September 23, 1910: Stallings vs. Chase, the Most Shameful Moment in Yankee History

Hal Chase

September 23, 1910: George Stallings, the manager of the New York Highlanders, tells team owners Frank Farrell and Bill Devery that Hal Chase, a good hitter, and considered the best-fielding 1st baseman the game has ever seen, has been throwing games. It becomes a situation of, "Either he goes, or I go."

Naturally, desperate to bring in as many fans as possible, what with the team (which is already being called the Yankees, and the name will officially be changed to that in 1913) being the 3rd-most-popular team in New York, behind the mighty Giants just a few blocks away and the (thus far) perennial contender Dodgers in Brooklyn, Farrell and Devery tell Stallings, "Here's your hat, George, what's your hurry?"

George Stallings. Like Connie Mack,

he only wore suits as a manager, not a uniform,

and thus wasn't allowed on the field.

Siding with the game-fixing pretty-boy star over the manager? If that had been it, that would have been bad enough. But who did they hire as the new manager? Chase himself. He was just 27 years old, with no managerial or even coaching experience, in any sport, at any level, and was already suspected by many as a game-fixer. And they made him the manager of the team for which he was playing.

This, not any single game or series loss, is the most shameful moment in the history of the New York Yankees franchise.

The Highlanders were in 2nd place in September 1910, not a bad finish at all for a team that hadn't yet won their 1st Pennant, although well behind the eventual World Champion Philadelphia Athletics. But Stallings couldn't take it anymore.

How did Chase do in his 1st full season, in 1911? Not well: 76-76, 6th place. It was clear that, whatever his virtues and flaws, Chase was not (or, at least, not yet) managerial material. So he was relieved of those duties, and Harry Wolverton was appointed. He managed the team to what remains its worst season ever, 50-102.

In 1913, Farrell and Devery hired Frank Chance as manager. Chance was known as "The Peerless Leader," for leading the Chicago Cubs to 4 Pennants and 2 World Series wins in a span of 5 years. But those successes were with Chance himself (a pretty good player) at 1st base, not with Chase at the position.

After 2 years of getting frustrated over Chase continuing to throw games, and the team going nowhere in part because of that, Chance quit, went home to California, and managed the Los Angeles Angels to a Pacific Coast League Pennant. Chase was soon gone from New York as well, with new owners Jacob Ruppert and Til Huston not wanting his maledictory influence around any longer.

Oh yeah, what about Stallings, the man the old regime threw away so foolishly? Did he ever go on to anything of note? Yes, he went to the Boston Braves, and led them to win the 1914 World Series. It would be another 9 years before the Yankees won one.

There's no way to know for sure, but probably no player ever "threw" more games, or did so over a longer period, than "Prince Hal," who played from 1905 to 1919. He even used his reputation as baseball's best-fielding 1st baseman of the time as "cover" for making errors, and thus casting doubt not on his own honesty, but on the fielding ability of the infielders throwing to him.

Eventually, he confessed it all. He was unofficially banned from baseball in 1920, during the Black Sox Scandal. While it's not clear that he was involved in that, he might have been, and the other suspicions about him were enough to get him released by his current team, the Giants, and have no other team re-sign him. It wasn't so much like the 8 Chicago White Sox players associated with the scandal, who were formally banned. It was more like Barry Bonds in 2007: His contract ran out, and nobody lifted a finger to sign him.

Chase played in "outlaw leagues" in the Western U.S. for a few more years. In spite of his reputation, Chase did receive some votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame. The rule making players banned from baseball ineligible was a long way off. He died in 1947, at the age of 64.

*

September 23, 1910 was a Wednesday. These games were played that day:

* The Highlanders lost to the Cleveland Naps, 7-2 at League Park in Cleveland. Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the slugging 2nd baseman and manager for whom the eventual Indians and Guardians were then named, went 3-for-4. Shoeless Joe Jackson (later of the Black Sox Scandal) and Ted Easterly each went 4-for-4, and Easterly had 3 RBIs. Chase went 3-for-4 with an RBI, but the rest of the Highlanders combined only got 4 hits.

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-4 at the Polo Grounds.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 6-2 in a game that was called due to darkness after 7 innings.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Braves, 8-2 at the South End Grounds in Boston.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Honus Wagner got the day off.

* The Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago White Sox got rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day, despite the A's having already clinched the American League Pennant. The White Sox swept, 8-4, and 3-2 in 11 innings.

* The Washington Senators and the St. Louis Browns were rained out at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader 2 days later. The Browns won the 1st game, 2-1. The Senators won the 2nd game, 3-0, as Walter Johnson allowed just 1 baserunner, a single by Frank Truesdale.

* The Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at Bennett Park in Detroit. That game was never made up.