All-Star first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, was shot in a hotel room by love-stricken fan Ruth Steinhagen in what is considered to be the first celebrity stalker attack in history. In a quick fifty plus pages, this Kindle single is a well researched and succinctly presented story from Waitkus' life and professional reputation, Steinhagen's other obsessive actions, and the general American culture around professional sports prior to the shooting, through the immediate aftermath of the shooting from Waitkus' surgery and recovery, Steinhagen's trial and commitment to a state psychiatric hospital, and the nationwide newspaper-centric media reporting of the event, following to a study of the psychiatric and medical rehabilitation treatments of the mid-twentieth century, Waitkus' successful return and eventual decline in baseball, and the security changes that developed between sports celebrities and their fans in the modern era. Sports and cultural history fans will truly find this short book to be very interesting and illuminating.