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Alabama Pitts

Edwin Collins "Alabama" Pitts Jr. (November 22, 1909 – June 7, 1941) was an American convicted felon who garnered media attention in his attempt to play professional baseball after his release from Sing Sing prison. While serving five years for robbing a grocery store at gunpoint, he played for the prison baseball and American football squads. After being denied the ability to play for the Albany Senators of the International League in 1935 by the president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, he appealed to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who granted his request.

Alabama Pitts
Alabama Pitts in a baseball uniform holding two cub team mascots.
Pitts in 1935
Born
Edwin Collins Pitts, Jr.

(1909-11-22)November 22, 1909
Opelika, Alabama, US
DiedJune 7, 1941(1941-06-07) (aged 31)
Valdese, North Carolina, US
Conviction(s)Armed robbery
Criminal penaltyEight to sixteen years (over five years served)
Baseball career
Outfielder
Minor League debut
June 23, 1935, for the Albany Senators
Last Minor League appearance
1940, for the Hickory Rebels
Minor Leagues statistics
At bats589
Hits156
Batting average.265
Defensive chances320
Putouts294
Fielding percentage.941
Teams
International League

New York–Pennsylvania League

Carolina League

Piedmont League

Tar Heel League

American football career
No. 50
Position:Halfback
Personal information
Height:5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight:185 lb (84 kg)
Career history
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:2
Receiving yards:21
Touchdowns:0
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Pitts went on to play for five years as a baseball player for the Albany Senators; York White Roses and Trenton Senators of the New York–Pennsylvania League; Charlotte Hornets, Gastonia Spinners, Valdese Textiles, and Lenoir Finishers of the Carolina League; Winston-Salem Twins of the Piedmont League; and Hickory Rebels of the Tar Heel League. He played football for two years, including one as a member of the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles. Two films (The Billion Dollar Scandal and Over the Wall) produced in the 1930s were inspired by his life story, and he was fatally stabbed at a tavern in June 1941.

Early years

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Pitts was born in Opelika, Alabama, to Edwin Pitts Sr., a member of the United States Cavalry, and Erma Mills Pitts on November 22, 1909.[1][note 1] Edwin Sr. died five months after his son's birth.[1] Pitts's mother gave him the nickname "Alabama" to distinguish him from his father, who was born in Georgia.[1] She remarried Robert E. Rudd, with whom she had one child, Pitts's half-sister.[1] They divorced thereafter, and Pitts and his mother moved to Peoria, Illinois, where Erma became a telephone operator.[1] Pitts attended Crossman School, a high school in New Orleans, Louisiana,[6] for one year[1] and received a gold medal for high jump in 1924.[6] The next year, he enlisted in the United States Navy at fifteen years old,[7] and was stationed in China.[6] He served for three years before receiving an honorable discharge.[7] After his military career, he relocated to New York City, where he married in 1928.[8] His mother left Illinois to be with her son in New York, and a judge later cited her unpredictable tendencies as a potential influence on Pitts's problematic life decisions.[9]

Sing Sing

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At the age of 19,[6] Pitts robbed a New York City grocery store with a gun and stole US$76.25 (equivalent to $1,353 in 2023).[7][note 2] He and his accomplice, James Murphy, were arrested as they tried to escape in a taxicab.[9] Pitts's mother claimed Murphy had planted the gun on her son.[6] Pitts was implicated in five previous robberies, and for his crimes was sentenced to eight to sixteen years in the Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York.[8][4]

Lewis Lawes had begun reforming Sing Sing when he became warden in 1919.[9] This reformation brought about the addition of sports teams to the correctional facility.[9] Pitts played fullback for an American football team in the prison system, the Black Sheep, during his sentence.[10][6] The team was coached by John Law,[10] who was previously the head football coach for Manhattan College.[11] In 1934, the Black Sheep went 10–2 against police departments and independent clubs.[6] He also played basketball and baseball, in which he had a .500 batting average in 21 career games with eight home runs.[10] The United Press wrote in November 1931 that "Alabama is a triple-threat man in more ways than one. He can punt, drop-kick, ram the line, pass, run a broken field, play the harmonica, wiggle his ears, play center field on the prison baseball team and is to be starred in the annual prison show next month."[12] He was noted by the Los Angeles Times in 1934 as "the most prominent jail-bird athlete in America."[10] He tried out with two professional football teams during his sentence.[10] On May 22, 1935, Pitts signed a contract with the Albany Senators of the International League to play baseball for $200 a month (equivalent to $4,445 in 2023 a month).[10] Lawes had Pitts's sentence end three years early,[10] and he was released in June 1935[10] after serving over five years.[4]

