Pearce Chiles

Pearce Nuget Chiles
(What's The Use)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.

• Debut April 18, 1899
• Final Game October 13, 1900
• Born May 28, 1867 in Deepwater, MO USA
• Died December 11, 1933 in Talmage, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"He was the oddest of all diamond odd-balls." - George Girsch, writing in 1958 in Baseball Digest about Pearce Chiles

"He was run out of Kansas and Texas years ago for serious crimes, and now gets the two-year trick for working a flim-flam game." - Sporting Life, May 4, 1901, in an article titled "Chiles Put Away"

"To the best of our knowledge Pierce Chiles is still in jail in Texas." - Sporting Life, June 28, 1902, although Chiles was to escape on August 19

Yes, Virginia, there may have been a bigger scoundrel to play the great American pastime than Hal Chase. His name was Pearce Chiles. He was an infielder, outfielder, pinch-hitter and coach for two big league seasons, in between the many crimes he seems to have committed. In 1900, he was a central figure in the Phillies' sign-stealing operation at the Baker Bowl. After 1903, he disappeared, although since he was wanted for escaping from prison it was likely intentional on his part.

He was born in 1867, but apparently nothing is known of his pro career until 1893, at age 26. The SABR biography speculates he might have started in pro ball in his teens, but no teams are mentioned. Chiles did not come to the majors until he was nearly 32. Before reaching the apex of baseball, he had been wanted in Missouri for illicit relations with a teenaged girl in 1896 (per the Los Angeles Times), among other mentions in police blotters and salacious headlines across the land.

He hit very well as a rookie, batting .320/.352/.462 with 28 doubles and 76 RBI in 97 games in 1899. The next season, he and teammate Morgan Murphy cooked up a brilliant little scheme in which they could steal signs. Murphy, positioned in center field, would use a spyglass to determine just what catchers were calling for. To get the word to Chiles, who generally coached third base when not playing (only 33 games that year), would get a shock via an electric wire run to the coaching box and deliver the pitch's intent via a pre-arranged signal to the batter, either a word of the day or a hand signal. In a September 17th contest against the Cincinnati Reds, shortstop Tommy Corcoran deduced that Chiles' leg would always twitch while coaching. He stopped the game and discovered the ruse with aid from the umpire and police. Chiles was never punished; had this happened, say, 120 years later, he would have been in deep dog doo.

Chiles was projected to return to Philly in 1901 but things changed when he was hauled into an El Paso jail, having been identified with an accomplice by a young man on a southbound train who claimed they absconded with $95 of his money. He was sentenced to two years in jail, but busted out sometime during the term, improbably playing for a team, the Natchez Giants of the Cotton States League later in 1902. As of February 1903 he was living in Portland, OR and a team there, the Portland Browns of the Pacific Coast League, claimed to have signed him, but he was arrested after allegedly assaulting a young woman. Later in 1903, he played semipro ball in California, where his trace was lost for over a century. In 2014, SABR researcher Peter Morris managed to find a marriage record from 1906 where his name is given as "Nuget Chiles"; he is then listed in the 1910 census as "N.B. Chiles" and later as "Newton Barron Chiles", until his death in 1933.

This site has a biography of Chiles, whose playing career was quite long, and lasted even after he escaped from prison. He also served as player-manager for Lancaster. He was often in trouble for breaking the law in various ways, something which did not seem to greatly affect most of his playing career since he moved around a lot from team to team. Baseball Digest of August 1958 also has an article about him.

He was sometimes confused with Cupid Childs and his last name was occasionally spelled Childs. His first name was often spelled Pierce, and sometimes he was called Petie.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Playoffs	Notes
1897	Sherman-Denison Tigers / Waco Tigers	Texas Association		--	--	replaced Pete Weckbecker, replaced by Joe Dowie
1898	Lancaster Maroons	Atlantic League		--	--	replaced Frank Rinn, replaced by Cal McVey

Further Reading

• "Pearce Chiles Found", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, May/June 2014, p. 1.

Related Sites

• Pearce Chiles at the SABR Bio Project