Wrong Side of the Wall: The Life of Blackie Schwamb, the Greatest Prison Pitcher of All Time (review)

Wrong Side of the Wall may better represent the true crime genre than baseball writing. Journalist Eric Stone asserts that as a young man he was captivated by baseball, the urban sprawl of his native Los Angeles, and stories of gangsters—all of which he weaves into the fabric of his Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb biography. Not exactly a household name among baseball fans, Schwamb pitched briefly in the post–World War II period for the St. Louis Browns, before he was sent to prison for the brutal robbery and murder of a Long Beach physician. Based on what Schwamb accomplished while pitching for California prison teams at San Quinton and Folsom, Stone wonders what the right-handed pitcher might have accomplished had he been able to control his passion for alcohol and self-destructive behavior.

Schwamb was born in 1926, and his family struggled to make ends meet in depression-era Los Angeles. As a boy he acquired his nickname "Blackie," which he despised, for dressing in black outfits. Although by all accounts intelligent, Schwamb dropped out of high school, often fighting with his father and older brother. Many of these disturbances were exacerbated by alcohol consumption. Schwamb was not interested in his father's construction business, so he turned to supporting himself by hustling pool and serving as a collector for local gamblers and gangsters. During World War II Schwamb was inducted into the Navy, where he spent most of his service time incarcerated for drinking and being absent without leave.

Schwamb's poor military record did not bode well for his postwar prospects. As the national economy boomed, Schwamb returned to his old ways of finding easy money through gambling collections and extortion. Not even a wife and child convinced him to abandon his drinking, fighting, and womanizing. Schwamb, however, retained a love for baseball from his high school days. He earned extra money from pitching semiprofessional baseball and was signed by the St. Louis Browns, who were in need of pitching help from any source.

In 1947 Schwamb was assigned to Aberdeen, South Dakota, of the Northern League. He pitched well, winning 5 games and registering an earned run average under 2 runs per game. His drinking and carousing, however, proved too much for the folks of the Midwest. Schwamb finished the season with Globe, Arizona, in the Arizona/Texas League, where he pitched effectively and enjoyed the rough-and-tumble lifestyle of the border towns. Reluctant to rejoin his family, the pitcher spent the winter of 1947–48 with the Ciudad Obregon franchise of the Northern Mexican League.

Schwamb performed well enough to make the Browns staff in the spring of 1948, but questions regarding his work ethic and attitude led the club to option him to Toledo of the American Association. Although he was inconsistent with Toledo, the desperate Browns promoted Schwamb late in the 1948 season. He appeared in 12 games, posting one victory and a soaring earned run average of over 8 runs per game. However, even playing at the Major League level did not prevent the pitcher from arriving at games inebriated.

Schwamb sobered up a bit during spring training for the 1949 season, displaying better control of his fast ball. However, a dispute with Browns management resulted in Schwamb's option to Little Rock. After impressive victories in his first two starts with the Little Rock squad, the enigmatic pitcher showed up drunk for his third start and was released by the club. He caught on briefly with Sherbrooke of the Quebec Province League in Canada, but he was again inconsistent with both his pitching and his performance off the field.

The winter of 1949–50 found a disgruntled Schwamb back in Los Angeles. Seemingly giving up on baseball, he turned to crime. Although the exact details are in some dispute, Schwamb was arrested and sentenced to...