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

As America lurched into the twentieth century, its national pastime was afflicted with the same moral malaise that was enveloping the rest of the nation. Players regularly bet on games, games were routinely fixed, and league politics were as dirty as the base paths. Against this backdrop, Hal Chase emerged as one of the game’s greatest players and also as one of its most scandalous characters.

With charisma and bravado that earned him the nickname The Prince, Chase charmed his way across Am...