» September 1, 1902: In today's split with the Phillies, Tinker, Evers, and Chance appear together in the Chicago Cubs lineup for the first time, but not in the positions that will earn them immortality. Johnny Evers, a New York State League rookie, starts at SS, with Joe Tinker at 3B, Frank Chance at 1B, and veteran Bobby Lowe at 2B. Philadelphia takes the opener, 11-3 behind White, while Chicago is victorious in the nitecap, 6-1, behind Jack Taylor's pitching.
» September 13, 1902: Tinker, Evers, and Chance play their first game as a SS-2B-1B combo for Chicago. Germany Schaefer is at 3B as Chicago clips St. Louis, 12-0.
» September 15, 1902: Chicago's infield combo of Tinker, Evers, and Chance pull off their first double play to back up Carl Lundgren's 6-3 win over the Reds.
» May 30, 1904: In an a.m.-p.m. doubleheader in Cincinnati, the first-place Cubs take on the 3rd place Reds, with just a few percentage points separating the team. The two split the holiday twin bill, the Reds taking the opener 7-4, despite a 9th-inning grand slam by Davy Jones. The Reds then lose, 5-2. Frank Chance of the Cubs is the real loser as he is hit three times by P Jack Harper of the Reds in the morning game, once reportedly losing consciousness when hit in the head. He continues to play and in the 2nd game, he is hit once by Win Kellum, giving him a record four hit by pitched balls for the day. Carl Lundgren loses the opener, while the deliberate Bob Wicker takes the night cap. Historian Joe Dittmar notes that beginning in the 7th inning the Reds fans begin counting aloud "1, 2, 3, 4. . . " when Wicker receives the ball. The Enquirer reports that the count would sometimes reach 15 before he would pitch.
» June 11, 1904: Before a record-breaking 38,805 at New York's Polo Grounds, Iron Joe McGinnity pitches nine innings of scoreless ball against Chicago. The Colts Bob Wicker goes one better, tossing nine innings without allowing a hit before former Cub Sam Mertes singles with one out in the 10th to break the no hitter. Chicago win it in the 12th, 1-0, when Johnny Evers 2-out single off McGinnity scores Frank Chance. It is Iron Joe's first loss after 14 straight wins. Wicker is flawless, allowing no other hits and striking out 10. Mertes also broke up another no-hitter on May 9th.
» June 13, 1904: At the Polo Grounds, Chicago tops the Giants, 3-2, as Three Finger Brown outduels Christy Mathewson for the win. Frank Chance leads the Chicago offense by hitting for the cycle. The loss drops New York back into 2nd place, one-half game behind Chicago.
» July 21, 1904: Christy Mathewson picks up his 1st relief win of the season, as the Giants clip the Cubs, 4–3. Matty relieves Joe McGinnity in the 6th as the Cubs score twice. In the 7th, Frank Chance belts a game-tying inside-the-park homer, but Roger Bresnahan retaliates with a 9th inning drive that gets by Jim Slagle for a homer. Jake Weimer takes the loss.
» June 24, 1905: Chicago Zephyrs rookie righthander Ed Reulbach wins an 18-inning marathon duel with the Cards' Jack Taylor 2–1 in St. Louis. First baseman Frank Chance has 27 putouts and two assists for Chicago.
» August 1, 1905:
Cubs manager Frank Selee resigns and is replaced by Frank Chance, who is elected manager in a narrow vote among the players. Selee, suffering from tuberculosis, had not been making road trips, and Chance has been serving as road manager. Selee, who fashioned the team that will dominate the second half of the decade, retires to Colorado. The visiting Phillies overcome a 5–0 deficit to down Chicago, 7–6, in 11 innings.
