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Upon his return to baseball in
1950, Waitkus worked hard as the Phillies leadoff hitter, helping them win
the National League Pennant. He hit 284 and scored 102 runs while playing in
154 games.
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1951 Bowman Baseball
Card |
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1955 Bowman Baseball
Card |
(click on cards to enlarge)
Eddie Waitkus continued to play for
Philadelphia through the 1954 season before being traded to Baltimore for
$40,000. Late in 1955 he returned to Philadelphia and at the end of the 1955
season he retired.
According to family and friends of
Eddie Waitkus, he was never the same after the shooting. It cost him an
all-star spot and he had missed another season.
His outgoing and friendly nature
was gone. It was replaced with a man who was withdrawn and just generally
suspicious of people.
He went through some tough times
after baseball, including going into treatment for alcoholism. In the end
he was working at Ted Williams' baseball camp in the summer and basically
collected unemployment during the winter.
He entered a Boston Veterans
Administration Hospital in the summer of 1972 and it was there that he died
of cancer on September 15, 1972. Eleven days after his 53rd birthday.
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(click on image to
enlarge)
Photo Courtesy of
Russ Dodge |
The Final Resting Place
For
Edward Stephen
Waitkus |
Eddie Waitkus' son would later
say, "Cancer of the lung or esophagus can take up to twenty years or more to
be fatal. My dad was never diagnosed with cancer. It wasn't until after
the autopsy that this came out. So I think Ruth Steinhagen was more
successful than she thought".
In retrospect, Ruth Ann Steinhagen
may have gotten her wish to kill Eddie Waitkus. After his death,
doctors surmised that the bullet wound and subsequent operations may have
opened the door to the disease that ultimately took his life.
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