Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-07-04
BASE BALL BORN
AND BRED IN CHASE
Great First Baseman Was
Some Player When
a Kid.
Allen saruee. in the New York Journal.

Allen Sargree, in the New York Journal.
One of the marvels in base ball is Chase
Harold Chase. Hal Chase. There seems
to be little question that this young man
Is the greatest first baseman who ever
lived. 1t cannot be said that Chase has
revolutionized the job OF playing first.
Comiskey was q man who did bring
about Innovations. Before his time the
custom was to stand still at first and
play the bag" The idea of making it a
fielding position originated with him Dan
Brouthers, John Morrill,. Pop" Arson and
Roger OConnor, not to mention Long
John Reilly. who played with the old
Metropolitans and Cincinnatis, were heavy
nitters and were renowned by reason OF
their ability to club the pill.
Giving Comiskey credit for evolving the
value of fielding at first base. you must
take Fred Tenney as the next step. Ten
ney, who is worth a page wrlte-up him
Self, came from Brown University. He
was a freak in base ball because he was
lei l-nanueu. For yea. TenIey was hid
zen at Boston, where stlngy management
pi evented him from being successful
leader. About the time he thought of
making a cuange-namely, IN 1yU4-a new
comet appeared In the base ball horizon.
When haI Joined Yankees.
While training with the Yankees that
year the writer heard Griffith talk about
Chase a lad who was well spoken of Oh
the Pacific coast. Chase joined the club
at Jackson, Miss.
The morning after he arrived he was
ordered to dress and trot out to the
grounds for practice. And he had not
peen working twenty minutes before
~ COLI ct
III that k.d can keep on doing this
Stuff" he told Griffith, The will be the
greatest first baseman l have ever seen"
Chase did keep on doing stunts, and his
influence on the national game is evident.
He goes ComiSkey and Ienney one better.
He does unheard-of things at his station
and takes all kinds of chances. He is a
base bali freak. and recently his old
father for the H. st time saw this prodigy
play in fast company.
James h. Chase and his wife sat In a
box during the Yankee-Was hington con-
test, in which New York emerged victor
by the score of 4 to z. Mr.. Chase is six
ty-five years old. His head is sprinkled
with gray, but he is strong-limbed and
sharp-eyed. The mother, with her old
fashioned black cloth gloves. leaned over
the box railing and those two loving par
ents simply gobbled up eve. ything that
Chase did. II he fumbied a catch mo-
mentarily you could see the vince of
anxiety
he came to BAT they held each other by
the hand, all unconscious of the New
York public, which Tiveted its gaze upon
them.
Born in Maine.
IF you would know how my son came
to be a great ball player" narrated Mr..
Chase to the writer, II can very easily
explain. The home Of our family was in
Matthias. Me. We were Blue Nose Yam
KEGS. In 1865 went west by way Of New
York and the Isthmus Of Panama. To-
day Is the first time / have Seen New
York since then Halls great-grandfather
fought in the revolutionary war, ana
when Haro began to grow up his moth
er and l tried to interest him in United
States history. We lived In Santa Cruz
county, Cal. And / did manage to keep
him in public school for while.
There were five boys and one girl. The
oldest boy died. Hal Is the youngest Of
our children. When he was six years old
he could throw stone straight as rifle
shot, and l had to pay for many a pane
of glass in our nelghDors' homes.
II was in the lumber business, and l
put him to saving wood. If l left him
ten minutes he would run off and get in d
bal! game. He could run very fast, and
could not catch him. Even at that age
people sa d he would become a profess
s4ona ball player.
Couldn't Catch Truant.
My wife and l are of the Baptist
faith, and Mrs. Chase could not allow
Harold to play on Sunday. She thought
it a sacri.ege. Well. when Hal was
twelve years old he got an offer Of 80
cents to catch for a club in a nearby vii
laSe. He could pay any position. He
stole his brother Alberts uniform and
got away from the house. The church
members told us about 1t, for this was
on Sunday in July, and Mrs. Chase m
sisted that / go after Hal. 1t was q hot
expedition. Sonnet mes / would see him
anead of me and yell; then he would
duck under a bush and throw me off
his scent. Finally he doubled on his
tracks and escaped.
II went back to the village church and
told my wife then and there that Harold
would be a professional ball player in
spite of everything We could do. So We
made up our minds to let HIM go.
He is tWenty-six years old now, and
ne does not care for anything but base
ball. He has his old parents SO dizzy
that We read the Yankee scores before
we eat breakfast. ! suppose that success
In life Is to do what comes easiest. That,
at least. was our philosophy with Hal.