When players on the Wyoming State Penitentiary All Stars took the field, they weren’t just playing America’s favorite pastime. They thought they were playing for their lives.
In something that’s between dystopia and a real-life “Squid Games,” this team played baseball, but the stakes were much higher. Unlike any other baseball team, this team was stacked with prison inmates with lengthly prison sentences — even death sentences.
The team was stacked full of people who had committed extremely serious crimes — murder and rape. Unilad said that a law had passed prohibiting prison owners from profiting off inmates. The baseball game led to different people in the prison business placing bets on the team. Teams in the West traveled to play this team.
The beginning of the Wyoming State Penitentiary All Stars
In Rawlins, Wyoming, Felix Alston was named the new warden of the state prison in April 1911, per the New York Post. The previous warden was accused of nearly starving the prisoners and other mistreatment. In the reform, Alston established the baseball team, which may remind modern readers of “The Hunger Games.”
If the team won, they thought that meant that their executions would be delayed and sentences would be reduced, but losing could mean execution came swiftly.
At least, that’s what George Saban — a vigilante murderer — told the team, according to Historical Mysteries. Saban was the owner of Bay State Cattle Company. He was convicted of murder in a raid known as the Spring Creek Raid. Even though these types of raids were rampant, there weren’t many convictions, per the Wyoming Historical Society.
Saban’s arrest and conviction marked a turning point. The Wild West of Wyoming was becoming less tolerant of lawlessness. That said, the inmate baseball team thrived then, when it would be unthinkable now.
Apparently, Saban claimed that he had inside information straight from warden Alston himself, per the New York Post. Inmates believed that they were sentences could be changed because of what Saban said.
It’s rumored that Saban had a stake in the games himself, per Historical Mysteries. He was said to have gotten a cut from some of the bets that were placed due to his inside information. Others in the town attended the games and placed bets on them. The players were the talk of the town. That is, until the games were shut down.
How the team was shut down
After only four games, the team was shut down.
The previous games had been chaotic, to say the least. The New York Post reported that someone had attempted to assassinate team captain Seng, but he kept on playing. The team came to believe that Seng’s talent kept him alive, despite his having a death sentence.
They thought his performance led to this delay — it turns out, they were wrong.
It’s now known that Seng’s lawyers argued for his stay of execution, but this was short-lived. Seng had been convicted of killing his girlfriend’s husband, per History Collection. At the time of the game, his conviction, along with the team, sparked media coverage across the country. On his purported day of execution, he was still alive, which led prisoners to attempt to assassinate him.
He survived, but political rumors put a stop to the team. The governor was rumored to be involved with the baseball team, according to History Collection. To shut these rumors down, the governor created an anti-gambling campaign. At the same time, Alston canceled the baseball team and diverted funding to an education program.
Seng was executed one year after his original execution date.
It doesn’t seem like the baseball game ended up reducing inmate sentences and nothing like this was attempted in the Wild West again.