• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Death Row inmates were once forced to play baseball to delay their executions

Home> News

Published 19:38 11 Jan 2023 GMT

Death Row inmates were once forced to play baseball to delay their executions

The Wyoming State Penitentiary All Stars were actually playing baseball for their lives

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A group of death row inmates at a prison in the USA were formed into a baseball team that quite literally played for their lives.

Obviously, something like this could never happen in the modern day, but back in the early parts of the 20th century there was a team of convicts – ones who had committed serious crimes such as murder and rape – who played baseball against free men, with the complete co-operation of those who were tasked with keeping them locked up.

The rag-tag bunch of criminal athletes were called the Wyoming State Penitentiary All Stars, and they played their first game on July 18 1911.

On their side, they had three rapists, five thieves, three murderers, and a master forger.

Advert

OK, maybe not that master, given that he ended up on the prison baseball team.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Death Row All Stars.
Death Row All Stars

Due to a law that had been passed meaning that prison owners couldn’t profit from their inmates – though they can now profit from things made by prisoners, which is a story for another time – there were large sums wagered on the success of the team by those in the incarceration business.

That meant the stakes were pretty high for the hard-swinging inmates, as they were told that winning would reduce their sentences, while errors that cost the team dearly could even result in the death penalty.

Advert

Joseph Seng, the All Stars' top player, was a murderer.
Death Row All Stars

It ain’t exactly modern justice, but that was how things were in that part of the world at the time.

In their book, entitled Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption and Murder, authors Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian detailed some of the practices that were in use back then.

"Desperadoes caught in the act of robbery, rape or murder in the town were not only hanged but sometimes actually skinned," they wrote.

Advert

"Various items were made from the hides of these unfortunate lawbreakers, sold as souvenirs, and used as a warning to other would-be felons."

In one instance, a prisoner was hanged and a pair of shoes was made from the unfortunate criminal’s skin.

That actually happened to one prisoner, George Parrott, as you can see.

A death mask of George Parrott, as well as the gallows he was hanged on and some shoes made of his skin.
Death Row All Stars

Advert

In the end, the team pretty much wound up at the same time as their star hitter Joseph Seng was executed in 1912, but interest remains to this day.

A synopsis of the book written about the team – which you can purchase here – reads: "It was the golden age of baseball, and all over the country teams gathered on town fields in front of throngs of fans to compete for local glory.

"In Rawlins, Wyoming, residents lined up for tickets to see slugger Joseph Seng and the rest of the Wyoming Penitentiary Death Row All Stars as they took on all comers in baseball games with considerably more at stake.

"Teams came from Reno, Nevada; Klamath Falls, Oregon; Bodie, California; and throughout the west to take on the murderers who made up the line-up.

Advert

"This is a fun and wildly dramatic and suspenseful look at the game of baseball and at the thrilling events that unfolded at a prison in the wide-open Wyoming frontier in pursuit of wins on the diamond."

Honestly, if it wasn’t true you wouldn’t believe it.

Featured Image Credit: Amazon/Death Row All-Stars

Topics: US News, Weird, True crime, Sport

Tom Wood
Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekend he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

X

@TPWagwim

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

17 mins ago
an hour ago
2 hours ago
3 hours ago
  • 17 mins ago

    Expert reveals 8 warning signs that indicate your lack of sex drive could need medical attention

    The expert has said such warnings signs should see you head to the doctors

    News
  • an hour ago

    Trump rants on Smithsonian museums being 'out of control' for discussing 'how bad slavery was'

    The Smithsonian was the latest target of Trump's ire

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Two moms died after being forced to wait for urgent care following miscarriages

    Brenda Yolani Arzu Ramirez and Porsha Ngumezi waited for hours for the urgent care they needed

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Shocking true story of series where woman with terminal cancer divorces husband and sleeps with 200 men

    Molly Kochan was just 33 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer

    Film & TV
  • Bizarre reason death row inmate is trying to delay execution for heinous crime more than 30 years ago
  • Judge makes ruling on death row inmate’s attempt to delay execution for heinous crime more than 30 years ago
  • How teen accused of murder became first ever to survive gruelling death row method
  • Woman speaks out after wearing wire to catch ex-husband and his new wife for murder