Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption, and Murder

by Chris Enss, Howard Kazanjian

It was the golden age of baseball, and all over the country teams gathered on town fields in front of throngs of fans to compete for local glory. In Rawlins, Wyoming, residents lined up for tickets to see slugger Joseph Seng and the rest of the Wyoming Penitentiary Death Row All Stars as they took on all comers in baseball games with considerably more at stake. Teams came from Reno, Nevada; Klamath Falls, Oregon; Bodie, California; and throughout the west to take on the murderers who made up the line-up. This is a fun and wildly dramatic and suspenseful look at the game of baseball and at the thrilling events that unfolded at a prison in the wide-open Wyoming frontier in pursuit of wins on the diamond. 

Genres: Baseball, Nonfiction, History, Sports, True Crime, American History

179 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 20, 2004

Reviews

[Joshua]

March 2026:

I have now pretty thoroughly examined this book and checked many sources and the verdict is that this book was written by someone who is academically dishonest. Citation after citation fails to back up her claims - I checked claim after claim about the supposed gambling, and again and again the sources failed to support it. She has one sentence about how George Saban was allowed to go to the bars in plain clothing and the article she cites only says that the work teams form the prison were largely unsupervised - it doesn't mention Saban at all. She cited Daniel C. Kinnaman's book claiming that Kinnaman "couldn't resist" having his business' team play the prison team - I read the book, and it does not mention baseball at all, even less that he wanted to or that there were "friendly bets" placed. She seems to get the crimes of some of the players wrong based on my research, and doesn't cite where she got that info. She does cite several sources I didn't or couldn't get access too - papers of Francis Warren and Joseph Carey, the papers of Joseph Seng's "spiritual advisor", a paper or presentation by a Rawlins historian, and "personal conversations" with descendant's of Seng's victims. Not all of the citations are blatantly wrong - many cite actual papers and basic facts, but the false representations are not incidental and undermine a central piece of the story she tells here. Flatly, this book is not a serious historical work, and significant pieces of it are questionable - the whole story about Seng having an affair with his victim's wife and being buried next to her are demonstrably false.

These players were not at any time playing for their lives. I could not find any evidence in multiple citations that there were even rumors that Saban, members of the team, or members of the prison administration were betting on the games. Was it possible? Yes, even likely - however she claims Saban was expecting "20%" on each bet, and the citation she attaches to that says no such thing.

What first tipped me off was that the first version she wrote of this "Playing for time" is an outright fiction. It has barely any connection to reality, and is very thinly sourced. The two versions are wildly contradictory, with the later "Death Row All Stars" the better supported and sourced, but still questionable, and full of citations that are downright misleading and false. I wonder if Enss believed that no one would call her on it, and also find it suspicious that she cites newspaper titles and editions but not articles, which left me repeatedly digging through walls of text to figure out what she was even citing. I would consider this author untrustworthy and her research on any subject faulty at best.


Original review July 2020:
Most concerning about this book is that I compared it to its earlier edition and found... somewhat different stories. In this version they play only a few games against a single opponent, in the other, many games against many different opponents. The main stars of the team are the same, but the other names aren't. The crimes they committed are even described differently. These discrepancies are significant enough that in brings into question the integrity of the author and the research - it's not that there isn't anything true here, but if the same author writes two different versions of the same story that differ as greatly as these do I can't believe any of it without an explanation. These differences aren't trivial, and the two tales cannot be reconciled without one overwriting the other. I would love to see the primary sources and figure out the story, which seems so interesting, but I cannot recommend this book now.

[Vali Benson]

A wonderful true tale of the most motivated baseball team anybody ever heard of. Author Chris Enss once again masterfully illuminates a time long gone. Highly recommended for fans of sports, Americana, and history.

[Ryan Laferney]

Killer baseball players ... playing a game to survive, The Death Row All Stars chronicles the amazing true story of the men on Wyoming's death row in 1911 who believed they'd be granted reprieves as long as they kept winning baseball games. This is a wild tale from the Old West about convicted murderers, burglars, rapists transformed into gentlemen playing the national pastime. It's heartbreaking that a few of the players (Joseph Seng in particular) mentioned were denied a pardon from the gallows.

For fans for baseball and true crime.

