Chase admitted that he participated in more than his share of games of chance:
"I wasn't satisfied with what the club owners paid me. Like others, I had to have a bet on the side and we used to bet with the other team and the gamblers who sat in the boxes. It was easy to get a bet. Sometimes collections were hard to make. Players would pass out IOUs and often be in debt for their entire salaries. That wasn't a healthy condition. Once the evil started there was no stopping it, and club owners were not strong enough to cope with the evil."

Hal Chase died at California's Colusa Memorial Hospital on May 18, 1947, at the age of 64. His quiet funeral took place in San Jose, California. None of his former teammates or any baseball executives were present. However, baseball luminaries Casey Stengel and Lefty O'Doul did attend. Chase was laid to rest in in his hometown of Los Gatos at Oak Hill Cemetery. "Prince Hal's" baseball career certainly could have unfolded much differently. No one recognized this more than Chase himself. As he lay dying, Chase provided the epitaph for his career as well as his life...

"You note that I am not in the Hall of Fame. Some of the old-timers said I was one of the greatest fielding first baseman of all time. When I die, movie magnates will make no picture like "Pride of the Yankees", which honored that great player, Lou Gehrig. I guess thats the answer, isn't it? Gehrig had a good name; one of the best a man could have. I am an outcast, and I haven¹t a good name. I'm the loser, just like all gamblers are. I lived to make great plays. What did I gain? Nothing. Everything was lost because I raised hell after hours. I was a wise guy, a know-it-all, I guess."