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Saturday, August 30, 2014.

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James Powell, catcher for the Death Row All Stars

The July 22, 1913 edition of the Jefferson Daily Reflector in Jefferson, Indiana was one of the first newspapers to announce that the Atlanta Pirates won the Prison League Pennant. “For the first time in the history of the Atlanta federal prison,” the article read “the Pirates are winners of the spring season championship. They defeated the Nevada federal prison team known as the Tigers 13 to 2, Interest in the Prison leaguepennant race has been intense among the prisoners. Since early spring eight clubs have fought valiantly for the title, each were supported and cheered by partisans as enthusiastic as thosewho throng the grandstands and bleachers of the “big league” parks.”

To learn more about prisoners who played baseball read The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder.

The national launch of The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder will be held on Saturday, August 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Raley Field in Sacramento, California.

Time to enter to win a copy of The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption and Murder along with a pair of tickets to see the Sacramento River Cats take on the Reno Aces on Saturday, August 30, 2014.

Joseph Guzzardo, Death Row All Stars Shortstop

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In 1914, he manager of a prison baseball team outside of Reno, Nevada was bidding farewell to his star shortstop, who had just finished serving his sentence of five years. “The team’s going to be crippled without you.” “Maybe so,” answered the great ball player, who was also a modest man. “But I don’t see how I can stay any longer. The authorities, you know—” “Of course, not now. But after you’ve seen all your friends on the outside and had your fling, why not break into a bank or something and come back to us?”

To learn more about prisoners who played baseball read The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder.

The national launch of The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder will be held on Saturday, August 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Raley Field in Sacramento, California.

Win a copy of The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption and Murder along with a pair of tickets to see the Sacramento River Cats take on the Reno Aces on Saturday, August 30, 2014. Enter now by completing the form below.

In August 1893, the Federal Prison Baseball League at Leavenworth signed willing recruits in preparation for a game against the Eagle team of the City League. The game was organized as an attraction for the residents who enjoyed watching inmates play ball. Members of the St. Louis Federal club spent several hours practicing with the convicts under the guidance of the club’s physician who was a prisoners at Leavenworth some years back. “Give us a team that was sentenced just two days ago and we’ll transform them into the best on the field here or anywhere,” the St. Louis coach told a reporter for the Kansas City Times. “You’ll have an appreciative bleacher crowd,” the coach added about the residents expected to come to the game. “Some of these players are better than any big leaguer ever seen.” The Leavenworth prison team beat the Eagles seven runs to three.

To learn more about prisoners who played baseball read The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder.

The national launch of The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder will be held on Saturday, August 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Raley Field in Sacramento, California.

Enter to win a copy of The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption and Murder along with a pair of tickets to see the Sacramento River Cats take on the Reno Aces on Saturday, August 30.

Death Row All Stars Pitcher, Thomas Cameron

No one knew better than the inmates at San Quentin in the early 1900s how serious prison officials took baseball games. Unaware that his application for a new trial had been denied by the supreme court a youthful bandit who had been sentenced to death in November 1913 for holding up a Southern Pacific train and killing a traveling agent, appeared on the prison diamond at noon on May 12, 1914 as a member of one of the prison baseball nine, and displayed great enthusiasm for the game. The news that the criminal’s application had been denied arrived early in the morning that day, but was purposely withheld from him in order that he might enjoy his last contest on the diamond. Nearly all the other prisoners knew that the fate of popular bandit had been sealed, but they left it for the prison officers to break the news to him after the game. The convict stepped onto the field confident he had escaped death.

To learn more about prisoners who played baseball read The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder.

The national launch of The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder will be held on Saturday, August 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Raley Field in Sacramento, California.

New Book on Deck.

The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption and Murder

will be released on August 30, 2015.

The Death Row All Stars is the amazing true story of the men on Wyoming’s death row in the 1900s who believed they’d be granted reprieves as long as they kept winning baseball games.

The Death Row All Stars Most Valuable Player, Joseph Seng

It’s not the first time athletically talented inmates have been used to play ball. Two players from a Sacramento club of the Pacific Coast Baseball league entered Folsum prison on this day in August 1930, not for crimes committed but because the prison baseball teams wanted an even break with a team of all-stars they were scheduled to play.

The prisoners-for-a-day were Fred Kienly and his battery mate catcher George Lial. Playing alongside them were seven hard-hitting, fast-stepping infielders and outfielders who were sent up for “this, that and the other,” not for errors committed on the diamond. The Folsum prison warden expected his “black sheep” to beat the all-stars whose team had been mangled when they lost their star pitcher after he was set free.

The national launch of The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball Corruption and Murder will be held on Saturday, August 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Raley Field in Sacramento, California.

Enter to win a copy of the book along with a pair of tickets to see the Sacramento River Cats take on the Reno Aces.

Last chance to enter to win a copy of

The Lady Was a Gambler: True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West

Cardsharps were looked down upon by polite, upstanding citizens, as was gambling as a whole. The women who ran gambling parlors were accused of being many things, including thieves, home wreckers, and prostitutes. Along with roulette, craps, and poker, their activities were noted as the chief reason for the downfall of morality. By 1860 the games of faro and roulette were banned in California. Gamblers, both male and female, were being forced out of the “profession.”

At one time or another all the women included in the book The Lady Was a Gambler were living on the fringes of the law. Civic groups opposing gambling on moral grounds fought to make it illegal. Those high rollers in ball gowns who refused to comply with the law found creative ways to keep the bets alive. Madame Vestal conducted business from inside an oversized wagon that could be moved whenever the authorities came near. Belle Cora disguised her illegal activities to look like simple neighborhood parties. Alive Ivers, better known as Poker Alice, took up the profession in 1865 and continued in the business for more than sixty years. Government mandates against gambling did not stop the notorious faro dealer from playing the game. She died broke at the age of seventy-nine. “I gambled away fortunes,” she once told a friend, “but I had a ball doing it.”

To learn more about these notorious women gamblers read

The Lady Was a Gambler: True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West