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| I asked them how much they wanted to bet themselves. "Well," they says, "we haven't got the money with us, will you take our check?" "Yes," I says, "I will take your check," I says, "for any amount. with this agreement — if you lose that ball game according to agreement, I will give you your checks back and the amount equivalent to your check and one third of what the gamblers win." That satisfied them. So then I walked down to my safe, took out my own checkbook on the Old Colony Trust Company of Boston, and gave them each a check. They crossed out the "Old Colony Trust Company" and filled in their own banks in for five hundred dollars apiece. I took them checks and put them in my safe and took out one thousand dollars. Q: Well, then, you found out the Reds didn't lose the first game. A: Well, I had a ticker across the street and I sent the boys over to see the ticker, and they came back and reported the Reds had won the game. The next morning Chase comes and sees me. He says, "It was a tough break we had, Jim; we tried awful hard." The "tough break" Chase referred to was the the Reds victory over the Boston Braves on July 25, 1918. It extended to the thirteenth inning with the score tied 2-2. Two men were out when Magee trotted to the plate. He hit a ground ball to Boston shortstop Johnny Rawlings. It hit a stone, jumped up and knocked into Rawling¹s nose, breaking it. Unfortunately for both Magee and Chase, Edd Roush, the next batter, blasted a home run. Magee was then forced to score the winning run in front of Roush. Magee slowly crept around the bases. Roush, sensing something was awry, shouted "Run, you son of a bitch!" As for Magee's suit, it was just about thrown out of court, and the jury ruled in favor of the Cubs, deciding they had more than just cause to suspend Magee. The only purpose the trial served, if Costello told the absolute truth, was to finally reveal all the behind the scene maneuvers of Chase. In 1920, Chase played for the Mission League in California. In August, he was barred from any parks in the neighboring Pacific Coast League. He had allegedly tried to bribe Salt Lake pitcher Spider Baum, prior to a game in Los Angeles. That incident and allegations that he he tried to bribe an umpire led to Chase's banishment from parks in the Mission League as well. With this ugly postscript to his career, it seemed that Chase would quietly fade away. Such was not the case. |
