2. Weird Incentives for a Weird Team
The Alston All Stars’ team captain, George Saban, had to come up with incentives that were tailored to his weird collection of players. During team practice, following some poor plays from shortstop Joseph Guzzardo, the convict captain and warden’s friend let everybody know the consequences of screw-ups. As the team’s star player and death row inmate Joseph Seng described the pep talk in a letter he wrote from prison:
“Mistakes on the field would not be tolerated … He [Saban] told us that prisoners who make errors that cost the team a game would have more time added to their sentence. Winning would lead to reduced time and stays of execution“. In his capacity as bookie, Saban also made sure that this information was communicated to the town’s gamblers, so they would know that the players were playing for their lives.