Editing Chief Bender (section)

==Baseball career==
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| caption1 =1903 E107 "Chief" Bender (Collection RC)
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===Early career===
Bender debuted in the major leagues in 1903. He is one of only a few pitchers in the 20th century to throw 200 or more innings at the age of 19. His walks per nine innings rate were 2.17; only a few pitchers since 1893 have had a rate below 2.2 at the age of 20 or younger. That year, he also won a game against [[Cy Young]] and met his future wife Marie.<ref>Swift, p. 108</ref>

In 1905, Bender earned an 18–11 [[win–loss record]] with a 2.83 ERA, helping the A's win the AL pennant; but they lost the World Series in five games to the [[New York Giants (baseball)|New York Giants]]. Bender went 1–1 with a 1.06 ERA in the series, pitching a 4-hit, 3–0 complete-game shutout in Game 2, striking out 9. He went the distance again in Game 5, giving up just two earned runs in eight innings, losing 2–0 to [[Christy Mathewson]].

After solid seasons in 1906 (15–10, 2.53), 1907 (16–8, 2.05), 1908 (8–9 despite a 1.75 ERA), and 1909 (18–8, 1.66), he led the Athletics to the AL pennant in 1910, as Philadelphia went 102–48, {{frac|14|1|2}} games ahead of the second-place [[New York Highlanders]]. Bender led the AL in winning percentage, at .821, going 23–5 with a 1.58 ERA. He went 1–1 with a 1.93 ERA in the [[1910 World Series|World Series]] as the A's beat the [[Chicago Cubs]], who had gone 104–50 in the regular season, in five games. Bender pitched a complete-game three-hitter in the opener, striking out 8 and giving up only one unearned run. He lost Game 4 of the series in another complete-game effort, 4–3 in 10 innings. Bender pitched all {{frac|9|2|3}} innings for the Athletics, striking out 6.

===Later career===
In 1911, he led the AL in winning percentage again (.773), going 17–5 with a 2.16 ERA as the A's won their second consecutive AL pennant, going 101–50 and finishing {{frac|13|1|2}} games ahead of the [[Detroit Tigers]]. In a rematch of the [[1905 World Series]], the Athletics got their revenge, defeating the New York Giants and becoming the first American League team to win back-to-back World Series (the Chicago Cubs from the NL had won back-to-back titles in 1907 and 1908). After losing the opener 2–1 to Mathewson, though pitching a complete game, giving up just 5 hits and 2 runs (1 earned run) and striking out 11, Bender returned in Game 4, beating the Giants 4–2 on a complete game 7-hitter, and closed out the Series in game 6 with a 13–2 A's victory. Bender again went the distance (his 3rd complete game of the series), a 4-hit performance which he gave up no earned runs (the two Giants runs were unearned). He went 2–1, with 1.04 ERA and 3 complete games in the series.

In 1912 Bender was 13–8 with a 2.74 ERA. He did not start for nearly 40 games late in the year and was suspended by the A's in September for alcohol abuse. His next contract had a clause saying he had to abstain from drinking to earn his full salary. In 1913, he went 21–10 with a 2.21 ERA, helping the A's win their third AL pennant in four years. They would also make it three World Series titles in four years by defeating the Giants in five games. Bender went 2–0 in the series with complete-game victories in Games 1 and 4.

He led the AL in winning percentage (.850) for the third time in 1914, going 17–3 with a 2.26 ERA, and the A's would win their fourth AL pennant in five years. But the Athletics would be swept by the underdog [[History of the Boston Braves|Boston Braves]], with Bender losing Game 1 7–1, giving up 6 earned runs in {{frac|5|1|3}} innings. It was the only World Series game he failed to finish, after completing his previous nine starts in the Fall Classic.

