Chance, Frank (1877-1924), was an outstanding major league baseball player and manager. Chance played first base in a famous Chicago Cub infield with shortstop Joe Tinker and second baseman Johnny Evers . They formed a double-play combination that was popularized in a poem of the day that included the line “Tinker to Evers to Chance.”
Chance also managed major league teams for 11 years, 8 of them for the Cubs. His teams won four National League pennants and two World Series titles, earning Chance the nickname of “the Peerless Leader.”
Frank Leroy Chance was born in Fresno, California, on Sept. 9, 1877. He began his career playing for the Cubs in 1898 and served as Cubs player-manager from 1905 to 1912. He managed the New York Yankees in 1913 and 1914, playing in 12 games in 1913 and 1 in 1914. Chance had a lifetime batting average of .296 and batted .300 in four World Series. He left major league baseball after 1914 but returned to manage the Boston Red Sox in 1923. He died on Feb. 15, 1924. Chance was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
