I'm guessing the Sing Sing Museum wants it because it is supposedly from a 1929 game between the Yanks and the Mutual Welfare League, which was the group that sponsored prison athletics. There was an internal league and a "varsity" team called the "Black Sheep" that played a whole range of outside teams. The Yankees, Giants and several other big league teams played exhibition games against the convicts over the years, and one of the Sing Sing players, Alabama Pitts, was signed out of the prison to play for Albany in the International League in 1934.
Pitts may have even played against Babe and company that day since he was sent to Sing Sing in '29. If I recall correctly, it was a game against the Yankees that first got Pitts noticed, but I would guess it was a few years later. He was supposedly a better football player and played in a few games for the Philadelphia Eagles.
If it's a real ball, this is a pretty cool piece of baseball history that most people don't know about.
|