Career

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After his release from prison on June 6, 1935, Pitts's signing with the Albany Senators generated controversy through the media.[13] W. G. Bramham, the president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL), and Charles H. Knapp, the president of the International League, were opposed to the idea of a former convict playing professional baseball.[14] Knapp refused to approve Pitts's contract and Bramham supported the decision.[14] An executive committee of the National Association held a hearing on June 11, 1935, to review Bramham's actions.[15] The committee supported Bramham, and Pitts announced that he would appeal to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.[15] Albany manager Johnny Evers said he would quit baseball if Pitts were not allowed to play.[16] On June 17, Landis declared that Pitts could play professional baseball due to the "complete reformation in Pitts' character" since the robberies.[17] Hack Wilson, who previously played for the Chicago Cubs, was moved off of the Senators' roster to make room for Pitts.[18] Pitts made his professional baseball debut on June 23, 1935.[19] Evers received permission from the Canadian government to let Pitts play games in Montreal and Toronto, as an exception to their moral turpitude laws.[18] For the 1935 season, Pitts had a batting average of .233 in 116 at bats.[5] Because of injuries, including to his shoulder and finger,[20] he only played in 43 games for the Senators in 1935.[5]

Pitts signed a contract worth $1,500 (equivalent to $33,335 in 2023) for four preseason games and four regular season games with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League to play halfback and defensive back on September 9, 1935.[21][22][23][note 3] Signed primarily for publicity reasons, he played in three games for the Eagles, recording two receptions for 21 yards.[22] Eagles coach Lud Wray was opposed to signing a player for non-competitive reasons and kept Pitts off of the field for the first game of the season.[24] With the team getting blown out by the Chicago Bears in a subsequent game, Wray softened to owner Bert Bell's demands and inserted Pitts in the fourth quarter of the game.[24] Bell later called Pitts "just ordinary, not even fair as a player".[24] After the fourth game of the season, Pitts was released after rejecting a contract proposal from the team of $50 per game.[5][25] He played in a game for the New Rochelle Bulldogs on October 27, 1935.[26]

Pitts started his own traveling basketball team on Thanksgiving Day 1935, called the Alabama Pitts All-Stars;[27] he played with the team during the 1935–36 and 1936–37 seasons.[28][5] He enlisted former Eagles teammate Max Padlow to replace a missing All-Stars player in a game against the Dayton Pros in December 1935.[29]

After re-signing with the Senators in March 1936,[30] Pitts was demoted to the York White Roses of the New York–Pennsylvania League in May.[5][30] The White Roses were forced to move to Trenton, New Jersey, due to flooding, where they became the Trenton Senators in June.[5][31][21] He was suspended for 15 days during the season due to injuries and poor performance.[32] Pitts finished the season with a .224 batting average in 156 at bats.[5] His last game as a Senator was on July 6.[5] Pitts signed with the Charlotte Hornets of the Carolina League a few days later.[5] Bramham considered it an "outlaw league" and banned its players from signing with NAPBL leagues due to its allowance of players to easily break contracts by signing with other leagues.[33] Later in 1936, Pitts played two more football games for the New Rochelle Bulldogs of the newly formed American Association on November 29 and December 16,[34][35] and also played for the Stapleton Buffaloes.[5]

Pitts signed with the Winston-Salem Twins of the Piedmont League in 1937.[5] During his time with the team, he had a batting average of .278 in 23 games.[5] He also played with the Gastonia Spinners of the Carolina League during the season, but was released in June 1937 after a fight with the manager.[33] The Valdese Textiles of the Carolina League picked him up for the rest of the 1937 season, and he had a total batting average of .333 during the season in the league.[5] He had 96 runs on 321 at-bats for the league that favored the batter.[5][32]

In between the 1937 and 1938 seasons, he worked at Pilot Mill, a hosiery mill near Valdese, North Carolina.[5] He spent the 1938 season with the Textiles and Lenoir Finishers, with a batting average of .268.[5] The Carolina League folded after the 1938 season and he returned to Valdese to work.[36][5] In 1939, he was hired as the baseball coach at Valdese High School.[5] In 1940, he signed with the Hickory Rebels of the Tar Heel League, and he had a season batting average of .303.[5] He was released on August 1, which was surmised in the 2006 book Outlaw Ballplayers as being due to his age or his celebrity not creating strong enough attendance at games.[37] He played for a House of David traveling baseball team in a game on June 5, 1941, and for a Valdese semi-professional team on June 6.[37]

Personal life

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Pitts divorced his first wife on April 14, 1937.[38] He married his second wife on December 13, 1937, in Valdese,[39] and they had a daughter together in January 1939.[5] A character in the 1933 film The Billion Dollar Scandal was based on Pitts.[40] Lawes sold Pitts's story to Warner Brothers by August 1935,[41] and the film Over the Wall was released in April 1938 inspired by his life.[42][43][44]

Death

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On June 7, 1941, Pitts was fatally stabbed in a tavern in Valdese when he tried to cut in to dance with a woman with whom another man was dancing.[4][45][note 4] Newspaper writers stated Pitts was "quite drunk" at the time.[37] His funeral service was attended by approximately 5,000 people the next day in Valdese.[46] A 24-year-old man was convicted of manslaughter in Pitts's death, and was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison on December 9, 1941.[47] The man later received a pardon by North Carolina governor J. Melville Broughton, who believed the act was justified as self-defense, since he claimed Pitts had been aggressive and threatening towards the couple.[48]

