Frank Chance began his professional career with the Chicago Cubs back in 1898 when they were still known as the Orphans. Chance quickly took over the first base spot and began hitting at a steady .300 clip. With the addition of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and pitcher Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, the Cubs emerged as the National League’s first dynasty. For more than a decade Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance cemented their reputation as baseball’s best known and longest running double play combination, and Chance became the Cubs “Peerless Leader," guiding the Cubbies to four pennants in five years.

     Chance retired after the 1914 season, but was convinced to return to the game in 1923 as manager of the Boston Red Sox. It is PSA/DNA’s opinion that this bat was manufactured for Chance during his 1923 tenure as the Boston Red Sox manager. Chance was hired by the White Sox for 1924, but never took the reins because he was stricken with the respiratory disease that would take his life that summer. This offered Hillerich & Bradsby bat is 36 inches in length and weighs in at a whopping 49.5 ounces. Literally a club, this artifact shows outstanding use with many ball marks clearly visible on its barrel. The handle has a crack which has been secured with black adhesive tape in a spiral pattern. “FRANK CHANCE” is stamped into the barrel with block letters. The bat shows some checking on the barrel from repeated ball contact and there is some dry wood as well. The bat can be dated to the 1923-1925 manufacturing period by its C-4D center brand. Bats of any deadball era players are scarce, but to find one of Frank Chance’s fame is quite extraordinary. The bat comes with a LOA from PSA/DNA (1B12225) for the game use and has been graded a solid GU 8.

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