Established 2023

Baseball at Eastern State Penitentiary in 1913

Monday, November 11, 2024
S.A.W

From 1910 to 1913, the American and National Baseball League had become popular and began to attract an average of 6 million people per year. Baseball had become an American pastime resulting in major league teams building and renovating 10 stadiums between 1909 and 1914 to entertain larger crowds at games. Soon baseball became a part of prison life as officials believed healthy recreational activities such as baseball could provide rehabilitation by instilling middle-class American values in inmates and removing criminal tendencies. This view was further supported by new ideas of treating criminals humanely.1 Baseball at ESP became a way for individuals to have autonomy, be empowered, and have a sense of agency. Incarcerated individuals learned to control their emotions - to be involved in these games, they had to abide by rules on the field such as not doing anything detrimental to the game i.e. fighting which would result in them being suspended from the games. Baseball provided a structured, physical, and social activity that could contribute to prisoners' rehabilitation. This allowed them to learn transferable skills to broader life contexts, such as employment or problem-solving in personal relationships. The idea was that with these new skills they would be better able to navigate life in a way that would not result in them incarcerated once again.

To expand the rehabilitation process of incarcerated individuals through baseball a newsletter called The Umpire was created at Eastern State Penitentiary to complement their inmate baseball league. The name of the newsletter is significant as the meaning of an umpire in sports is someone who ensures fairness, enforces rules, and maintains order. Similarly, the role of the newspaper was to inpire a life of fairness and order in the life of the incarcerated. The Umpire provides a detailed look at the culture of Eastern State Penitentiary and how it was interwoven into the daily life of incarcerated individuals giving them a sense of control. The Umpire is filled with poems, images, articles, and game statistics of the ESP League. This is so as the newspaper was a way for those who could not partake in the games to keep up with not only the game but events that took place on the field. Thus, The Umpire showcased a few comics. There were 6 teams in the ESP league: Ninth Block, the Library, the Plasterers, the Stocking Shed, the Band Team, and the Cubs. These teams had white and black individuals on the same team which contrasted with the segregation found on cell blocks until 1961 and in professional baseball until 1947.2 In the year 1913, Ninth Block won the ESP League.

Below is a photo of incarcerated individuals playing baseball on the field at ESP between Cellblocks 3 and 4.3

Drawing of the Duckie

Each of the following sections, will cover some of the key figures that were frequently mentioned and involved in The Umpire as a contributor or seeming well liked individual. These sections will showcase comics of these individuals who brought joy to others via the newsletter. The goal of these paragraphs is to provide an experience to readers that humanizes the mentioned prisoners or historically underrepresented individiuals through their stories and contributions to the ESP League.

Ducky aka Duckie

Ducky was one of the most frequently mentioned inmates. The articles suggest that Ducky was on the Shed Team of the ESP League. Ducky has historically been a nickname given to individuals with names such as McDonald or Donald. Stewart McDonald was the only inmate on the shed team in 1913 who had a name that merits a nickname such as Ducky. Thus, it was inferred that Ducky is inmate 5101. He was from Bucks County and 29 years old at the time of his arrest for a felony with a minimum sentence of 2 years and 6 months and a max sentence of 10 years. He was convicted 6 times and paid 1 fine. He was received at the prison on September 30th, 1909, and expected to be released on March 23rd, 1914. Ducky seems to have been a progressive member of the team as it was documented in The Umpire that he entered a protest because he thought that a new bill to play ball five days a week, and to work a half day on Saturday discriminated against the Shed team as they would not be able to partake in some of these games. The reason for this is unclear. However, the idea of an inmate protesting speaks to the rights of incarcerated individuals being respected in ESP at this time. This is evidence of the new ideas of treating incarcerated individuals in a humane way discussed above.

Here is a comic depicting Ducky going to the second base. The comic shows Ducky with wobbly legs, poking fun at his team's loss in the game. It is not clear why the caption is followed by a question mark as advancing to the second base usually benefits the team. This could be because the newsletter reports that the Shed, Ducky’s team lost to the library on this day. However, it seems to have been an intense game as it reports that with a score of 2 to 1, Ducky was in a good position to turn the team's luck around. However, this did not happen. It could be that the question mark was a questioning of Ducky's capabilities by other inmates and members of his team.

Incarcerated individuals Playing Baseball

Edward Franklin aka Jingles

Inmate B6388, Edward Franklin, the infamous Jingles frequently posted articles, poetry, and interview segments in The Umpire. He was the only incarcerated individual to have this number. He was born on December 17th, 1887 in New York, NY. Edward resided in Philadelphia, PA, and was taken into custody on the 1st of Nov 1912 which aligns with the timeline of when his poem was written. Before being convicted of a 2-year larceny sentence, he worked as a Bookkeeper. He had attended both public and private schools. Given his previous career and education, it is no wonder that he was interested in making numerous poetic and articulate contributions to The Umpire. This shows that The Umpire served as a means for creating meaningful mediums through which incarcerated individuals could find agency and express themselves.

