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| - Harold Homer Chase (February 13, 1883 in Los Gatos, California - May 18, 1947 in Colusa, California), nicknamed "Prince Hal", was a first baseman in Major League Baseball, widely viewed as the best fielder at his position (see below, however). During his career, he played for the New York Highlanders (1905-1913), Chicago White Sox (1913-1914), Buffalo Blues (1914-1915), Cincinnati Reds (1916-1918), and New York Giants (1919).
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abstract
| - Harold Homer Chase (February 13, 1883 in Los Gatos, California - May 18, 1947 in Colusa, California), nicknamed "Prince Hal", was a first baseman in Major League Baseball, widely viewed as the best fielder at his position (see below, however). During his career, he played for the New York Highlanders (1905-1913), Chicago White Sox (1913-1914), Buffalo Blues (1914-1915), Cincinnati Reds (1916-1918), and New York Giants (1919). No lesser figures than Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson named him the best first baseman ever, and contemporary reports describe his glovework as outstanding. He is sometimes considered the first true star of the franchise that would eventually become the New York Yankees. In 1981, 62 years after his last major league game, baseball historians Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. Most reliable historians would not even rate Chase among baseball's top 500 players. Babe Ruth's listing of Chase as his all-time first baseman in "the Babe Ruth Story" (Ruth with Bob Considine and Fred Lieb) is usually regarded as a personal slap at Lou Gehrig, and perhaps George Sisler by Babe Ruth. Ruth, however, was terminally ill at the time.
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