* Lest we forget: Eddie Waitkus

September 16, 2008

The inspiration for Bernard Malamud’s epic baseball novel, The Natural, died this date in 1972.

His name kept popping up whenever a star-struck fan stalked a celebrity, becoming part of pop culture, surfacing in some very strange places. Like on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210, according to this episode synopsis from season 10:

During news coverage of an emergency landing at a Los Angeles airport, Dylan and Steve observe that one of the passengers looks exactly like Dylan’s late father. Dylan, with some prompting from conspiracy theorist Steve, becomes convinced that his father is still alive. He grows even more suspicious after discovering that the storage locker with Jack’s belongings has been ransacked. He goes to see Christine Pettit at the FBI and demands some answers. She agrees to investigate, but insists that the whole thing is just a coincidence. Although she urges Dylan to let it go, Kelly obtains a passenger list from the airline. Dylan notices that one of the passengers is named Eddie Waitkus. He explains to Steve that Waitkus was the real-life inspiration for “The Natural,” a story that was a favorite of baseball fanatics Dylan and Jack. Waitkus disappeared, only to suddenly resurface several years later. Dylan emphatically declares that Jack is alive.

More on The Natural:

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Tagged as: Bernard Malamud, Eddie Waitkus, The Natural

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