[[File:Moving Picture News (1911) (1911) (14801801473).jpg|right|thumb|260px|The four stars of the world champion Philadelphia Athletics — Bender, [[Cy Morgan]], [[Jack Coombs]] and [[Rube Oldring]] — were featured in the [[Thanhouser Company]] film, ''[[The Baseball Bug]]'' (1911)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thanhouser.org/tcocd/Filmography_files/idhud4dk.htm |title=The Baseball Bug |publisher=Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc. |access-date=2016-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107150024/http://www.thanhouser.org/tcocd/Filmography_files/idhud4dk.htm |archive-date=2017-01-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]When the [[Baltimore Terrapins]] of the upstart [[Federal League]] offered Bender a large salary increase, Athletics manager [[Connie Mack]] knew he could not hope to match it and released Bender.<ref>Swift, pp. 231-232</ref> In his only season with the Terrapins, Bender went 4–16, and his 3.99 ERA was near the bottom of the league.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1915 Federal League Standard Pitching |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/FL/1915-standard-pitching.shtml |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> Bender later regretted leaving Philadelphia for the upstart league.<ref>Swift, pp. 234</ref> After two years with the [[Philadelphia Phillies]], he left baseball in 1918 to work in the shipyards during World War I.<ref name=":0" />

Over his career, his win–loss record was 212–127, for a .625 winning percentage (a category in which he led the [[American League]] in three seasons), and a career 2.46 ERA. His talent was even more noticeable in the high-pressure environment of the [[World Series]]; in five trips to the championship series, he managed six wins and a 2.44 [[Earned run average|ERA]], completing 9 of the 10 games he started, putting him second in World Series history behind Christy Mathewson. In the [[1911 World Series|1911 Series]], he pitched three [[complete game]]s to tie Mathewson's record of three complete games in a World Series. He also threw a [[no-hitter]] on May 12, 1910, beating the [[Cleveland Indians]] 4–0.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Retrosheet Boxscore: Philadelphia Athletics 4, Cleveland Naps 0 |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1910/B05120PHA1910.htm |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=Retrosheet}}</ref>

Bender was an adept hitting pitcher in his major league career, posting a .212 [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] (243-for-1,147) with 102 [[run (baseball)|runs]], 6 [[home runs]] and 116 [[Run batted in|RBI]]. Bender notably hit two home runs in one game—rare for the dead ball era—in a 1906 game where he replaced outfielder [[Topsy Hartsel]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Cooperstown: Hall of Fame Players|author=Paul Adomites; David Nemec; Matthew D. Greenberger; Dan Scholssberg; Dick Johnson; Mike Tully; Pete Palmer; Stuart Shea|date=2002|publisher=Publications International, Ltd.|page=82}}</ref> He had 10 or more RBI in a season four times, with a career-high 16 in 1910.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charles Bender Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bendech01.shtml |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref>

===Minor leagues===
In 1919, Bender pitched in the minor leagues for the [[Richmond Colts]] of the [[Virginia League]]. He earned a 29–2 record that year. He spent the next three seasons as a player-manager: the first two seasons with the [[New Haven Profs|New Haven Weissmen/Indians]] and the third was with the Class AA [[Reading Aces]]. For the 1920 New Haven team, Bender recorded 25 wins as a pitcher. His record declined to 13–7 in 1921 and 8–13 in 1922.<ref name=BRMinors>{{cite web|title=Chief Bender Minor League Statistics & History|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=bender001cha|website=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=July 6, 2014}}</ref>

In 1923 and 1924, Bender did not manage, but did pitch for the minor league [[Baltimore Orioles (minor league)|Baltimore Orioles]] and the [[New Haven Profs]], respectively. He went 6–3 with a 5.03 ERA for Baltimore, then went 6–4 with a 3.07 ERA for New Haven.<ref name=BRMinors/>

===Coaching career===
Bender came back to the majors as a coach for the [[Chicago White Sox]] (1925–26) and even made a cameo appearance on the mound in 1925. Between 1924 and 1928, Bender managed the baseball team at the [[United States Naval Academy]], where he had a record of 42–34–2.<ref name="Media46">{{cite book |url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/navy/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2013-14/misc_non_event/section-5.pdf |title=2014 Baseball Media Guide |publisher=[[United States Naval Academy]] |pages=46, 51 |access-date=2014-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620091243/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/navy/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2013-14/misc_non_event/section-5.pdf |archive-date=2017-06-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1931, he coached for the Giants and the next year managed the Yankees affiliate in the Central League. He then returned to the Athletics where he worked as a scout, minor league manager, and coach. The Yankees signed Bender in February&nbsp;1942 as a pitching coach for the [[Newark Bears (International League)|Newark Bears]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Yankees Sign Chief Bender to Coach Young Hurlers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-news-chief-bender-february/171515384/ |access-date=May 1, 2025 |work=The Wilmington Morning News |date=February 12, 1942 |page=14|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>