Harold Harris Chase was born in Los Gatos, California on February 13, 1883; the youngest of six children. Chase's father ran a sawmill in the California foothills, and the fiery red-headed Hal grew up in a rugged atmosphere. He learned early on to look out for himself, a personality trait that would be forever apparent during his baseball career. Dr. Charles Strub, later the president of the San Francisco Seals minor league team, knew Chase during these early years.... "The first time I saw him was in a kid's game. He was a left-handed shortstop, barefooted, wearing tattered overalls." Chase, far too free-spirited for academics, left high school in the tenth grade. A natural left-hander who insisted on batting right-handed, he played on semi-pro teams in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Santa Clara Valley. At age nineteen, Chase attended the University of Santa Clara for the 1902-1903 seasons. Supposedly studying to be a civil engineer, Chase played on the school baseball team. His academic record has not survived for posterity. According to school athletic records, he appeared primarily as a second baseman. A lefthander at second is unusual in baseball, as the natural turning and throwing done at the position favors a righthander. But, second base held no problems for Chase. The Redwood, his college yearbook, contained the notation: "Hal Chase played second base, Hal Chase would be difficult to replace." On the baseball field though, Chase never hesitated to play other positions. Dr. Strub found this out when he encountered Chase again in college: "It was a late inning and Chase was catching. We had a man on first and none out. I was up there to sacrifice which I did, all right. I sacrificed everybody! Chase stepped around me with the pitch, took the ball off the bat and doubled the runner at first...One look at Chase, you knew he couldn't miss the big leagues and it wouldn't matter much where they played him. In many respects, he was the greatest ballplayer I ever looked at. Certainly, no player had quicker reflexes."

His skills were demonstrated outside the United States as well. Chase and Elmer Emerson, a teammate at Santa Clara, visited Emerson's relatives and went sightseeing in Victoria, British Colombia. During this trip, Emerson was contacted by the management of a semi-pro team based in Victoria. Emerson and Chase were eventually convinced to play for the team. Emerson provided good pitching for Victoria but his vacation guest was the standout addition. Chase played third base, first, left field (one game), recorded one pitching victory, and became catcher after the team's regular backstop was injured. He batted .353 and contributed mightily to Victoria's 21-8-1 record. Victoria management was hopeful that Chase would return for the following season, but Chase had other things in mind. He returned with Emerson to California and the university. Santa Clara was playing against St. Vincent's college one day in Los Angeles. Jim Morley, the president of the Los Angeles team of the Pacific Coast League, was in the crowd. He spotted the young flashy fielder, and Chase's college days were over. Morley signed Chase to a contract with Los Angeles, and he was switched to first base. As his signing bonus, Chase received a .22 caliber rifle. His debut in the Pacific Coast League came on March 27, 1904. It was an inauspicious start as he went hitless in three trips against Oakland. In the field, however, he showed the dazzling moves that foreshadowed greatness. On March 29, The Los Angeles Times reported: "Chase has a future before him that any ball player might look forward to. He plays first base as well as anyone would care to see." At this time, Chase was no longer a youngster in tattered overalls and bare feet, but a star waiting to be discovered. The Yankees, by a stroke of fate, would be the team doing the discovering. Luckily for Yankees' manager Clark Griffith, a baseball scouting friend of his was traveling on the West Coast and wrote to Griffith about the young phenomenon. In October, 1904, at the close of the PCL season, Chase was drafted by New York.

Ganzel might have read this comment in the Sporting Life: "If pitcher Doc Newton's reports about Chase's ability to cover first base are true, the Yankees will not need Ganzel this season." Ganzel purchased the Grand Rapids team of the Western League and paid the Yankee management $3,000 for his unconditional release. Chase's debut in major league baseball came against the Washington Senators in a two game series played in April, 1905. The Yankees won both games by scores of 2-1 and 4-0. In the first game, Chase was one for four with a double. Chase was an original in his play at first base. Before him, charging in on bunts was uncommon. This fiery defensive style was the unforgettable characteristic of Chase's game. At the beginning of his career, he only lacked a good batting eye to complement his fielding. Clark Griffith and teammate Willie Keeler had tried to help Chase with his batting but gave up. Chase found batting help from an unlikely source. Kid Elberfeld, a career .271 hitter, the scrappy shortstop for the Yankees, would tutor him. Chase eventually found great success using a short bat like Elberfeld did. Elberfeld gave good advice, and Chase would compile a lifetime batting average of .291. He certainly adopted a unique method for choosing his batting timber, one not without health hazards. The secret was revealed as Chase had a splinter in his tongue one day: Bystander: "How did you get that in?" Chase: "Well, I'll tell you. I was downtown this morning sampling some new sticks. I can tell a new bat by tasting the wood." In his debut year of 1905, Chase batted .249. The next year, he knocked the ball at a .323 clip. Bat tasting had worked. Chase became the bona fide star and drawing card for the fledgling New York crew. New York's American League fans soon adopted a favorite son and Chase became a popular figure both on and off the field. Due to his spectacular fielding, Chase became known as "Peerless Hal" and "Prince Hal."

