By Sandra Birungi

The woman who inspired ‘The Natural’, Ruth Ann Steinhagen has died aged 83 years old.

Steinhagen became popular after nearly killing baseball ace, Eddie Waitkus died last year, December 29 from natural causes. Her death was confirmed on Friday last week by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office in Illinois.

In 1949, an overzealous fan lured Waitkus into her hotel room in Chicago and shot him in the chest with a rifle. He survived the attack but did not press charges. Steinhagen was committed to a mental hospital for three years and soon afterwards, she became just a memory to many.

She inspired a book, The Natural by Bernard Malamud. The novel was later made into a movie in which Glenn Close and Robert Redford stirred.