Doors closing at McNeil Island prison after 135 years

Coach Cougan likes to tell people that he spent 30 days locked up at McNeil Island in the late 70's. I like to tell the story just for shock value. It is true, I spent time at McNeil Island.

I played semi-pro ball during the summers then and McNeil Island was in our league. They played all their games at home (obviously) and it was a weird experience going there. Their teams were tough (duh) and they had some pretty good ball players. The entire place smelled like one giant ashtray.

After a hit and you were standing on a base, if you had the courage (I have always been a yapper) you would ask the first baseman, or second basemen etc what he was in for. They ALWAYS looked you right in the eye and said "murder". I was the catcher and the scariest moment I ever experience was when our pitcher hit a batter. He got so nervous after that he hit the next guy.... and then two more! As the guy who has to protect my pitcher, I was sweating bullets, but other than more cursing (and vile words and evil threats) nothing came of the matter.

We always drew a pretty good crowd, what else was there to do. The thing that struck me the oddest was that in the stands, all the white guys sat together, all the Hispanics sat together and likewise all the African Americans. The crowd was always for us, and derided the home team. It goes without saying that depending on race, two of the three sections hooted and made fun of anyone who made an error or an out.

Security wise, we were searched on the way in AND out. We were not allowed any gum (jambed the locks) or anything that could be construed as a weapon or turned into a weapon. The oddest part of the security was that behind the dugout there was a bathroom. The bathroom consisted of a toilet (just like every other toilet in the world) with the only difference being that it was just out there in space. No walls, no screens.....just a toilet in the middle of the yard, with a crowd of people in the bleachers. Needless to say it was not something one looked forward to using.

The wildest game and time on the island came after a game that went late. We missed the scheduled boat and were invited to eat dinner in the prison mess hall. The food was very bland, the company was chilling and I felt like I was in a James Cagney movie.