Frank Chance

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Frank Chance
First Baseman/Manager
Born: September 9, 1876
Died: October 15 1924 (aged 48)
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 29, 1898 for the Chicago Orphans
Final game
April 21, 1914 for the New York Yankees
Career statistics
Batting average	.296
Stolen bases	401
Runs batted in	596
Teams
As Player Chicago Orphan/Cubs (1898-1912) New York Yankees (1913-1914) As Manager Chicago Cubs (1905-1912) New York Yankees (1913-1914) Boston Red Sox (1923)
Career highlights and awards
World Series Champion: 1907, 1908 National League pennant: 1906, 1910 Managerial record: 946-648 2-time National League stolen base leader 4 seasons with a .300+ batting average
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Elected	1946
Election Method	Veteran's Committee

Frank Leroy Chance (September 9, 1877 - September 15, 1924) was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century. Performing the roles of first baseman and manager, Chance led the Chicago Cubs to four National League championships in the span of five years (1906-1910) and earned the nickname "The Peerless Leader". Born in Fresno, California, Chance began his career in 1898 with the Chicago Cubs and played irregularly until 1902. In 1903 he asserted himself with a .327 batting average, 67 stolen bases and 81 RBI in 441 at-bats. Chance was the first player ever ejected from a World Series game, doing so in Game 3 of the 1910 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics. He was part of the infield trio remembered in "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," a poem by newspaper columnist Franklin Pierce Adams first published in 1910 and also known as "Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Frank Chance (right) of Chicago and John McGraw (left) of N.Y., 1911

Frank Chance as manager, 1913

Chance took over as Chicago's manager in 1905, taking the helm of a very good team. Although his playing time decreased towards the end of the decade, as a manager he proved inspirational. The Cubs won the NL pennant in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910 and won the World Series in 1907 and 1908. He left the Cubs after the 1912 season to manage the New York Yankees, which he did for two seasons. After a brief retirement, he returned to coach the Boston Red Sox in 1923 before retiring for good. His nickname as a manager was "the Peerless Leader", and his lifetime record as a manager was 946-648. On his death in 1924, he was interred in the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Frank Chance was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 stolen bases

Sources

• The Editors of Total Baseball (2000). Baseball:The Biographical Encyclopedia. Sports Illustrated, pp. 191-192. ISBN 1-892129-34-5. 

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Baseball-reference.com – Major league career managerial statistics
• baseballhalloffame.org – Hall of Fame biography page