The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time - Elliott Kalb [90]
Although the 1912 National League race wasn’t close (the Giants won the pennant by ten games), Horage Fogel was banned for life by the National League after making allegations that St. Louis manager Roger Bresnahan (a former Giant) and other former New York players had thrown the season so that the Giants could win. (In 1909, Fogel had been the frontman for a group that purchased the Philadelphia Phillies, and rose to team president before his banishment.)
On one hand, to think the New York Giants needed help from the 63-90 Cardinals to win the pennant is absurd. The Phillies finished thirty games out. Fogel could have made one too many drunken statements. However, if you’re keeping score at home, think about this: There was reason to be suspicious of dealings to help McGraw’s Giants in 1905. And there was reason to be suspicious of dealings to help McGraw’s Giants in 1912. And, incredibly, there was reason to be suspicious of dealings to help McGraw’s Giants in 1919. This isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s a word problem for high school math students!
MY OPINION
Here’s why I’m suspicious that John McGraw conspired with Hal Chase to fix and throw games.
The very first manager of the New York Yankees (then called the Highlanders) was a man named Clark Griffith. According to Arthur Cummings in a series of 1924 newspaper articles entitled What Made Ballplayers Great?, it was in 1905 that Griffith first laid eyes on a first baseman named Hal Chase. “I don’t know how well he can hit,” Griffith apparently said, “but it won’t make a lot of difference. There is the greatest fielding first baseman I have ever seen in my life.” Griffith said that after watching Chase practice for all of one hour. (Remember, this in an era where the bunt was a main offensive weapon.)
Chase became New York’s first baseman, and turned out to be a legendary figure in baseball history. Apparently, no first baseman ever ran in on bunts and made force outs at second or third base before Chase. “Prince Hal” was considered the very best defensive first baseman of his time, and he was a proficient batter as well. Miller Huggins, who managed the Yankees from 1918-1929, said in the early 1920s, “If it were possible to include Hal Chase, there could never be any question as to who would be the grand all-American first baseman of all time.” Huggins brought up Lou Gehrig to play first base for the Yankees in 1923, and that best-ever tag on Chase didn’t last long. But Chase played fifteen years in the Major Leagues, despite a history of betting on games, laying down to lose on purpose, and fixing games. There had to be a conspiracy that allowed him to play as long as he did.
In a syndicated column for the International News Service in February of 1916, sportswriter Frank G. Menke wrote, “Probably no player ever was idolized more than Chase. Probably none, outside of Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Honus Wagner, ever were lauded from one end of the land to the other as was Chase. In the early years of the Yankees, Chase was the sensation of the American League.”
Bill James wrote that Chase was accused of “laying down”—not making an honest effort to win games—for the first time in 1908. Chase denied the charges, and jumped his contract with New York to play in a west coast league. Although suspended, he applied for reinstatement, paid a $200 fine, and was eligible to play the 1909 season. In The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, James writes that Chase was presented with a loving cup when he rejoined New York in May of 1909. It represented a sure sign that all was forgiven, or at least that the club hoped that Chase would play his hardest and remain loyal.
Chase was again accused of throwing a game by New York manager George Stallings in 1910. That year, he missed