The Black Prince of Baseball - by Donald Dewey & Nicholas Acocella (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

As America lurched into the twentieth century, its national pastime was afflicted with the same moral malaise that was enveloping the rest of the nation. Players regularly bet on games, games were routinely fixed, and league politics were as dirty as the base paths. Against this backdrop, Hal Chase emerged as one of the game's greatest players and also as one of its most scandalous characters.

With charisma and bravado that earned him the nickname The Prince, Chase charmed his way across America, spinning lies in the afternoon, dealing high-stakes poker at night, and gambling with beautiful women until dawn. Most notoriously of all, he undermined his stature as the era's greatest first baseman by conniving with gamblers to fix games and draw teammates into his diamond conspiracies.

But as Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella reveal in their groundbreaking biography, The Black Prince of Baseball, Chase was also a scapegoat for baseball notables with hands even dirtier than his. These included league officials who ignored facts in an attempt to pin the 1919 Black Sox scandal on him and--a previously unknown twist--the fabled John McGraw, who perjured himself on a witness stand against the first baseman. Although Chase, contrary to popular belief, was never banned from the major leagues, meticulous research by the authors implicates him in other shady enterprises as well, not least an attempt to blackmail revivalist Aimee Semple McPherson.

As The Black Prince of Baseball makes clear, in his protean talents and larcenies, Hal Chase personified all the excesses of Ragtime.

Review Quotes

"A remarkable look at a bygone scandal."--Kristin Kloberdanz, Chicago Tribune

"A very satisfying book."--Lance Smith, Guy Who Reviews Sports Books-- (6/21/2016 12:00:00 AM)

"Baseball historians will find this an excellent addition to their knowledge on the early game and the general topic of gambling in baseball."--Doug Wilson, Sport in American History-- (7/28/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"Dewey and Acocella have compiled an exhaustive study. . . . Their method produces moments of great insight, humor, complexity, and tragedy."--Daniel Gabriel, Elysian Fields Quarterly-- (8/1/2004 12:00:00 AM)

"Fans of this era will love this book."--Gregg's Baseball Bookcase

"With incredible research and detail Dewey and Acocella recount the story of one of the most controversial characters in all of baseball history."--Andrew Elias, Ft. Meyers Magazine

About the Author

Donald Dewey has published more than thirty books of fiction, nonfiction, and drama, including the history of baseball fans The Tenth Man and the novels The Fantasy League Murders and The Bolivian Sailor. Nicholas Acocella is the author or coauthor of several books on baseball, including (with Donald Dewey) The New Biographical History of Baseball: The Classic and Total Ballclubs.