By Ernie Montella

Check out philadelphiaathletics.org for original story.

I suppose you could say that it was the scripted “A’ on the players uniform I noticed as I handed the dealer $6 for that packet of musty looking newspaper clippings tucked into an equally tattered plastic bag. It was May 1998 and I was out of town at a sports memorabilia convention just browsing around hoping something would catch my eye. For some reason out of thousands of collectibles in the room I was drawn to a bag of old newspaper clippings.Later that evening as I sat in my motel room I began to leaf through the various miscut pieces of paper At first I was sort of disappointed because the “A’ I saw on the photo of the ballplayer was not that of a Philadelphia Athletics player, but instead that of a minor leaguer whose mere name tells you he is a ball-player..The “A” was the logo of the minor league
franchise, the Albany Senators. For a brief moment I thought that I had pulled a boner That is until I became mystified with the history and wonderful story about to unravel before my eyes.

Very briefly let me share with you the short saga of a man whose story belongs in Hollywood to make amends for all of the terrible movies they produced about baseball over the years. The saga of one “Alabama Pitts”..

On June 18,1935 baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis upheld an appeal that had been filed 12 days earlier by Johnny Evers the General Manager of the Albany Senators, minor league team in the International League, and at that time an affiliate of the Washington Senators of the American League franchise.

The appeal involved a ban imposed by W.C.Bill Braham president of the National Association of Professional Baseball, the governing body, wherein Braham voided the contractual offer made to Pitts by the Albany team on the grounds that “Mr.Pitts association with professional baseball would in fact be detrimental to the game”

Warren C. Giles chairman of the executive committee of the National Association of Minor Professional Baseball Leagues at the time, said the case would be reviewed by a committee of three men, one of which was Giles. The committee had the authority to overrule the Braham ban that denied ex-convicts the opportunity to play professional baseball. In its review the committee did not set aside the ban and Evers immediately appealed to the high
commissioner of baseball, stating that if Alabama Pitts was not permitted to play for Albany “he would quit baseball forever “.

In his reversal of the decision of the committee, Commissioner Landis stated that “Mr.Pitts had paid his debt to society and SHOULD NOT be denied his ability to earn a livelihood through professional baseball”. (Shoeless Joe Jackson fans please take note)

On the surface, this appeared to be a compassionate and forgiving position taken by the commissioner when you take into consideration that Edwin “Alabama “Pitts (as he was better known) had just been paroled from Sing Sing prison only 12 days earlier after having served 5 years and 2 months of an 8-16 year sentence for a violation of the Sullivan Act during the commission of a 1929 armed robbery.

Commissioner Landis in his ruling further stated that “reputable people have expressed to me their belief that there has been a complete reformation of Pitts character that the holdup for which Pitts was sentenced grew out of an escapade wherein Pitts was drunk and hungry”

The irony of the appeal of Pitts, although known by many baseball historians, remains to this day a mystery as to why its importance to the Shoeless Joe Jackson incident has not been applied. Same game, same rules, same commissioner. Different result. Let us examine the facts.

In the fall of 1929 Pitts and an 3 accomplices robbed a New York City chain store located at 113 Amsterdam Avenue that netted them a total of $76.25

After a quick 1930 trial, the 19 year old was sent to Sing Sing Prison, in Ossining, NY to serve out his 8-16 year sentence. From a copy of the official court record Landis in his decision pointed out” that it was Pitts who held up the store with a “loaded revolver” and took $76.25 from the cash register and that Pitts accomplice was not an older man and that the latter was unarmed”.

Edwin Collins Pitts was born in March 1910 in Opelika, Alabama. His father, Edwin Sr, a U.S Army Calvaryman died just 5 months after Pitts was born. His mother later remarried and in order to avoid any confusion over references to Pitts or his dad, his mother nicknamed him “the Alabama Pitts “Although he did not participate in any intramural sports while in high school or any sandlot sports during his youth, upon entering prison he did show a natural ability for all sports, including football, field events and baseball. Because of this new found ability he gained the favor of Sing Sing’s Warden, Lewis E Lawes. It was Warden Lawes who later was responsible for obtaining Pitt’s parole and the eventual contract offer from Johnny Evers of the Albany franchise.

Pitts excelled on the prisons “Black Sheep” football team and was equally impressive whenever Evers brought in his Albany Senators in to play the Warden Lawes’s Sing Sing’s Zebra nine. His celebrity among New York’s professional sports teams spread to the college levels in particular Columbia University. Where Hall of Fame football coach Lou Little, when asked about Pitts ability answered, “I have seen him play I can assure you he is a 1st class football player. He has my recommendations.”

It was a common practice in those days for professional teams to schedule exhibition games with prisons. Connie Mack for many years scheduled his Philadelphia Athletics to do the same in the Philadelphia area. On occasion in the early 1940’s, while in spring training in Anaheim, Ca. Mr. Mack and his Athletics played exhibition games with the inmates of San Quentin prison.

Pitts made his professional debut on June 23,1935 before a howling crowd of 7752 fans present to watch the hometown Senators lose both ends of a doubleheader to the nearby Syracuse Chiefs. Pitts sporting his favorite number #7 had a commendable day both at the plate and on the field.

Following his release from Sing Sing, he received many offers from other cities including Bridgeport, Ct.,Schenectady, Ny., Philadelphia, the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers football teams. He refused to consider an offer from the famous House of David team of Benton, Michigan because he didn’t want to grow a beard.

Although his stay in professional baseball lasted only 5 years his celebrity status expanded to include a vaudeville act, a short stint with the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, marriage proposals from more than 35 eager females anxious to meet Sing Sing’s most talented athlete, as he was labeled. Unfortunately his parole from prison turned out to be a death sentence as he enjoyed the final days of his “15 minutes of fame”

On the evening of June 7,1941, while at a road side tavern in Morgantown, N.C Pitts was fatally stabbed by a jealous boyfriend as he watched Pitts dance with his girlfriend.The wound was not thought to be life threatening, yet he died in the hospital while awaiting treatment. He was only 30 years old.

Somewhere buried in this saga of Alabama Pitts is a story waiting to be told. If nothing else baseball owes Shoeless Joe Jackson an explanation for its inconsistency. In 1998 I shared this story and all of the articles in a letter to Commissioner Selig. In his reply Mr Selig thanked me for the files and indicated that he too was very sensitive to the Jackson situation and that Mr. Jackson’s file was in review.

Mr Selig did note that the Jackson incident goes back 77 years. Recall # 7 was Pitts favorite number. Quite a coincidence. Unless there is more to the Shoeless Joe debacle that we have not been made aware of, baseball owes him an apology and Hollywood owes us a “good” baseball movie. The Alabama Pitts story will do just fine.

Submitted by Ernie Montella, one of the founders of the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. Ernie is one of the tireless workers who has worked to preserve the memories of the Philadelphia Athletics. He is quite a baseball fan and quite a man as well. Check out the site at philadelphiaathletics.org.