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1903 Official Scoring Card |
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Team: New York Highlanders |
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Team: Boston Pilgrims |
at: Hilltop Park |
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Ray has long been a devoted baseball fan and baseball card/photograph collector since discovering his father's scrapbook of the 1937 World Series featuring the Yankees and Giants. He finds the pre-Babe Ruth era Yankee teams more interesting, and enjoys researching the adventures (and misadventures) of players such as Jack Chesbro, Willie Keeler and Hal Chase. Hal Chase was both baseball hero and villain, a superstar and an outcast, regarded as the best fielder of his day. Chase's name became linked to the biggest scandal ever recorded in the sport of baseball and he was banned from the sport for life. His rise to glory was swift and highly celebrated, his decline was premature and painful. Chase was the first major star of the New York Yankee franchise, but his name is forgotten today. This site reveals why and chronicles the tarnished glory of a forgotten great. Harold Harris Chase was born in Los Gatos, California on February 13, 1883; the youngest of six children. Chase's father ran a sawmill in the California foothills, and the fiery red-headed Hal grew up in a rugged atmosphere. He learned early on to look out for himself, a personality trait that would be forever apparent during his baseball career. Dr. Charles Strub, later the president of the San Francisco Seals minor league team, knew Chase during these early years.... "The first time I saw him was in a kid's game. He was a left-handed shortstop, barefooted, wearing tattered overalls." Chase, far too free-spirited for academics, left high school in the tenth grade. A natural left-hander who insisted on batting right-handed, he played on semi-pro teams in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Santa Clara Valley. At age nineteen, Chase attended the University of Santa Clara for the 1902-1903 seasons. Supposedly studying to be a civil engineer, Chase played on the school baseball team. His academic record has not survived for posterity. According to school athletic records, he appeared primarily as a second baseman. A lefthander at second is unusual in baseball, as the natural turning and throwing done at the position favors a righthander. But, second base held no problems for Chase. The Redwood, his college yearbook, contained the notation: "Hal Chase played second base, Hal Chase would be difficult to replace." On the baseball field though, Chase never hesitated to play other positions. Dr. Strub found this out when he encountered Chase again in college: "It was a late inning and Chase was catching. We had a man on first and none out. I was up there to sacrifice which I did, all right. I sacrificed everybody! Chase stepped around me with the pitch, took the ball off the bat and doubled the runner at first...One look at Chase, you knew he couldn't miss the big leagues and it wouldn't matter much where they played him. In many respects, he was the greatest ballplayer I ever looked at. Certainly, no player had quicker reflexes." His skills were demonstrated outside the United States as well. Chase and Elmer Emerson, a teammate at Santa Clara, visited Emerson's relatives and went sightseeing in Victoria, British Colombia. During this trip, Emerson was contacted by the management of a semi-pro team based in Victoria. Emerson and Chase were eventually convinced to play for the team. Emerson provided good pitching for Victoria but his vacation guest was the standout addition. Chase played third base, first, left field (one game), recorded one pitching victory, and became catcher after the team's regular backstop was injured. He batted .353 and contributed mightily to Victoria's 21-8-1 record. Victoria management was hopeful that Chase would return for the following season, but Chase had other things in mind. He returned with Emerson to California and the university. Santa Clara was playing against St. Vincent's college one day in Los Angeles. Jim Morley, the president of the Los Angeles team of the Pacific Coast League, was in the crowd. He spotted the young flashy fielder, and Chase's college days were over. Morley signed Chase to a contract with Los Angeles, and he was switched to first base. As his signing bonus, Chase received a .22 caliber rifle. His debut in the Pacific Coast League came on March 27, 1904. It was an inauspicious start as he went hitless in three trips against Oakland. In the field, however, he showed the dazzling moves that foreshadowed greatness. On March 29, The Los Angeles Times reported: "Chase has a future before him that any ball player might look forward to. He plays first base as well as anyone would care to see." At this time, Chase was no longer a youngster in tattered overalls and bare feet, but a star waiting to be discovered. The Yankees, by a stroke of fate, would be the team doing the discovering. Luckily for Yankees' manager Clark Griffith, a baseball scouting friend of his was traveling on the West Coast and wrote to Griffith about the young phenomenon. In October, 1904, at the close of the PCL season, Chase was drafted by New York. READ ON
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Web Links: Yankees Fan Network UltimateYankees Fast Facts: In Memory Of Bobby Bonds (1946-2003) Bonds played an All-Star season in right-field for the Yanks in 1975, hitting 32 homers and stealing 30 bases. "I would rather pitch a double-header against any other club than one game against the Yankees." St. Louis pitcher Milt Gaston just try to keep him out of jail." David Cone on teammate David Wells Trivia: What Yankee hit seven more homeruns at Yankee Stadium than Babe Ruth? Have a trivia question? Email it to us and maybe we'll use it in an upcoming issue. |
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