Max Patkin (January 10, 1920 – October 30, 1999) was an American baseball player and clown, best known as the Clown Prince of Baseball (a play on "Crown Prince").
Patkin was the third "officially" crowned Clown Prince of Baseball, after Al Schacht and Jackie Price, though that nickname has also been applied to St. Louis Browns third baseman Arlie Latham among others. Patkin performed for 51 years as a baseball clown.
Career
After an arm injury curtailed his minor league career, Patkin joined the Navy during World War II.
Stationed in Hawaii in , Patkin was pitching for a service team, and 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 First Base coach by Bill Veeck and the Cleveland Indians. After Veeck sold the team in , 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 which he could contort into various shapes. Patkin 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.
The Clown Prince received a promotion in 1988, when Patkin was named King of Baseball at that year's Winter Meetings in Atlanta, and can be seen appearing (as himself) alongside Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon in the popular baseball movie Bull Durham made the same year.
In May 2020 Patkin was voted into the Shrine of the Eternals by the Baseball Reliquary, a fan driven collective dedicated to fostering an appreciation of baseball culture in all of its forms.
Death
Patkin retired from clowning in . He died in 1999, at age 79, in Paoli, Pennsylvania of an aneurysm.