Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball's Biggest Crook [Paperback]

Martin Kohout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2001

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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Martin Donell Kohout is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and has written several articles on Hal Chase. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 347 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (September 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786410671
• ISBN-13: 978-0786410675
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #543,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Boy Was So Crooked He Had TO Screw On His Socks, October 20, 2001

By 

ROBERT KOCH (WILLIAMS, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball's Biggest Crook (Paperback)

Ever since I was a little boy I`ve heard of Hal Chase from my Dad and Uncle and always wondered. what they were saying in undertones after they told me what a completly peerless fielder he was and so fast and quick that he made everyone else look slow. After studying the 1919 scandal I learned a little more of his deviousness but in being able to talk to Ty Cobb and also Swede Risberg in the 1950`s I learned how great he could be if he wanted to. This book is a great work and I can`t believe the research and digging that had to go into it. What a great complete history of Prince Hal. There are more pictures than I`ve ever seen of him and incidents in his career that I had`nt heard of.Chase was such a complex character that he was very hard for some people to dislike; others loathed him and indeed he was baseball`s biggest crook.The description of his slide to oblivion was well done especially his life in Arizona and his final demise in California. As a matter of fact he died in the town where Ilive. I never got to see him play as I had only been home from overseas less than a year when he died but others have told me how he would go out to the high school diamond and help some kid trying to play first base. He was old at the time but my friend said you should have seen the moves he showed the youngster. They electrified the adults watching. The book brings this out. All in all to me a great book and I enjoyed it immensely.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Was He Really That Good?, November 19, 2001

By 

C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball's Biggest Crook (Paperback)

Sportswriter Fred Lieb wrote that Hal Chase had "a corkscrew brain." Author Martin Kohout provides us with a very detailed account of the life of Hal Chase, "baseball's biggest crook." Whatever you want to know about Mr. Chase can be found in this book and some readers may feel they are being told more than they care to know. Chase is often given credit as being the greatest defensive first-baseman. His strength appears to have been on fielding sacrifice bunts and forcing the lead runner either at second or third base. This account provides the reader with a number of errors, purposely or not, Chase committed during games. In addition, he often was out of the lineup for one ailment or another. Hal bounced around a number of major league teams after wearing out his welcome with the one he was currently on. Each time he pledged to turn over a new leaf. Crooked ball playing took place during the turn of the century, and such times were ripe for a player with Chase's lack of morals. His personal life was a mess as well as his reputation on the field of play. I enjoy reading about players from the turn of the 20th century and was happy to be able to read about teams such as the New York Highlanders, the original Yankees, and players such as Hal Chase, even though he was a shady character. This book is definitely worth your time if you are interested in baseball history. If you are a casual fan, find something that is lighter reading.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Tragedy of Hal Chase, November 23, 2001

By 

Bruce Bennett (Austin, Tx. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hal Chase: The Defiant Life and Turbulent Times of Baseball's Biggest Crook (Paperback)

Martin Kohout has penned a fascinating account not only of Hal Chase's eventful career, but of early 20th century baseball as well. One need not be well-versed in baseball lore in order to derive great pleasure from this work.

The book rests on a mountain of research. One of its many strengths is the insightful description of how the easy morality of the times spilled over into what I had previously believed to be the pristine world of baseball. The connections which existed among certain owners, managers, and underworld figures during Chase's major league career shatters the myth that the 1919 Black Sox scandal was an abberation. Especially interesting is the linkage that Mr. Kohout finds between the poisonous aftermath of WWI and that scandal.

The book is well written and carries the reader briskly along with a season by season account of Chase's exploits, both on and off the field. Unlike Pete Rose, whom this reviewer always found detestable, Hal Chase comes off as a sympathetic, likeable fellow, popular with the fans of every team for which he played. Yet, as Mr. Kohout tell us, he threw it all away -- his career, his family and friends, and his health. One is left wishing that Chase had possessed the character of a Gehrig.