36. The Killer Team’s Mascot
In the death row Alston All Stars’ first photo, the players could be seen wearing their prison inmate numbers on their shirts’ left hand pockets. It was not until 1916 that the Cleveland Indians became the first major league baseball team whose players wore numbers on their uniforms – in the Indians’ case, on their left sleeves.
In another photo, taken after the death row team’s first win, the convict players look spiffy. They had lost the ad hoc prison shirt outfits, and looked sharp, sporting matching uniforms and caps. At a time when only white players were allowed in the major and minor leagues, two of the All Stars, catcher James Powell and first baseman Eugene Rowan, were black. In the midst of the offenders – including, it should be recalled, three rapists – sits the team’s mascot, Felix Vern Alston Jr., the warden’s son.