Good evening. This is Dead Legends. We’re extremely grateful for everyone who reads this newsletter, and the opportunity to share the game with you all.

Unfortunately, we already ran the story last month about Johnny Jones getting traded for a Turkey, so we don’t have a Thanksgiving-themed story today, but we made up for it with the strange name.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about one of the most notoriously crooked ballplayers in the history of the game.

Hal Chase was a talented player and manager in the early 20th century, known for his skill on the field and his controversial off-field behavior.

Many of his peers including Babe Ruth and Cy Young said he was the best first baseman they’d ever seen.

Born in 1883 in California, Chase launched his professional baseball career in 1905, playing for the New York Highlanders (now known as the Yankees).

Hal was a perfect fit for New York - the owners of the team, Frank Farrell and Big Bill Devery, were super shady.

Farrell ran the largest underground casino in New York, and Devery was a corrupt police captain.

Through eight and a half seasons, Chase dominated on the field, despite the Highlanders only having having two winning records during that time.

He was consistently one of the top-ranking players in terms of RBI’s, stolen bases, and batting average - plus, he was a master of the hit-and-run.

But before long, Hal’s ego took control.

In 1908, he refused to come back to the team unless Farrell raised his salary to $4,000.

To put that into perspective, Farrell and Devery had only spent $18,000 to acquire the entire team only five years prior.

In 1910, Hal left the team again during a road trip and demanded that his manager be fired.

The manager, George Stallings, had accused Chase of “laying down” on the team aka quitting, aka throwing games.

Farrell sided with his superstar and fired Stallings, appointing Chase as the new manager instead.

A year later, Chase resigned.

His reputation as a gambler continued to grow as time went on, and he eventually admitted to fixing games.

Here’s a quote from the man himself:

After his time with the Highlanders, Chase went on to play with the White Sox, Reds, and Buffalo Blues - a team from the defunct Federal League.

During his time with the Reds, Christy Mathewson suspended Chase for offering bribes to teammates and opponents - including Pol Perritt, a Giant’s player.

At a hearing on the matter, NL President - John Heydler, was unable to uphold the suspension because neither Christy Mathewson or Pol Perritt were present.

John McGraw (The Giant’s manager) could not confirm the allegations either, so Chase was reinstated.

Then, in a very suspect move, McGraw signed Chase as his new first baseman the next season.

By the end of 1919, Chase was benched AGAIN for trying to bribe teammates.

That was effectively the end of his Major League career.

But just because he wasn’t on the field, doesn’t mean that he wasn’t making moves.

In 1920, Chase was banned from the Pacific Coast League and indicted as the alleged middleman in the Black Sox Scandal.

According to Rube Benton’s testimony, Hal earned about $40K from his betting on the 1919 World Series - about $695,000 in today’s money.

Banned from the big leagues, Hal spent the 20’s playing in various semipro leagues and prospecting for gold in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

In his later years, Chase said he regretted gambling on games because he ruined his reputation and squandered his talent.

BLACK FRIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that there’s going to be some pretty good deals going on this weekend.

We’ve put together a short list of the best deals we could find.

There’s a little something for everyone:

• Greatest All Stars Print from Dead Legends Gallery (Use code: DEADLEGENDS for $20 OFF)

• Metal Bat Tumblers from Dugout Mugs (60% OFF)

• The MLB Collection from Homage (20% OFF)

• Knob Shots from Dugout Mugs (Free + Shipping & Handling - $8.95)

• Autographed Baseballs from Steiner Sports (30% OFF)

• MLB Kids gear from Fanatics (25% OFF)

BASEBALL TRIVIA

Find the answer at the bottom of this email!

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

The stats pretty much speak for themselves. 

This man was no turkey, he was an absolute machine. 

Of course, a lifetime batting average of .349 is pretty impressive as is, but he hit even better in the post season (.417).

In 2000, they finally put Turkey Stearnes in the Hall of Fame.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Boy’s Hero: Jim Rice saves a life

• The Million Dollar Dinger: Jay Bell makes a fan rich with one swing

• The Pine Tar Incident: One of the pettiest sagas in baseball history

BASEBALL TRIVIA ANSWER: Edwin Jackson