This transaction ignited a fire between the Coast League and major league baseball. The "peace agreement" or "hands off" policy that existed between the two was broken and a controversy resulted." It was no great sin to jump a contract in those days," Griffith has said (an ironic statement when discussing Chase, as we'll see.) "Chase reported to my team right away." In actuality, the acquisition of Chase was a battle between many warring factions. Chase bristled at the thought of being sold without his consent and initially refused to report to the Yankees. It seems Los Angeles owner Morley tried his best to get Chase to stay, possibly "deluding him into thinking that L.A. could legally retain him," as was reported in the Sporting News. Pitcher Doc Newton, who played with Chase on the Yankees, reported that Morley tried this tactic with him, and failed. After much dispute between the Pacific Coast League, Chase, and the Yankees management, a contract was finally signed. Chase accepted $200 advance money and joined Griffith's team on March 28, 1905, during spring training in Jackson, Mississippi. The value of his first major-league contract was reported to be $2,500. Upon seeing Chase practice, Griffith recalled: "Right away we knew we had come up with the fanciest first baseman we ever saw. We'd never seen the like of him, especially on bunts. Those were the days of bunting in baseball, you know, and Chase would start creeping in toward the plate with the pitcher's wind up, daring the hitter to lay one down or knock it past him. I've seen him go all the way to the third base foul line from first, and throw batters out on bunts...He had a little old-fashioned, round mitt, not much bigger than a pancake, but he could get ground balls or pick throws out of the dirt like no other man who ever lived." Griffith saw Chase as the successor to John Ganzel, the team's original first baseman and the player who hit the first home run in the Yankees' storied history. Ganzel wasn't happy on the team. Perhaps he had heard about Chase and sensed that his job was lost.

Players on other American League teams began to recognize Chase's ability and some sought to challenge the Yankees brash star. They saw him as a showoff or "Fancy Dan," to use a term of the time. Napoleon Lajoie, a future Hall of Famer, had heard about Chase's habit of darting in to scoop up bunts. "If he tries that on me," Lajoe once said, "I'll fix it so he won't try it again, on me or anyone else!" Against the Yankees one afternoon, Lajoe came to bat with a man on second and none out. He faked a bunt at the first pitch and stepped back. Chase had, of course, rushed in to field the play and was almost on top of the plate. On the next pitch, Hal broke in again. Lajoe, however, was not bunting, but swung away viciously, trying to knock Chase into the outfield. Chase did not flinch or duck. He snapped the ball into his glove and threw to second to double up the runner. Lajoe hadn't "fixed" the Prince, and he was seldom challenged in the field again. Some said that Ty Cobb often avoided hitting the ball to the right side of the infield against New York. Thus, Chase could not show off his fielding skill. Clyde Milan had this to say about Chase's fielding: "I saw Chase come in to break up a squeeze play, field the bunt, tag the man coming into the plate, and double up the batter with a throw to the second baseman covering first, all in one motion. You couldn't cross Chase by hitting the ball by him as he charged in. He'd snatch the ball regardless of how hard it was hit provided it was within his reach. The ball appeared to follow his glove. I could get down to first base with a fair degree of speed. I could drag (bunt) as good as anybody but I couldn't drag the ball against Chase. Many a time I was within two or three strides of the bag, positive I had him beaten, but he never failed to both pop up out of somewhere and tag me out." On August 30, 1906, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators, Chase became the first Yankee to get four base hits in one game, knocking three triples and one double. On the strength of Chase's batting, the Yankees won 9-8 in 10 innings.