The Natural

The Natural is a baseball novel published in 1952 by the American author Bernard Malamud. Malamud's debut novel, The Natural tells the story of Roy Hobbs, a once-promising baseball prodigy who attempts to make a comeback after a gunshot wound ruined his career. The character of Roy Hobbs is very loosely based on the real-life baseball player Eddie Waitkus who was shot by an obsessed fan in 1949. In 1984, Robert Redford starred as Roy Hobbs in a film adaptation of The Natural directed by Barry Levinson. Though widely considered to be one of the greatest sports movies of all time, the film adaptation was also criticized for its ending which differed significantly from the one found in Malamud's book.

When the book begins, Roy Hobbs is a nineteen-year-old pitcher on a train to Chicago where he is scheduled to try out for the Chicago Cubs. Accompanying Roy is the prominent Cubs scout, Sam Simpson. Compared to many of the other passengers, Roy is something of a country bumpkin. Also on the train is Walter "The Whammer" Whambold, the American League's leading hitter who is loosely based on Babe Ruth. With the Whammer is the sleazy sports journalist Max Mercy. Roy also sees a mysterious and beautiful woman, Harriet Bird, to whom Roy is immediately attracted.

On the way to Chicago, the train stops at a rail-side carnival. As Roy and the Whammer attempt to outdo one another at the various carnival games, Sam makes a bet with Mercy that Roy can strike out the Whammer. Roy is successful, and his feat attracts the attention of Harriet. Back on the train to Chicago, Harriet introduces herself to Roy, expressing how impressed she is that he managed to strike out the Whammer. Little does Roy know that Harriet is a madwoman intent on becoming famous for shooting a baseball player. Initially intent on shooting the Whammer, Harriet now becomes obsessed with Roy. Once they're in Chicago, she follows Roy to his hotel and invites him to her room. After a brief conversation in which Roy reveals his ambition of becoming the greatest baseball player in the world, Harriet shoots him in the stomach.



Fifteen years later, the now-thirty-four-year-old Roy gets an opportunity for a comeback, albeit under rather ignoble circumstances. Judge Banner is the co-owner of the New York Knights, a (fictional) National League team. He wants to take full ownership of the team from manager and co-owner Pop Fisher, but to do that he must ensure that the Knights do not win the National League Pennant. In an act of sabotage, the Judge signs the aging and untested Roy to be the team's new right fielder, paying him a measly signing fee of $3,000. The season will be critical for Roy but also for Pop, who must find a way to reverse the Knights' losing streak to salvage his career and his legacy.

As the newest and oldest member of the team, Roy is treated with skepticism from coaches and ridicule from his fellow teammates. Meanwhile, Roy falls in love with Memo Paris, Pop's beautiful but rather shady niece. She entertains herself with Roy's affection, despite the fact that she is already dating Bump Baily, the Knights' star player. Memo is also frequently found in the company of a lowlife bookie named Sands.

After relegating Roy to the bench for three straight weeks, Pop finally gives Roy a chance to play, though it's not because he has faith in Roy's abilities. Rather, Pop employs Roy as a pinch hitter to punish Baily for not hustling or trying hard enough. To Pop's and everyone else's surprise, Roy hits a triple to right field, stripping the covering off the ball and revealing himself to be a "natural." When Baily tragically dies from an outfield collision a few days later, Roy officially joins the starting lineup.



After some early success, Roy falls into a hitting slump, which coincides with his increasing infatuation with Memo. Memo, Pop warns, spreads bad luck to everyone she encounters. Roy's luck finally changes, however, after he meets a woman around his age named Iris Lemon. Soon, the Knights are on a seventeen-game winning streak thanks to Roy's heroics. Roy's success on the field and his rise as a celebrity are finally enough to make Memo pay serious attention to him. Meanwhile, Roy discovers that Iris, despite only being thirty-three, is a grandmother. This revelation clouds his better judgment, causing him to obsess once again over Memo who throws a giant banquet for the team. At the feast, Memo promises to have sex with him.

Unfortunately, Roy overeats and lands himself in the hospital, owing to a complication involving his old gunshot wound. In addition to destroying his opportunity to have sex with Memo, his hospitalization causes the Knights to go on a three-game losing streak. In the hospital, Roy asks Memo to marry him, but she refuses because he isn't rich enough.

Eager to make more money for Memo and worried that his stomach issues may end his career sooner than later, Roy strikes a deal with the Judge. Anxious that the Knights are one game away from winning the pennant and ruining his scheme to take full ownership, the Judge offers Roy $35,000 to throw a pivotal game. Roy agrees and, during the game, he tries to foul a ball away in the direction of a heckling dwarf named Otto P. Zipp. Unfortunately, the ball ends up hitting Iris in the head. Roy talks to Iris who reveals she is pregnant with his child. Struck by the weight of this new, profound responsibility, Roy resolves to be a better person and decides to renege on his agreement with the Judge and deliver the pennant to the Knights. But at his last at-bat, Roy finds himself up against a young pitching phenom named Herman Youngberry. Youngberry reminds Roy of himself at age nineteen. But that makes Roy the Whammer, the aging past-his-prime star. And just like during the carnival at the beginning of the novel, the young phenom strikes out the aging power hitter, leaving Roy despondent.



After the loss, Roy assaults the Judge as well as the bookie Sands. After Roy throws the $35,000 on the Judge's beaten body and calls Memo a "whore," Memo says she hates him, adding that she's always blamed him for Baily's death. On his way home, Roy sees a newspaper with an article by Max Mercy revealing that Roy took a bet to throw the game. Facing expulsion from the league, Roy breaks down and cries.

Unlike the movie that shares its name, The Natural is a bleak examination of human weakness and wasted potential.