730 Malamud, Bernard
scandalous Sox, banned from baseball and the Hall
of Fame, and asked the player “Say it ain’t so, Joe.” At
the end of “The Natural,” a child echoes that, asking
Hobbs, “Say it ain’t true, Roy.” In a modern era when
sports are rocked by continuing scandals, the ethical
questions raised by this novel are still relevant.
Ronald C. Thomas, Jr.
Gender in The Natural
It might seem that a baseball novel should draw
its influences from masculinity, replete with images
of horsehide balls, bats hewn from tall trees, and
muscled men striving on fields of grass and clay.
However, the drama in Bernard Malamud’s classic
The Natural is driven by the central character Roy
Hobbs’s relationships with women, much more so
than by his actions on the diamond.
At age 19, Hobbs is a baseball prodigy on his
way to a tryout with the Chicago Cubs in the golden
era of American sports, the 1920s. On the train, a
lovely but mysterious woman named Harriet Bird
strikes up a conversation with Hobbs. She probes to
find out more about him; flattered by the attention,
Hobbs announces his intention to be recognized as
the greatest ballplayer who ever lived. Later, Bird
contacts Hobbs and lets him know that she is stay-
ing in the same hotel. Bird invites Hobbs to come
up for a rendezvous and he is eager to collect on
the first of many such assignations that he feels his
athletic ability and fame should bring him. However,
she pulls out a pistol and shoots him. Unbeknownst
to him, she is a serial killer who is “collecting” top
athletes by luring them sexually and then shooting
them. Here, Malamud presents Roy’s career as hav-
ing been destroyed by a woman, a sexual predator.
The novel fast-forwards to 16 years later when
a middle-aged Roy Hobbs appears with a contract
in hand to play for the fictitious New York Knights.
Hobbs is successful with the Knights, until he
becomes involved with the treacherous Memo Paris,
girlfriend to his teammate, Bump Bailey. When
Bailey dies in a collision with the outfield wall, she
becomes available. Placing his sexual needs ahead of
his game, Hobbs finally achieves his goal of cash-
ing in on his talent and begins a torrid affair with
Memo Paris. However, the long nights and high
living take a toll on his performance in the batters’
box. Benched for his poor performance, Hobbs finds
Memo has turned cold on him, too. An opportunity
for salvation appears in the bottom of the ninth
against the Chicago Cubs. The Knights are losing
and the manager turns to Hobbs as a pinch hitter.
Taking two quick strikes, Hobbs notices that, out of
all the fans in the stands, one woman in a red dress
stands when he is at the plate. He wonders if that
one woman could be doing that because she believes
in him. Strengthened by that thought, he lashes out
for the game winning hit.
The lady in red, Iris Lemon, meets Hobbs out-
side the ball park, and he opens up to her about his
bad luck with bad women, even telling about how
Harriet Bird shot him. In this intimacy, she reveals
that she has also had rough luck in life, as an unwed
mother, now a grandmother. Taken aback momen-
tarily, he still makes love to her by Lake Michigan,
thinking that if he captures her “sexual magic” he
will also recapture his “baseball magic.” However,
the idea of dating someone’s grandmother forces Iris
out of his mind and he seeks to resume his pursuit of
Memo, whose devotion to wealth and the “good life”
is becoming increasingly apparent.
When Hobbs is offered money to “fix” future
games, he takes it, thinking that this will solidify his
relationship with Memo. Memo covers him with
kisses and gratitude for selling out and Hobbs is
racked with guilt.
In the playoff game, Hobbs makes good on his
agreement not to help the Knights win. In his first
times at bat, he strikes out weakly. However, late in
the game, he is heckled by a fan and the stinging
remarks get under his skin. Not without his skills,
Hobbs figures there’s nothing wrong with trying to
line a foul ball off the heckler’s head. After missing
with one attempt, Hobbs drills another powerful
shot at the heckler, who ducks, and the sizzling base-
ball strikes a woman in the head. It is Iris, who has
come to support Hobbs at this crucial time.
The game is suspended long enough for Hobbs
to rush to Iris’s side. As she is taken away to be
x-rayed, she exhorts Hobbs to win, not just for her
but for the baby she is carrying, their child, con-
ceived the night she broke him out of his slump.
In the at bat, he strikes out but still has one more
chance left in the ninth inning. He is determined