The Black Prince of Baseball: Hal Chase and the Mythology of the Game [Hardcover]

Don Dewey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2004

Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella document, with extraordinary research, the life and times of the first baseman known as Prince Hal; his brilliant career, his shady dealings with crooks, his battle with baseball executives, and his ultimately futile attempts to clear his name of charges that he threw a game.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A remarkable look at a bygone scandal. " -- Kristin Kloberdanz in Chicago Tribune on May 23, 2004

"Dewey and Acocella have compiled an exhaustive study....Their method produces moments of great insight, humor, complexity, and tragedy." -- Daniel Gabriel in Elysian Fields Quarterly on Fall 2004

From the Inside Flap

As America lurched into the 20th century its national pastime was afflicted with the same moral malaise that was enveloping the nation. The stench of vice and corruption so prevalent in most big cities also wafted over the ballparks. Gambling by players was commonplace, games were routinely fixed and league politics were as dirty as the basepaths. Against this backdrop, Hal Chase emerged as one of the game's greatest players . . . and one of its most scandalous characters.

With charisma and bravado that earned him the nickname The Prince, Chase charmed his way across America, spinning lies in the afternoon, dealing high-stakes poker at night, and gamboling with beautiful women until dawn. Most notoriously of all, he undermined his stature as the era’s greatest first baseman by conniving with gamblers to fix games and draw teammates into his diamond conspiracies.

But as Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella reveal in their groundbreaking biography The Black Prince of Baseball, Chase was also a scapegoat for baseball notables with dirtier hands than his. These included league officials who ignored facts in an attempt to pin the 1919 Black Sox scandal on him and, as never revealed before, the fabled John McGraw, who perjured himself on a witness stand against the first baseman. Not that Chase was an innocent. He was a hard-drinking, heavy-gambling rogue who enjoyed the disreputable company that frequented the saloons and dance halls of America’s decadent cities. But Chase, contrary to popular belief, was never banned from the major leagues. On the other hand, extraordinary research by the authors implicates Chase in other shady enterprises, not least an attempt to blackmail revivalist Aimee Semple McPherson.

As The Black Prince of Baseball makes clear in its exhaustive study of the player Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb both include on their all-time dream teams, Hal Chase was much more than an illustration for the riches to rags story moralists have sought to make him. In his protean talents and larcenies, he personified all the excesses of Ragtime.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Sport Media Publishing; 1St Edition edition (March 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894963296
• ISBN-13: 978-1894963299
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,229,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When The Shadows Ruled The Diamond, October 23, 2008

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Black Prince of Baseball: Hal Chase and the Mythology of the Game (Hardcover)

It was a time of corruption in the game, where players did not think twice to "lay down" - and I don't mean a bunt - and the larger-than-life mobsters and gamblers not only had the best seats in the stadium, but prime access to clubhouses and - many times - the grand offices of a club owner.

And now - as then - one name seems to stick out as a prime-time player in the years before the Black Sox scandal who epitomizes the sandlot shadows...."Prince" Hal Chase, a slick fielding first baseman, a superstar and - according to many critics - as crooked as they came in the game.

Co-authors Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella paint a different portrait in this extensive biography, placing Chase firmly as an athlete in the era - he played for five pro clubs from 1905-1919, being blacklisted from the major leagues at age 36 for allegedly throwing a game in 1918 - and wrongly singled out when the game was rife with vice.

This is a great exploration into the real working mechanics of the National Pastime and the shadows who were kings of the diamond.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Exhaustive to Research, Exhausting to Read, October 23, 2008

By 

J. S. Share (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Black Prince of Baseball: Hal Chase and the Mythology of the Game (Hardcover)

I give the authors a big A for effort but this book could have been much more tightly written and edited. A lot of the authors' phrasing was difficult to comprehend and overwritten. Though he was a compelling figure turn-of-the-century, I'm not sure he was worth a 448-page book. Still, it becomes quite clear that he was a dark, enigmatic fellow who was totally self-absorbed. What the authors do well is define how common gambling was during those early days, enough to make one wonder how many games were actually tossed. McGraw comes across as a nasty wheeler-dealer who probably just skirted the rules during his long career.