Description
PLAYER: Hal Chase
VARIATION: Throwing; Dark Cap
TEAM: New York Highlanders (Modern Day Yankees)
LEAGUE: American
BACK: Sovereign 460 (Ranked 16/39)
GRADE: PSA 2 – MC
SOLD
THE CARD
A technically low grade but pleasing example of New York Highlanders star first baseman Hal Chase. The card features the Sovereign 460 advertising reverse (ranked 16 of 39 in terms of scarcity according to T206 Resource).
While Sovereign 460 is not typically considered to be a genuine rarity in and of itself, it has been put forth by T206 experts that the six Super Print subjects are seen less often than other subjects with this particular advertising reverse. These six subjects are – Chase “dark cap”; Chase “blue portrait”; Cobb “red portrait”; Mathewson “dark cap”; Evers “Chicago”; Chance “yellow portrait”.
“PRINCE” HAL CHASE
Harold Homer Chase
Born: February 13, 1883 – Los Gatos, CA
Died: May 18, 1947 – Colusa, CA
Batted: RH
Threw: LH
Position: 1B
Career BA: .291
Managerial Record: 86–80
Teams:
New York Highlanders/Yankees AL (1905–1913; player/manager: 1910–1911)
Chicago White Sox AL (1913–1914)
Buffalo Buffeds/Blues FL (1914–1915)
Cincinnati Reds NL (1916–1918)
New York Giants NL (1919)
“Prince Hal” Chase is considered one of the greatest first basemen ever to play the game. He was also the most notoriously corrupt. An excellent hitter and fielder, we can only wonder what might have been if he had not been addicted to gambling, betting for and against teams that he played on. He batted over .300 six times, and won the National League batting crown in 1916 with his .339 average. There were claims (never proven) that he was one of the middlemen in the 1919 World Series “Black Sox” scandal, and that at times he “laid down” when playing. Considered the first true star of the team that became the New York Yankees, Chase could have been up there with the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, and many other Yankees’ greats. In his later years, when he was drifting from job to job, Chase admitted that he had gambled on games while he was a player and claimed that he was remorseful. His justification was that he hadn’t been paid enough money. His punishment is that he never made the Hall of Fame even though some say he was one of the greatest fielding first basemen of all time.