The Natural by Bernard Malamud (May 29-31, 2005)
Roy Hobbs is a naturally talented baseball player. He's discovered in the country by a baseball scout, Sam Simpson, who is bringing him and his special bat, Wonderboy, to Chicago. On the train, he meets Harriet Bird, a beautiful woman carrying a hat box who's interested in the Whammer, a great baseball player. Also on the train is Max Mercy, a sports reporter. When the train makes a surprise stop, Roy and the Whammer face off and Roy strikes him out. Roy's last pitch hits Sam, and Sam dies from the injury leaving Roy on his own. He reaches Chicago, checks into his hotel and gets a phone call from Harriet who invites him to her room. Rather than what he hoped her, she shoots him after he tells her he'll be the best in the game.
Fifteen years later, Roy makes his comeback when he joins Pop Fisher's team, the New York Knights. He's now 34, and no one expects much from him, but the Knights begin to rise due to his talents. Roy is mesmerized by Pop's niece, the flame-haired Memo Paris, who's dating the Knight's star player Bump Baily. Bump, set into action by Roy's talent, goes to far and cracks his head on the wall. He later dies from the injury and Memo blames Roy. Roy continues to lead the Knights, but then enters a slump. He sees a woman stand in support of him in the crowd, who helps him play his best again. Roy meets Iris Lemon, and confides his history with her and sleeps with her, but he is stunned when he learns she's a grandmother. Foolishly, he then avoids her because of this detail. He returns to obsessing over Memo. Max Mercy meanwhile has been following Roy, trying to learn his story, but fails to remember when they first met.
As the team reaches the final games, Roy's appetite grows and he eats massive quantities of food. He's more interested in Memo rather than focusing on the upcoming game. The food he eats makes him ill, and Roy is hospitalized and told he cannot play another full season without endangering his life. Before he returns to the bench for the pennant game, Roy is offered money by Judge Banner to blow the game. After a short ethical struggle, Roy agrees, justifying his decision by convincing himself that this is the only way he can support Memo and marry her. Roy plays poorly, and hits toward a booing member of the crowd. In the process, he hits Iris in the head. When he goes to see her, she tells him she's preganant with his child and asks him to win the game for their baby. On the next hit, he shatters Wonderboy. He uses a new bat, but like Whammer years ago, he strikes out to a new, talented, young pitcher. He returns the money to the Judge and rejects Memo, but in the meanwhile Max Mercy has learned and published the truth about Roy's sell out, and no one can look at him as a hero again.
While Roy is talented, he is flawed, and this leads to his downfall. He craves the wrong things and people. Instead of seeing Iris for her support and the happiness she offers him, he turns to the destructive and draining Memo. Instead of trusting Pop, he takes the Judge's deal. Even Wonderboy deserts him when he missues his bat and squanders his gift by going astray. This story is a great American tale of a tragic hero.
