The Death Row Baseball Team and Other Odd Episodes in History

The Death Row Baseball Team and Other Odd Episodes in History

Khalid Elhassan - May 18, 2020

The Death Row Baseball Team and Other Odd Episodes in History
Shoes made from the skin of George Parrot, a 19th-century train robber who was lynched in Wyoming. Death Row All Stars

37. Shocked, Shocked, to Find That Gambling Is Going On Here

The Alston All Stars (and death row players) played before packed crowds in baseball-mad Rawlins, WY. It was a harshly conservative town where wrongdoers were punished to the full extent of the law, and then some. The townspeople often did not bother waiting for the law to run its course: desperados caught in the act of murder, rape, or robbery, were often lynched on the spot, and not only hanged, but even skinned.

The good people of Rawlins were not only baseball mad, but also gambling mad. That was one thing they had in common with the All Stars, as well as with warden Felix Alston. Indeed, during the death row All Stars’ run, team captain George Saban developed a sideline as a bookie, going to local saloons and dives, taking bets on his team’s games, and pocketing a 20% commission.

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