Bookkeeping, a career that is now automated, was once done manually by an individual like Edward Franklin. The job entailed keeping track of items bought, sold, or given on credit. Bookkeepers often made entries that have a description and monthly profits and losses making it a time-consuming process.4 As businesses were often small, business owners did not need complex accounting systems and accountants to keep their books. When Edward Franklin was a bookkeeper, the term bookkeeping was thought to be equivalent to accounting.4 However, with the introduction of the railways that allowed for the development of distribution networks and corporations, accounting and booking became separate professions. Around 1913 the U.S. government began charging income taxes to fund the upcoming world war and this also increased the need for accounts.4 Given Edward Franklin was arrested in 1912, he would have missed out on a crucial time for his career. During this season of increase in demands for accountants, Edward Franklin would have had an abundance of job opportunities or the ability to take up accounting as a career. It is unclear if Edward had the opportunity to do any of these things as there are no records of him after his time at Eastern State. Regardless, it is clear that his bookkeeping abilities allowed him to use transferable skills to make great contributions to The Umpire.

Drawing of the Rabbi

The Rabbi

The Rabbi whose name is currently unknown was a contractor at Eastern State Penitentiary who worked as an umpire in the Eastern State Penitentiary League. The newsletter contains the following comic of the Rabbi in action.

Drawing of the Rabbi

Though little is known about the Rabbi, we can infer that he was a man of African American descent as the newsletter speaks of him refusing an offer to umpire in the southern leagues as he was afraid of lynching laws in some southern states. His presence in the ESP League speaks to the ESP League being ahead of its time in integrating black and white individuals into the league.

The umpire was an individual of authority in the games and had a specific uniform as seen in the photo of the Rabbi, he seems to be wearing some sort of suit. In the early days, umpires were typically respected local figures like lawyers or doctors, and their uniform was formal, consisting of a black suit, white linen shirt, black scarf ties, and a tall silk hat.5 This could be the hat that is depicted in the above comic of the Rabbi. There were no official uniforms at first, but as the game grew, changes started to take place which included the use of protective gear for umpires. In 1882, the American Association became the first league to enforce a provided wool blue suit as umpire uniforms. The blue uniform eventually became the standard uniform for baseball umpires by the 1960s. Around 1913, there was also the introduction of a wide range of protective gear for umpires such as shin and toe guards, a face mask, hats, and breast and stomach protectors. In 1913, American League President Ban Johnson introduced alternate white flannel suits for holidays and presidential games, but these were short-lived. In the 1920s, lighter khaki suits and “peachy ice-cream outfits” were briefly introduced for umpires, but were abandoned after fan mockery. By the 1960s, blue shirts had become outdated and blue blazers and gray slacks were introduced. In the 1970s, major leagues started adopting similar attire. In the 1980s, here was standardization of the umpire uniforms; both major leagues wore blue blazers, gray pants, and inside chest protectors.5

Here is a photo of umpires for the World Series of 1924 lined up before the game.6

picture of umpires in 1924

During the ESP league, the umpires were instructed to follow a specific set of rules. They are seen in the April 13th, 1913 release of the Umpire as follows:

Rules for Umpires

These rules still apply to today’s games as they are the core principles of umpiring i.e. maintaining authority, fairness, and focus. However, technology has evolved to make abiding by some of these rules more manageable. For example, it might be less relevant to try to justify your decision as an umpire as new technology allows for instant replays and better communication between umpires.

References

1Hayburn, T. (2007). Baseball Behind Bars: Prison Baseball at Eastern State Penitentiary in the Early Twentieth Century. Journal of Sport History, 34(2), 253–270. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43610019

2Eastern State Penitentiary: Spring Break Eastern State Penitentiary. (n.d.). Spring break at Eastern State Penitentiary. Retrieved November 11, 2024, from https://www.easternstate.org/springbreak

3Eastern State Penitentiary: 20 Years of Stories - Alumni Reunion Eastern State Penitentiary. (2021, May 18). 20 years of stories: Our final alumni reunion. Eastern State Penitentiary Blog. Retrieved November 11, 2024, from https://www.easternstate.org/about-eastern-state/blog/20-years-stories-our-final-alumni-reunion

4Investopedia: History of Accounting Investopedia. (2008, August 25). A brief history of accounting. Investopedia. Retrieved November 11, 2024, from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/08/accounting-history.asp

5 Society for American Baseball Research: Evolution of Umpires' Equipment and Uniforms Society for American Baseball Research. (n.d.). The evolution of umpires’ equipment and uniforms. SABR. Retrieved November 11, 2024, from https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-evolution-of-umpires-equipment-and-uniforms/

6 Wikipedia: Bill Klem Wikipedia contributors. (2024, October 28). Bill Klem. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 11, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Klem