Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The baseball newsletter that loves the games as much as Ron Burgundy loved scotch.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a youth baseball coach that got caught robbing banks.

In the early 60s, John Jennings coached a pony league league team with some insane talent.

Larry Yount played on the team, and his brother, Hall-of-famer Robin Yount, served as the bat boy.

World Series MVP, Rick Dempsey, was also on the squad, and ultimately, 6 of the 15 players on that team went on to play pro baseball at one level or another.

Jennings took a lot of pride in coaching the team, and they had an amazing season in ‘63 - going all the way to the national championship in Washington, PA.

They lost the title game, but the team was honored in between games during a double header at Dodger Stadium.

But there’s one big secret that nobody knew about Jennings.

All summer, as the team played in different cities, he and his partner Paul Rosenbluth were robbing banks left and right.

On the news, they were referred to as the “Mutt and Jeff Robbers.”

The whole thing started because the two ran an insurance agency together and the business was in the shitter.

Naturally, they pivoted to robbing banks.

If the constant fear of being sent to federal prison doesn’t bother you, it definitely pays better than insurance.

Jennings and Rosenbluth fleeced 12 banks in 11 months and pocketed about 150 grand.

During the 13th robbery, they got caught.

On November 4, 1963, FBI agents and local law enforcement stormed their plush office and found Jennings and Rosenbluth counting the cash from their latest heist.

Just hours before, they’d hit a Bank of America in Panorama City for $21,000.

Their wives had no idea what was going on, and none of the players or parents on the team had a hunch either - including the LA detective whose son played in the infield.

It was later discovered that Jennings had applied to the police department twice in the 50s, but was denied on both times.

John and Paul were sentenced to 10 years a piece.

Rosenbluth later went to prison again after being connected to bank robberies in Pasadena and Thousand Oaks in the 90’s.

At the time when it happened, this whole story was overshadowed because President Kennedy was assassinated three weeks after their arrest.

But in 2009, Adam Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison, bought the rights to create a movie about it.

Unfortunately, the film never got made.

FROM THE GALLERY

Today’s feature is a man who needs no introduction.

Mickey Mantle came from the middle of nowhere, but he was born to be a superstar.

Throughout the 50s and 60s, “The Mick” became a household name.

He finished top-five in the MVP voting a whopping NINE times throughout his career and finished with a LIFETIME .421 OBP.

Mickey was also known to say things he probably shouldn’t sometimes, but ultimately, it just added to his aura.

The print featured above is a limited edition piece, and for the next 24 hours, we’re giving Dead Legends subscribers an exclusive 33% discount.

Just click the link below and your discount will automatically be applied at checkout.

RIDICULOUS STATS

BASEBALL TRIVIA

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Booty was a two-sport baller in high school.

He was a USA today All-American shortstop, and was named to the All-Time National High School All-American team for football by Dick Butkus.

The other two QB’s on the list were Joe Namath, and John Elway.

Josh got drafted 5th overall by the Marlins in 1994 - signing for $1.6 million.

Although his big-league career was short, he went back to college and played football for Nick Saban at LSU.

Then he went on to play in the NFL for the Seahawks, Browns, and Raiders.

TELL ‘EM WE SENT YOU

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So by supporting them, you’re supporting us. 

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Inventor: Baseball’s version of Thomas Edison

• The Stripped Title: A little league scandal rocks Chicago

• The Wild Horse: Yasiel Puig’s dangerous journey to America

• The Promo From Hell: All hell breaks loose on Ten Cent Beer Night

• The Chalmers Scandal: How a car company accidentally created the modern-day MVP award