[Mike]

An extremely interesting book that suffers from lack of support. Too often there are claims that a rival team owner may have poisoned the inmates or that multiple politicians funded campaigns by gambling on the All Stars, but these pieces of information are left and then discarded, leaving me to doubt how true they are. Still a shocking and engrossing read, though.

[David Wyatt-Hupton]

I really wanted to love this book going in, baseball, murder and corruption...what's not to like? But despite it being only 123 odd pages long, it really lost me in the middle. I wanted more colour around the actual ballplayers and less around the politics and politicians. The long extracts from local papers of the games didn't really add much to the story and I found myself just waiting for the end. There were some really interesting bits, and some of the characters were extremely interesting...I just wanted more information.

[Stuart Shiffman]

While attending the Tucson Festival of Books the author described this book.it sounded quite interesting but the description was not totally accurate. The story is about a prison baseball team playing games in the era of baseball when many communities and businesses fielded teams. In all the book cover perhaps 4 or 5 games. The rest is an interesting discussion of prison life and government in the West in the early decades of the 20th Century.

[Brian Willcox]

Growing up in the small town of Rawlins Wyoming I knew of the Old State Pen. My mom worked in a guard tower by the gates before it closed. But I digress, growing up we were 4 blocks from the ol pen. We used to race our bikes down the hill off the side of the ol pen. I always loved going there and always enjoyed the history of the Ol Pen. I didn't know much about baseball then (not like I do now) but learning that there was a baseball team in the ol pen just plum tickles me. Such a great read.

[Eric Berg]

A fascinating story! Well done from the start, as advertised it’s a solid baseball story and intriguing political history. I’m glad the authors have updates on everyone! A 4/5 and not a 5/5 because it’s not exactly a fight for their lives as the narrative intimates. It could have done without those suggestions.

[Jess B]

Very interesting and I got to learn a lot more about my state's history. Although this was a lot less about the baseball portion than I thought it would be. I would call it more of a biographical encounter on Joseph Seng & George Saban & some of the high-ranking state officials in the early 1900s. I did learn a lot, though, that I did not know & the reading was quick & easy.

[Hunter]

This book did its job of collecting what information we have on this interesting case of government and sports fraud.

You can feel the authors doing their best to try to craft this into a narrative but sources are minimal and without much detail.

[R.G. Yoho]

This was an interesting and unusual book that connects both baseball and the Old West. It also demonstrates how even turn-of-the-century politics was a corrupting force on both of them.

[Joshua Evan]

Enjoyable but could have easily been a New Yorker article.

[Peter Antonucci]

Interesting and informative, but definitely not The Boys of Summer.

[Andrew Ziegler]

Such an interesting story! I read this in one sitting. It is sharp and to the point. Highly recommend.

[Allison]

A very interesting read and shows how far back corruption goes!

[Aaron Lozano]

This book felt like it would be much more about baseball then it was. It's a fascinating read about a snapshot in time of Wyoming politics, but I felt a little duped.

[Keith Scheessele]

2.66

[Allison]

Really wanted to enjoy this, but found it boring. DNF

[Susan Krich]

This is a very interesting Goodreads book.
The last sentence on page xvi explains it all.
I am a fan of Mysteries at the Museum.
When I saw the picture of Big Nose George and the shoes made from his skin, it brought back memories of the show.
It is well written and not overfilled with long unnecessary descriptions.
The problems then were similar to problems now.

[Ron Stoppenhagen]

I am an avid baseball fan and love baseball books. But, you don't need to be a big baseball fan to enjoy this book! While reading, I could feel the prisoners' pressure to keep winning. The first thing I thought when I finished Death Row All Stars was, "this would make an EXCELLENT movie!" I highly recommend this book!

[Darren Mitton]

Sometimes truth is more strange than fiction can possibly be - this piece really pays dedication to the men destined to die.

[David Belisle]

Just a bizarre read. Killer baseball players ... playing a game to survive. True story. Very interesting read, including in-depth looks at the players and politics of the time ... Wyoming, 1912.

[Morgan]

i liked the book, though the people in the story weren't as fleshed out as fictional characters are, which made it a little difficult to follow their progression. the story is fascinating, and Chris Enss wrote a great recollection of a story completely unknown to me, but was a fascinating read for anyone who enjoys true crime and baseball. i only wish it went further in depth as to more of the people involved, and the endimg felt short. but i know a few people who would be interested in reading this book!