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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Ahh Ted...I wish I had a rational answer for my attraction to Chase. Such a fascinating story, a common criminal in a baseball era filled with criminals -- yet he was the worst. His story is so incredible it would almost appear as if it were made up out of whole cloth. And a guy thought of as one of the greatest players of his era -- who received more Hall of Fame votes for the first class in 1936 than John McGraw, Mordecai Brown, Bill Terry, Frank Chance, Johnny Evers, Sam Crawford and Frank Baker. And one less than Lefty Grove. And in his second year of eligibility for the HOF his vote total increased as was typical. His third year of eligiblity? Received zero votes! Yet he remains virtually unknown to the average baseball fan today. His story just fascinates me endlessly. And his cards are a bit cheaper than Cobb's.