Baseball As America

From the Tour: On the Road With Baseball As America

Nick Altrock, “Zany of the Majors”

by Kristen Mueller,
Baseball As America Lead Curator

(Article originally published in Memories and Dreams — Spring 2005)

Oversized glove used by Nick Altrock and Al Schacht to entertain fans at Washington Senators games during the 1920s and 1930s. A normal glove for the era is included to show size difference.

Baseball in our nation’s capital dates back to the earliest days of the amateur game. Once “pay-for-play” became the norm, the city fielded professional clubs whose success came and went – as did the teams themselves. But one of the lasting legacies of the game in Washington is the forefather to today’s generation of furry and feathered mascots – the baseball clown.

Baseball clowning is generally considered to have begun with Arlie Latham, who played ball and performed various on-field comedic antics for the St. Louis Browns in the 1880s. However, the first man to make a career of clowning was the eccentric pitcher Nick Altrock. In 1912, Clark Griffith, owner of the American League Washington Senators, hired Altrock as both a pitching coach and as a comedic coach to partner with funnyman infielder Germany Schaefer. The comedy duo lasted until Schaefer jumped to the rival Federal League in 1915. Altrock, however, continued to make a name for himself as baseball’s premier jester, entertaining Washington fans until the 1950s.

Though he gained fame as a prankster, Altrock was a bona fide baseball talent. He had enjoyed significant success as a southpaw, helping to lead the Chicago White Sox, the “Hitless Wonders,” to their miraculous World Championship in 1906. However, Altrock’s rubbery face, big ears, and wide mouth rendered him a natural entertainer. He was able to accentuate his physical features with wacky gestures and postures, bringing joy to hundreds of thousands of fans.

Altrock juggled, walked a “tight rope” on the base lines, and mimicked the umps. His most famous shtick was “shadow boxing,” a pantomime which ended with Altrock in a one-man boxing bout with himself, eliciting uproarious laughter from the crowd. The “shadow boxing” act was inspired by boxing film footage of the era. It is said that the first time he spontaneously performed the parody, Altrock caused the opposing pitcher to laugh so hard that he lost his concentration, and, as a result, the game.

Nick Altrock, famed baseball clown from 1912 to 1953, dons a ridiculously oversized glove for one of his on-field follies.

For the Washington Senators, clowning quickly took on an important commercial aspect, becoming a major gate attraction even when the team had a losing record, which was most of the time. A 1921 article from Baseball Magazine highlights Griffith’s allegiance to Altrock and his madcap antics:

“Clark Griffith carries on his payroll a player whose work is unique. He does not rank as a substitute who may be used in the field when a regular is injured. He does not even act in the role of a pinch hitter. And yet, Griffith recently made the statement in print that he would not take $50,000 for this player. The name of this player is Nick Altrock.”

In the 1920s and 1930s, Altrock was paired with Al Schacht, the “Clown Prince of Baseball.” The duo wisecracked during the regular season at Senators games, and became so popular they appeared at the World Series, working every Series from 1921 to 1933. They even took their act on the road during off-season vaudeville tours.

Throughout his career, one of Altrock’s most famous props was a jumbo gag baseball glove. Measuring two feet wide and almost as high, it is certainly one of the oddest items in the Hall of Fame’s collections. The glove, a side-splitting memento of the spectacle of the game, is currently on display with the Hall of Fame’s nationally traveling exhibition, Baseball As America.