The Natural - Questions - Spoilers

1. He was comparing her to Harriet Bird. The Women who shot him.
2. Gus meant he won a different bet against he same guy. Gus didn't have Roy shot.

And spoiler, in the book he takes the money and whiffs.....

OK. Hell of a coincidence because Max was playing umpire when he went against The Whammer and he was adamant about only 3 pitched balls.

Then Gus said the next week he ruined (Roy was certainly ruined the next week) him. And Max and Gus were all sitting at the table together.

My interpretation is gus had roy shot way back when.

The chick from the beginning was used the same way memo is used. Hence why roy said he met her before.

This is one where the movie was better than the book

I assumed the woman who shot Roy was a serial killer who had already killed two other famous athletes. Or I guess she could have been inspired by those other murders. They were in an article in the newspaper on the train (IIRC). She would have killed The Whammer (or tried to) had Roy not struck him out.

I never understood why she killed herself nor why that led to Roy's exile.

I think Max only threatened to expose the story later on. Roy just disappeared after it happened. I guess it was too scandalous for the day. But, I mean, he got shot and she went out the window. Weren't the other athletes killed with a silver bullet, like the one that hit Roy? You'd think they would have pieced things together and exonerated him.

I also always thought it was a stretch that Max didn't remember him. He should have changed his name.

quote:

---

Weren't the other athletes killed with a silver bullet, like the one that hit Roy?

---

yes.

quote:

---

He remembered him when he saw Roy pitch the ball into the net at practice.

---

Correct