Max Patkin
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Max Patkin (January 10, 1920 - October 30, 1999) was an American baseball player and clown, best known as the Clown Prince of Baseball.
Patkin was the third officially crowned Clown Prince of Baseball, after Al Schacht and Jackie Price, though that sobriquet has also been applied to St. Louis Browns third baseman Arlie Latham among others. He performed for 51 years as a baseball clown. After an arm injury curtailed his minor league career, Patkin joined the Navy during World War II.
Stationed in Hawaii in 1944, Patkin was pitching for a service team. Joe DiMaggio homered off the lanky right hander. In mock anger, Patkin threw his glove down then followed DiMaggio around the bases, much to the delight of the fans, and a career was born.
Later in the 1940s, Patkin was hired as a coach by Bill Veeck and the Cleveland Indians. After Veeck sold the team in 1949, Patkin began barnstorming around the country.
As a barnstormer, Patkin played minor league stadiums throughout the United States and Canada. He had a face seemingly made of rubber that could make a thousand shapes. He was rail thin and wore a baggy uniform with a question mark (?) on the back in place of a number, and a ballcap that was always askew. While some derided his act as corny, he became a beloved figure in baseball circles especially after an appearance in the film Bull Durham.
Patkin estimated he made more than 4,000 appearances. On July 20, 1969, he played to a crowd of four in Great Falls, Montana as most fans were home watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon. Between 1944 and 1993, he did not miss an appearance.
Max Patkin retired from clowning in 1995 at the age of 75. He died in 1999 in Paoli, Pennsylvania of an aneurysm.
After several years passed without a designated "Clown Prince of Baseball," Mike Veeck (son of the legendary baseball promoter Bill Veeck) officially bestowed the title upon Myron Noodleman, the alter ego of Tulsa high school teacher Rick Hader. Baseball's Hall of Fame has yet to recognize this succession.
[edit] External links
- BaseballLibrary - profile of Max Patkin
- Baseball Hall of Fame - profile of Arlie Latham
- Baseball Hall of Fame - list of Crown Princes of Baseball
- Charleston Riverdogs Press Release - Myron Noodleman to be Named Baseball Clown Prince
- Greater Tulsa Reporter - Myron Noodleman Becomes Clown Prince of Baseball