» August 24, 1905: Chicago's Ed Reulbach defeats Philley starter Tully Sparks in a 20-inning 2–1 Colts marathon win over the Phils, exactly two months after Big Ed topped the Cards by the same score in 18 innings. Frank Chance's single drives in Jack McCarthy with the winning run. The game ties the existing ML mark for the most innings played in a game. A high point in the game, as recounted in Johnny Evers Touching Second, is when OF Jimmy Slagle, in the 18th, shoves his hand in his back pocket to get a plug of chewing tobacco just as the batter cracks a long line drive. Slagle starts after the ball and discovers that he can't get his hand out of his pocket. He makes a leaping one-handed catch with his gloved hand, then stops, pulls the tobacco out, bites off a piece and bows to the crowd.
» April 16, 1906: In Cincinnati, the Cubs lose 3-2 as Johnny Evers and Frank Chance get ejected. Following the game, Joe Tinker gets into a fight with a fan to complete the circuit.
» April 28, 1906: It's the only time two managers steal home on the same day. Cubs pilot Frank Chance steals in the 9th to give Chicago a 1-0 win over the Reds, and Fred Clarke matches it in the Pirates' 10-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
» August 7, 1906: On John McGraw's orders, umpire James Johnstone is refused admittance to the Polo Grounds, and the ump, standing outside the Polo Grounds, forfeits the match to the Cubs. McGraw insists the game go on with a player from each team umpiring. McGraw picks reserve Sam Strang, but Cubs manager Frank Chance refuses to go along, pointing out the game has already been forfeited.
» July 8, 1907: Bombarded by pop bottles in Brooklyn, irate Cubs manager Frank Chance throws one back into the stands where it cuts a boy's leg. Chance is mobbed and leaves the park in an armored car with a police escort after the Cubs' 5-0 victory. Three Finger Brown emerges with the shutout win.
» October 20, 1910: The A's dispose of Ed Reulbach in two innings, then pin the loss on reliever Harry McIntire, who lasts a third of a inning. Coombs coasts on one day's rest, 12–5, and helps himself with three hits. Cubs manager Frank Chance becomes the first player ejected from a World Series game when umpire Tom Connolly chases him for protesting a Danny Murphy home run drive against a sign over the RF bleachers. Chance opines too loudly that it should be a ground-rule double.
» October 22, 1910: Frank Chance lines a 9th inning one-out triple to knot game four at 2–2. Jimmy Sheckard then singles in the 10th to give the Cubs the 3–2 win. Three Finger Brown, in relief, is the winner over Chief Bender, who goes all the way.
» July 1, 1911: In a 3–0 Chicago win over the host Reds, Cubs player-manager Frank Chance leaves the game suffering from a blood clot in the brain. Except for 11 brief appearances at 1B over the next three years, his playing days are over.
» August 5, 1911: Cubs manager Frank Chance suspends Joe Tinker and fines him $150 for indifferent play. He is reinstated the next day.
» April 12, 1912: The Tinker-Evers-Chance double play combination (with Ed Lennox at 3B) plays its final ML game together, a 3–2 loss in Cincinnati. Vic Saier will replace Chance at 1B.
» August 10, 1912:
In a game at Boston, Chicago star Johnny Evers pushes umpire Bill Finneran after the latter challenges Evers, Heinie Zimmerman, and Frank Chance to fight him under the stands after the game. Evers will be suspended for five days, and though the Cubs win three games, there will be a howl that president Lynch is favoring the Giants. Red Downs will fill in at 2B for Chicago.
» September 28, 1912: Having recovered from an operation, Frank Chance is released by the Cubs. He will manage the newly named New York Yankees for two years.
» September 28, 1912:
Cubs manager Frank Chance is fired, though his team is heading for a 91–59 record, good for 3rd place.
» November 9, 1912: Frank Chance is sold to the Cincinnati Reds by the Cubs; when all National League clubs waive claims to him in December, the Reds free him to manage the Yankees.
» January 8, 1913: Frank Chance inherits Hal Chase and the weakest lineup the New York Yankees will ever have when he signs to manage the team.