Notes

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  1. ^ Outlaw Ballplayers and Pro-Football-Reference.com list his date of birth as November 22, 1909,[1][2] which is the date listed on his death certificate.[3] The Associated Press listed his age at death as 30 years old.[4] The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) lists his date of birth as March 1, 1910.[5] His tombstone lists his birth date as December 18, 1906, which was added through a church initiative after his funeral.[3]
  2. ^ Outlaw Ballplayers stated the stolen amount as $76.25,[7] whereas the Associated Press had the amount as $72.50.[4] An article in The Charlotte Observer from 1935 said only $10 was stolen, but SABR confirmed it was $76.25 and that the $10 claim was made up by Pitts.[5]
  3. ^ Eagles owner Bert Bell said in 1949 that he had signed Pitts to a $500 per game contract, since he only played in three of the contracted regular season games.[24]
  4. ^ SABR lists his date of death as June 6, 1941, but later says the incident began around 3 a.m. on June 7.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 33.
  2. ^ "Alabama Pitts Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 51.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Stabbing is fatal to 'Alabama' Pitts" (PDF). The New York Times. June 8, 1941. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Davlin, Josh and Hank Utley. "Alabama Pitts". Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Bryan, Jerry (June 5, 1935). "Alabama Pitts Is 'Blackballed' By League Head". The Birmingham News. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c d Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 34.
  8. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, pp. 34–35.
  9. ^ a b c d Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 35.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 36.
  11. ^ "Sing Sing Adopts Rockne Grid System". Palladium-Item. September 8, 1932. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Foes Quail When Alabama Pitts Plays for Dear Old Sing Sing". The Courier-Journal. November 5, 1931. Archived from the original on February 17, 2020. Retrieved February 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 36–37.
  14. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 37.
  15. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 38.
  16. ^ Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, pp. 38–39.
  17. ^ Copy of decision, in re: player E. C. Pitts, Kenesaw M. Landis, Baseball, Office of the Commissioner, June 17, 1935 Archived April 9, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama.
  18. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 42.
  19. ^ "Alabama Pitts Makes Two Hits, Wins Acclaim of Fans in Debut" (PDF). The New York Times. June 24, 1935. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  20. ^ Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 43.
  21. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 44.
  22. ^ a b Bowen, Les (2011). Philadelphia Eagles: The Complete Illustrated History. Minneapolis, Minnesota: MVP Books. p. 10. ISBN 9780760340356. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  23. ^ "Alabama Pitts to Play Professional Football With Philadelphia Team". The Miami News. September 9, 1935. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ a b c d Abrams, Al (November 10, 1949). "Remember Alabama Pitts?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022 – via Google News Archive.
  25. ^ Frank, Reuben (July 26, 2020). "The amazing story of Alabama Pitts: Robber, prisoner and Philadelphia Eagle". NBCSports.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  26. ^ "Reading Eleven Tops New Rochelle, 16–0" (PDF). The New York Times. October 28, 1935. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  27. ^ Garlikov, Ben (December 22, 1935). "Alabama Pitts' All-Stars Face Pros Here Sunday". Dayton Daily News. Archived from the original on March 19, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Pitts' All Stars Bow to Big Five". The Philadelphia Inquirer. December 10, 1935. Archived from the original on March 19, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Alabama Pitts Doesn't Play Much Basketball, But He Makes Friends". Dayton Daily News. December 23, 1935. Archived from the original on March 19, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 48.
  31. ^ "Grays Bolstered by New Hurdles". The Plain Speaker. July 2, 1936. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 45.
  33. ^ a b Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 46.
  34. ^ "Bay Parkways Play Tie" (PDF). The New York Times. November 30, 1936. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  35. ^ "Danbury on Top, 7–0" (PDF). The New York Times. December 17, 1936. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  36. ^ Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 47.
  37. ^ a b c Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 49.
  38. ^ "'Alabama' Pitts Gets Decree" (PDF). The New York Times. April 15, 1937. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  39. ^ "Alabama Pitts Hits Home Run Off Cupid". Daily News. December 14, 1937. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ "Convict Grid-Star Character Model for Picture Actor". Kilgore News Herald. February 12, 1933. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ "Alabama Pitts' Life Story to be Filmed Soon". The Berkshire Eagle. August 1, 1935. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. ^ Soanes, Wood (December 10, 1935). "Curtain Calls". Oakland Tribune. Retrieved April 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. James Cagney will impersonate Alabama Pitts in "Over the Wall," story of the convict who was paroled to organized baseball.
  43. ^ Parsons, Louella O. (July 7, 1936). ""The Last of Mrs. Cheyney" To Be Filmed With Myrna Loy". The Dayton Herald. Retrieved April 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  44. ^ "Prison melodrama comes to Mesa theatre Sunday". The Daily Sentinel. April 10, 1938. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  45. ^ Curran, Bob (November 6, 1996). "'Alabama' Pitts, An Athlete Ahead of his Time". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  46. ^ "Alabama Pitts Laid in Grave". The Charlotte Observer. June 9, 1941. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  47. ^ "Slayer of Pitts Is Convicted". Tampa Bay Times. December 11, 1941. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  48. ^ Utley, Peeler & Peeler 2006, p. 50.

Bibliography

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