Who is Roy Hobbs?

Roy Hobbs is the character in the book, “The Natural,” by Bernard Malmud, written in 1949, and turned into a Hollywood production in 1984, thrusting the fictional baseball hero Roy Hobbs on the American public.

The book was hardly a best seller … the movie, however, has survived 25 years and remains a staple of cable television, with Robert Redford playing the role of Roy Hobbs. Ron Monks chose the name “Roy Hobbs” for his baseball organization in 1989. For Monks, the choice of Roy Hobbs was easy as he could see the parallels from the Roy Hobbs character to our own participation in baseball as adult amateurs. Roy Hobbs is drawn away from baseball at an early age and returns in later life to enjoy and appreciate the game for what it is. The history of Roy Hobbs as a fictional character is interesting since it brings several of our oldest mythological stories to new life.

The Arthurian legend is a main theme throughout the movie. Like Arthur’s sword Excalibur, Roy Hobbs Bat, “Wonderboy,” holds mythical powers. It was even created from an act of nature, being made from a tree struck by lightening.

Roy’s quest is to become the greatest baseball player ever. Roy is tempted by a beautiful woman and, by allowing himself to be drawn from his “quest,” he is punished by being injured; disabling him from playing the game he loves.

Roy is driven to succeed finally, not through a quest for personal achievement, but through a desire to get Pop Fisher (The Fisher King) his grail, the pennant. Roy’s talent is finally realized through the unselfish pursuit of a goal for another person.

Roy fights his way back to the game as an older adult and, when tempted again, he chooses to protect the integrity of the game rather than sell it out for financial security.