America Wanted to Nuke the Moon and Other Weird History

1. The Weird Experiment Comes to an End

It is hard to come up with a greater incentive for condemned players to play their hearts out than to make it clear that they are literally playing for more time in which to keep on breathing. The experiment might have been weird, but within that weirdness, weird approaches to motivation were highly effective. During their brief existence, Alston’s All-Stars were one of the best teams in the West. The team lasted for only one season, and it was a pretty short season at that. The convict players played only four games, but they won each and every single one.

The team’s star player, Joseph Seng, was scheduled to be executed on August 22^nd, 1911, but he was still alive to play for the team’s fourth victory on August 23^rd. Many believed that he was kept alive solely because of his baseball prowess. However, following the team’s fourth win, warden Alston, under pressure from the governor who hated gambling, shifted his focus from baseball to education for inmates. Seng’s stay of execution did not last forever: on May 24^th, 1912 he met his end at the gallows and execution by hanging.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Appalachian Magazine, February 23^rd, 2014 – The West Virginia Town That Applied For Soviet Foreign Aid

Argus Leader, November 17^th, 2016 – Beer Played an Important Part in Pilgrim Life

Ball, Warwick – Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire (2000)

Business Insider, November 21^st, 2018 – The Pilgrims Landed on Plymouth Rock For More Beer

Cracked – In the 1950s, America Wanted to Nuke the Moon

Daily Mail, September 14^th, 2014 – Playing For Time: The Death Row Inmates Who Received Stays of Execution For Every Baseball Game They Won

Encyclopedia Britannica – Albert Einstein

Gabriel, Richard – Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan’s Greatest General (2004)

Guardian, The, May 14^th, 2000 – US Planned One Big Nuclear Blast for Mankind

Independent, The, July 28^th, 2008 – The Last Untouchable in Europe