34. Keeping the Team Focused
Team captain George Saban made sure to keep the Alston All Stars focused. 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 this information was communicated to the town’s gamblers, so they would know that the players were playing for their lives. Winning was one way to prolong a death row inmate’s time.