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.

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.

Edwin Sr. died five months after his son's birth.

Pitts's mother gave him the nickname "Alabama" to distinguish him from his father, who was born in Georgia.

She remarried Robert E. Rudd, with whom she had one child, Pitts's half-sister.

They divorced thereafter, and Pitts and his mother moved to Peoria, Illinois, where Erma became a telephone operator.

Lewis Lawes had begun reforming Sing Sing when he became warden in 1919.

This reformation brought about the addition of sports teams to the correctional facility.

Pitts played fullback for an American football team in the prison system, the Black Sheep, during his sentence.

The team was coached by John Law, who was previously the head football coach for Manhattan College.

Pitts attended Crossman School, a high school in New Orleans, Louisiana, for one year and received a gold medal for high jump in 1924.

The next year, he enlisted in the United States Navy at fifteen years old, and was stationed in China.

He served for three years before receiving an honorable discharge.

After his military career, he relocated to New York City, where he married in 1928.

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.

At the age of 19, Pitts robbed a New York City grocery store with a gun and stole $76.25 USD.

He and his accomplice, James Murphy, were arrested as they tried to escape in a taxicab.

Pitts's mother claimed Murphy had planted the gun on her son.

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.

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.

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."

In 1934, the Black Sheep went 10–2 against police departments and independent clubs.

He also played basketball and baseball, in which he had a .500 batting average in 21 career games with eight home runs.

He was noted by the Los Angeles Times in 1934 as "the most prominent jail-bird athlete in America."

He tried out with two professional football teams during his sentence.

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.

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.

On May 22, 1935, Pitts signed a contract with the Albany Senators of the International League to play baseball for $200 a month ( a month).

Lawes had Pitts's sentence end three years early, and he was released in June 1935 after serving over five years.

After his release from prison on June 6, 1935, Pitts's signing with the Albany Senators generated controversy through the media.

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.

Knapp refused to approve Pitts's contract and Bramham supported the decision.

An executive committee of the National Association held a hearing on June 11, 1935, to review Bramham's actions.

The committee supported Bramham, and Pitts announced that he would appeal to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Albany manager Johnny Evers said he would quit baseball if Pitts were not allowed to play.

On June 17, Landis declared that Pitts could play professional baseball due to the "complete reformation in Pitts' character" since the robberies.

Hack Wilson, who previously played for the Chicago Cubs, was moved off of the Senators' roster to make room for Pitts.

Pitts made his professional baseball debut on June 23, 1935.