Chief Bender

Played For
Philadelphia Athletics (1903-1914)
Baltimore Terrapins (1915)
Philadelphia Phillies (1916-1917)
Chicago White Sox (1925)

Minor League Experience
1919: Richmond (Virginia League)
1920-1921, 1924: New Haven (Eastern League)
1922: Reading (International Association)
1923: Baltimore Orioles (International Association)
1927: Johnstown (Middle Atlantic League)

After working in a World War I shipyard in 1918, Bender managed Richmond of the Virginia League in 1919 and claimed 29 victories against only two defeats. Chief was 35 years old at the time. He later called this his finest achievement in baseball. He won 25 games the next season for New Haven in the Eastern League. When he was 43 in 1927, Bender went 7-3 with a 1.33 ERA in 18 games in the Middle Atlantic League.

Best Season: 1910
The tall Indian went 23-5, leading the league in win/loss percentage. He completed 25 starts, with three shutouts (including his only no-hitter), and an ERA of 1.58. He also batted .269 with 16 RBI.

Factoids
Bender managed the Naval Academy baseball team in 1930.

Don't Call Me Chief
Bender disliked the name "Chief," which was a racial slur similar to calling a young black person "boy." He always signed his name "Charles" or "Charley" Bender. Connie Mack called him by his middle name, Albert. The Giants' star catcher John Meyers was also called "Chief" despite his disdain for the name.

Carlisle Indian School
From 1898 to 1901, Bender (born Charles Albert Bender) attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the first U.S. Government off-reservation boarding school for American Indian children. The school, established in 1879, provided an educational setting for more than 12,000 Native American students until the school closed in 1918. Bender's younger brother John Charles also went to the school, and the siblings both starred in baseball and football.

The Thirty-Something Blues
After winning 180 games prior to his 30th birthday (May 5, 1914), Bender went 32-28 in his thirties, finishing with 212 career victories. There are lots of reasons this happened, including the demise of the first A's dynasty, but the biggest reason was that pitchers in that era often burned out in their 30s, since off-season conditioning was virtually unheard of. Twice during his stay with the Athletics, Bender was suspended for being out of shape. In 1912 he was sent home for the final month of the season.

Big Game Pitcher
Bender pitched the September 18, 1909, game in Philadelphia against Detroit in front of 35,409, the largest crowd to see a baseball game to that point in history. Again in the 1911 World Series Bender pitched in front of 38,281 fans in game one against Christy Mathewson in the Polo Grounds. That crowd also set an attendance record.

Where He Played
Like most top pitchers of his era, Bender was used both as a starter and reliever.

Born
Charles Albert Bender was born on May 5, 1884, in Crow Wing County, MN.

Died
May 22, 1954, Philadelphia, PA

Batted:  Right
Threw:  Right

Primary Position:  P

Primary Team:  PHA

Major League Debut
April 20, 1903

Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1903
John Titus
Hans Lobert
Solly Hofman
Lee Tannehill
George Moriarty
Jake Stahl
Three-Finger Brown
Chief Bender
Red Ames

"Chief" was a common nickname for players of American Indian descent, but manager Mack insisted on calling Bender, "Albert," which was his middle name.

Family Tree
Bill James wrote in his first Historical Abstract that Chief's brother John died while playing ball in the minors (September 25 or 27, 1911 in the Western Canada League) . That is true, however, he did not die while on the mound, as has been reported. Bender was an outfielder for Alberta, and he suffered a massive heart attack and died while in left field. Newspaper accounts reported that he died of "heart failure brought on by excitement." John Bender had been in trouble frequently, once having stabbed his manager while playing in Charleston, South Carolina in 1908. That O.J. moment got him kicked out of baseball for a few years.

Similar Players
Carl Mays, Eddie Cicotte, Jack Chesbro. Chesbro is in the Hall of Fame, Cicotte cannot be considered for the Hall of Fame, and Mays is a strong candidate when compared to his contemporaries.

Related Players
Rube Waddell joined Bender in the A's pitching rotation for five years (1903-1907). Bender averaged 15 wins per season and Waddell 21.

Hall of Fame Voting Year Election Votes Pct 1936 BBWAA 2 .9% 1937 BBWAA 17 8.5% 1938 BBWAA 33 12.6% 1939 BBWAA 40 14.6% 1942 BBWAA 55 23.6% 1945 BBWAA 40 16.2% 1946 BBWAA 35 13.3% 1946 Nominating Vote 39 19.3% 1947 BBWAA 72 44.7% 1948 BBWAA 5 4.1% 1949 BBWAA 2 1.3% 1950 BBWAA 6 3.6% 1951 BBWAA 35 15.5% 1952 BBWAA 70 29.9% 1953 BBWAA 104 39.4% 1953 Veterans %

No-Hitter
5/12/1910: For PHI (A) vs. CLE (A), 4-0 at PHI. 9 innings pitched.

Post-Season Appearances
1905 World Series
1910 World Series
1911 World Series
1913 World Series
1914 World Series

Feats
In July and August of 1907, Bender won 11 straight games to help the A's stay on the heels of the Detroit Tigers in a tight pennant race. The Tigers eventually won… On September 18, 1909, Bender faced Detroit's Wild Bill Donovan in Philadelphia in front of 35,409 fans, the largest paying crowd in baseball history at the time. Bender blanked the Tigers 2.0, keeping the A's in the pennant chase, which they would eventually lose… Bender threw his only no-hitter on May 12, 1910, a 4–0 victory over Cleveland. Chief narrowly missed a perfect game with one walk. Five days later Bender followed his no-hit performance with a four-hit shutout of the White Sox.

Pitching Feats

• , 1914: ...

Transactions
Signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Terrapins of the Deferal League in March, 1915. After the season, he signed with the Phillies. He retired following the 1917 campaign, but had one appearance in 1925 with the White Sox, for whom he had been coaching.

Replaced
Bert Husting, who was 14-5 in 27 starts for the A's in 1902.

Replaced By
With the A's in 1915, after Bender had hopped to the Federal League, his replacement was Rube Bressler.

Best Strength as a Player
Location of his fastball.

Largest Weakness as a Player
None really, Bender was a very good athlete without a glaring weakness. Decades before Kordell Stewart popularized the slash terminology to describe versatile play, Bender was filling in for Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's. With the A's, Bender played eight games in the infield and six in the outfield and was also called on to pinch-hit for fellow pitchers and sometimes even position players. He was known as a good base runner and an expert at stealing signs. One source claims he was the best bunter on the A's. On May 5, 1906, Bender hit his first career home run. Three days later Mack inserted Bender in left field in the sixth inning and the pitcher responded with two inside-the-park homers off Boston's Jesse Tannehill.

Learn More about Chief Bender
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Sources used for the Chief Bender Player Page:
Player file, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum