...the young player who aims high in his profession will not only practice faithfully, gradually learning by experience the best methods of filling his important position, but he will also keep himself in the pink of physical condition and at the top of his bent mentally. There is no longer room on good ball clubs for the slacker or the slow thinker. Like all other players, the first baseman must be ready to do his part toward winning the game and this he cannot do unless he is in fine form, with a clear eye and muscles well trained and coordinated. This is not a lecture on clean living, but simply a bit of advice of a practical nature to the effect that any man who intends to excel as an athlete must take care of his body and train his mind to be always capable of its best efforts at critical moments.

That Hal Chase will never be admitted to the Baseball Hall of Fame is an established fact. Viewers of this site can look up the records of some Hall of Famers and see that players of lesser caliber than Chase have been elected. Similar reading along these lines can be found in Whatever Happened to the Hall Of Fame? an excellent book by Bill James. A popular documentary on baseball was recently televised. In this program, Chase was mentioned as a "dangerous figure." That is a melodramatic overstatement. Whatever his transgressions were, their consequences primarily affected Chase himself, and he paid more than the full price for his actions. While Chase is a forgotten figure in the Yankee pantheon, his star, for a time, shined as bright as any of the pinstriped heroes that followed him.