Kerry Kinsey: Yes, I did play the federal convicts in baseball

United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, GA. It’s not a place where you want to visit for a long time. After high school, I played on a semi-pro baseball team in Atlanta. One day our manager said, “Our next game is at the big house.”

I said no way coach. He said we’re playing the convicts at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. I had driven by that huge, foreboding, grey complex on the corner of Boulevard and McDonough Boulevard many times.

At the time, the place housed some of the meanest killers, rapists, and bank robbers in the country. Among its guests, Al Capone-best known for other supposed offenses but imprisoned for tax evasion just before he was transferred to Alcatraz.

As our team walked inside the prison, the inmates yelled obscenities at us and described in detail what they’d like to do to each player. A guide showed us an area where one inmate recently killed another. The ballfield was perfectly lined inside of the prison outdoor area. If you hit one over that huge wall that was a round tripper. However, the guard tower in centerfield had a man with a shotgun. That kept the inmates from making a run for it.

Inmates wore a gigantic F on their caps designating,” Federals.” I started for our team but was bit off the plate with my pitches that day. We beat the cons though 15-5. I will never forget that experience.