» April 10, 1913: President Woodrow Wilson, who receives a gold pass from Ban Johnson, throws out the first ball at Washington's home opener at National Park. Under new manager Frank Chance, New York is playing its first official game as Yankees. New York starter George McConnell, 8–12 last year as a 35-year-old rookie, allows just six hits but loses to Walter Johnson 2–1. Danny Moeller drives in both Nat runs with a single. After giving up an unearned run in the first, Johnson begins a string of shutout innings that will reach a record 55 2/3 before the St. Louis Browns score in the 4th on May 14th. Johnson scatters eight hits today, including one by 1B Charlie Sterrett. Regular first sacker Hal Chase, though left-handed, fills in at second base for injured player/manager Frank Chance.
» April 17, 1913:
Before 25,000 at the Polo Grounds, Washington mars the debut of new manager Frank Chance, but routing his Yankees, 9–3. The Yanks are renting the Polo Grounds on a temporary basis.
» May 31, 1913: Accusing Hal Chase of playing below his capability, Yankees manager Frank Chance sends him to the White Sox for infielder Rollie Zeider and 1B Babe Borton. Despite his uncertain character and questionable honesty, Chase will be on the scene another six years.
» April 14, 1914:
Before 22,000 at the Polo Grounds, the Yankees rock the World Champion Athletics, 8–2, driving Joe Bush from the mound after two innings. With only one starter, Roy Hartzell, back from last year's opening lineup, New York scores four in the first and would have scored another in the 2nd inning but Jeff Sweeney falls rounding 3B. When the burly catcher is helped to his feet by coach and manager Frank Chance, he is declared out by Billy Evans: a new rule prohibits coaches from helping runners. Sweeney redeems himself when he and pitcher Marty McHale pull off a double steal. New York has seven steals, including two by Sweeney and Fritz Maisel, who steals 2B and 3B in the 4th inning. Maisel will swipe 74 bases on the year, while Sweeney will pick up 19, tops for Yankee catchers.
» September 12, 1914: Yankee SS Roger Peckinpaugh, 23, replaces Frank Chance and becomes the all-time youngest manager, and the 7th in the club's 12-year existence. He will win nine of 17 games and will manage next at Cleveland in 1928.
» September 27, 1923:
Red Sox owner Bob Quinn announces that Frank Chance will not manage the team next year.
» September 28, 1923: Three weeks after both pitchers have thrown no-hitters versus the A's, Sam Jones of the Yankees and Howard Ehmke (20–17) of the Red Sox clash. It is not Ehmke's day; he is routed after facing a record 16 batters in an 11-run 6th inning, as manager Frank Chance declines to relieve his ace in mid-inning. The Yankees beat the Red Sox 24–4 with 30 hits in 55 at bats, both American League records. Ruth is 5-for-6 in the game with two doubles and his 28th home run, Wally Schang adds five hits, and Lou Gehrig four hits, including three doubles.
» October 26, 1923: Frank Chance signs to manage the White Sox replacing Kid Gleason, but he will resign February 17, 1924, because of illness. Coach Johnny Evers, named acting manager, will fill the job the entire season.
» February 17, 1924: Frank Chance, signed as White Sox manager three months ago, resigns because of illness. Coach Johnny Evers is named acting manager until Chance returns, but the former Cubs star never recovers, and dies on September 24, 1924.
» January 4, 1942: Rogers Hornsby becomes the 14th player selected to the Hall of Fame, getting 78 percent of the vote. But Frank Chance with 58 percent and Rube Waddell with 54 percent miss out.
» January 10, 1945: Baseball writers again fail to elect a new Hall of Famer. Frank Chance, Rube Waddell, and Ed Walsh come closest, but none get the required three-fourths of the vote.
» November 15, 1945: The rules are revised for election of modern players
to the Hall of Fame. A runoff election is formulated
as a way to qualify more players for selection, but
it fails to meet its objective as no one reaches the
75 percent requirement in the runoff. Frank Chance,
Johnny Evers, Miller Huggins, and Ed Walsh come closest.
» April 24, 1946:
Eleven former players--Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers,
Frank Chance, Jess Burkett, Tom McCarthy, Rube Waddell,
Eddie Plank, Ed Walsh, Jack Chesbro, Clark Griffith,
and Joe McGinnity--are named to the Hall of Fame.
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