The pitcher who was let out of jail, threw a complete game, then went back to jail

By 1931, the Marin County court system was sick of dealing with Tony Freitas.

Sure, the young pitcher for the Pacific Coast League's Sacramento Senators was becoming a star. He went 19-6 with a 3.24 ERA for the Senators at just 22 years old the year prior. He had already been pitching professionally for three seasons. He was small, about 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds (known as the "little Portuguese Portsider"), but his deception -- his sometimes side-armed deliveries, his at-other-times submarine-style tosses, made him difficult to hit. He'd eventually become one of the greatest Minor League pitchers of all time.

But Freitas had a bit of an off-the-field problem: Although he didn't have much velocity off the mound, he did have it while behind the wheel of a car.

Before the 1931 season started, the left-hander had been arrested twice for two different speeding instances. The Sacramento Bee called him a "maniac of the highways." So when he was pulled over again in August of that year for going almost 55 mph -- a top speed in a Model A Roadster at the time -- Judge Rudolff ordered him to go to jail for five days.

Jail? Didn't Judge Rudolff know that Freitas was a pitcher for the local Senators team and had a start in just two days?

“Is there a way we can work something out?" Freitas retold to Zak Ford later in his life. "I’m scheduled to pitch on Thursday."

Senators manager Buddy Ryan also had Freitas' back. His pitcher was on his way to 19 wins again in 1931, a lower ERA, and, most importantly, Major League scouts were scheduled to be at that next start against the Missions.

Somehow, some way, Ryan and Freitas were able to convince Judge Rudolff to let Freitas out for his game against the Missions -- on the agreement that he'd then go back to jail right after to finish his sentence. A deputy sheriff would also escort Freitas everywhere he went that day.

So, in something that could only really happen in the Minor Leagues in 1931, Freitas was let out of jail to pitch on that Thursday. He and the police escort went to his parents' house pregame for a bite to eat and then they all traveled together to the ballpark. Freitas stretched his jail bed-weary legs, rotated his handcuff-heavy arms and proceeded to dominate the contest Shohei Ohtani-style.

The 23-year-old pitched a complete game, allowing just three runs in a 5-3 win, while also driving in a run on his second of two hits.

"I got the base hit to win the ballgame," Freitas told Ford.

But there was no time for celebrating. Freitas left the game with the deputy sheriff and headed back to his parents' place for a quick dinner (couldn't miss another one of those home-cooked meals), and was back behind bars before midnight. He'd get out again, for good, on Sunday. Here's the full story from Freitas himself a few decades ago.

The word was out on Freitas after his jailbird gem against the Missions. After that 19-win season in '31 and a quick start to '32 -- in which he pitched a no-hitter against Oakland -- MLB teams came calling. Connie Mack traded for the 24-year-old to join Philadelphia that same season, complimenting him (or sort of complimenting him) by saying: “He isn’t an impressive player to look at, but on the mound, he is one of the smartest I ever knew."

Freitas had his best season in the Majors for Mack, going 12-5 with 10 complete games and a 3.83 ERA. He would only put up 13 wins with a 4.75 ERA in four more big league seasons with Philly and Cincinnati. Still, he did strike out Babe Ruth once, and then gave up a home run to him that might "still be traveling." He outdueled Lefty Gomez twice, and he matched Dizzy Dean for 17 innings during a game in 1934.

“I lost nine pounds that day. And I didn’t have nine pounds to lose."

But the Minor Leagues is where Freitas would make his mark.

Before those MLB stints, in between them and for long, long afterwards, the California native would rack up 342 victories in the Minors -- good for 4th all time and first among southpaws. He had nine 20-win seasons, including six straight from 1937-1942. He threw more than 300 complete games. He went 22-9 with a 2.39 ERA during his final year in Stockton ... at the age of 45.

It was the place -- mostly in the California and Pacific Coast League -- that was located closest to where he grew up. To his family. He turned down a contract with the Cardinals to stay there. It's where he loved to play and where fans loved seeing him play.

"He's everybody's favorite around here," Sacramento baseball historian Alan O'Connor once told MiLB.com's Josh Jackson.

And, of course, it was also the spot where he pitched a complete game masterpiece in front of a group of scouts that eventually led him to getting a Major League deal. While he was, you know, serving time as a Marin County jail inmate.

h/t Tim Haggerty's Tales from the Dugout