Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball’s Biggest Crook

Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball’s Biggest Crook
ISBN-10
0786450436
ISBN-13
9780786450435
Category
Sports & Recreation
Pages
347
Language
English
Published
2017-07-06
Publisher
McFarland
Author
Martin Donell Kohout

Description

Hal Chase is considered by many to be one of the best first basemen ever to play the game of baseball. He was able to make the routine look spectacular, the spectacular look routine. But Chase will never have his plaque in Cooperstown because he has gone down in history as the biggest crook in baseball. Chase was repeatedly accused of throwing games, bribing players, betting against his own team, and various other crimes, yet with his relaxed nature he always managed to get off the hook for his misdeeds by working his charm. His major league career lasted from 1905 to 1919, and by the mid–1930s he was a destitute alcoholic living off friends. The last fifteen years of Chase’s life saw him hospitalized repeatedly for a variety of ailments, living off a sister and brother-in-law who loathed him. This work traces the turbulent life and times of Hal Chase from his humble beginnings to his sad end.

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