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Bill Schaefer treats us today to something a bit different. It’s an interesting account of Al Schacht, the “Clown Prince of Baseball.” While his “shtick” might seem sort of quaint to us today, Schacht teamed up with Nick Altrock to form the popular original clown team that was a staple of the game during the early decades of the 20th century. Schacht was still at it into the 1950s. I think you’ll enjoy Bill’s essay. –GL
THE CLOWN PRINCE OF BASEBALL:
Al SCHACHT
“I came into this world very homely and haven’t changed a bit since!” – Al Schacht
“I have become a household word. Whenever I enter a town, a courier gallops madly through the streets and shouts, ‘Hey girls – Al Schacht’s in town!’”
The name Al Schacht flashes a vivid memory of me and my dad watching The Clown Prince of Baseball at Yankee stadium in 1948. He came out and cavorted around home plate wearing a battered top hat and ridiculous frock coat and carrying a tremendous 25-pound catcher’s mitt. He interacted with a couple of umpires and was very funny. He had just the right moves and craziness to make it work. We’d catch up with The Clown Prince later that day…
Alexander Schacht was born November 11, 1892, in the Bronx on Catharine St., the site that would eventually become Yankee Stadium. Both parents were born in Russia. His father, Samuel Schacht, was a skilled locksmith and an ironworker, once making a set of iron doors for the White House during the Teddy Roosevelt administration. Al’s mother, Ida, came from an aristocratic family where her father was the town rabbi.
Baseball clowns Nick Altrock and Al Schacht
Early on, young Al burned with a passion to pitch in the major leagues. This was fine with his easygoing father, not so much with his mom. She wanted him to be more like his older brother Louis, who was a fine student. Schacht had a hard time at Commerce High in 1908, consumed with baseball, and harassed by Irish and Italian kids to and from school. He was about 5’9” but weighed only 125 pounds. Pitching was his thing but the coach thought Al was too small and put him at second base. Disaster at the position was putting it mildly. By his own admission, he couldn’t hit, field, or run. Eventually, he did pitch effectively for Commerce but school just didn’t agree with him and he finally dropped out.
Given an unexpected green light from both parents, Al accepted an offer to play semi-pro baseball for the Walton, NY Rifraffs for four dollars a week and board. It was at Walton that Schacht first took up clowning. He would hilariously impersonate a pitcher who was getting belted all over the park, but who refused to go to the shower when the manager came to take him out. The fans loved it and Al continued performing his pantomime at every town social event.
From Walton, Schacht hooked up with the Cleveland team in the outlaw United States league. In a relief stint, he struck out 11 of 15 batters and went on to win five straight games. But, alas, the team folded at the end of the season. Now what? Out of baseball, Al would go to a local gym to work out and do some boxing. Then fate intervened when a cousin from Boston called and wanted Al to manage a talented young boxer he knew, named Joe White. The kid could punch but, unbeknownst to Schacht, his connections were not exactly lily-white. As he walked toward the ring for a big fight with his new boxer, Al suddenly felt a hard object pressed against his back. A voice said, “Take one more step and you’re a dead pigeon.” Ring management over, baby!
The expressive face of Al Schacht
After his father died of pneumonia in 1913, Al fought intense grief and managed to make the Newark Indians in the International League. He was on the staff of a pennant-winning team that year. Two good years followed with Al winning 25 games. But then a sore arm plagued him for two years, finally incapacitating him, as WW 1 raged abroad and involved the United States in 1917. Schacht was inducted in 1918, despite a hearing deficiency. But he remained in the States playing baseball.
Returning to the International League in ‘19, with the Jersey City Little Giants, Schacht, now with a sound arm, led the IL with nine shutouts, posted a 1.95 ERA, and won 19 games for a team that went 37-76. Bombarding Washington Senator’s owner, Clark Griffith, with letters touting his pitching accomplishments, Schacht so intrigued the baseball magnate that Griffith personally scouted him. In late 1919, Al Schacht realized his dream of pitching in the big leagues! Not helped by a freak broken shoulder in 1920, from l919-1921 his slate showed a record of 14-10, 197 innings, eight complete games, one shutout, 4.48 ERA. Al bragged that Babe Ruth never homered off him. Injuries ended his major league career but still hungry to pitch, at only 29, Schacht hung on for three more decent seasons with Reading, Binghamton, and New Haven.
He re-joined the Senators as a third base coach in 1925 and stayed on for a decade. While with Washington, Schacht met former major league star Nick Altrock, who was the then reigning number one clown in baseball. Although the two personalities clashed harshly, they formed a great two-man comedy act. With help from John McGraw, they opened with a bang during the 1922 World Series between the Yankees and the Giants.
In 1934, late in the season, player-manager Joe Cronin broke his wrist shortly after getting married. Griffith gave him the rest of the year off and Al Schacht became the Senators interim manager for one month. Both were traded to the Boston Red Sox at season’s end, and that ended the partnership between Altrock and Schacht. Al Schacht was now on his own and the official Clown Prince of Baseball.
Schacht thrived after his coaching career ended. Overall, he entertained at 25 World Series, 18 All-star games and performed for the USO in World War II in Europe, Asia, and Africa – many times under enemy fire. Among his delightful hilarities were mock weddings at home plate, shadowing the third baseman, and reading newspapers while sitting on the base paths. He also wrote four books, including Clowning through Baseball.
…After the game, my dad took me to Al Schacht’s restaurant on E. 52nd Street. We enjoyed a delicious meal and then The Clown Prince arrived. I had spotted a miniature bat autographed by Al. My father approached Mr. Schacht, “Al, I brought my little boy all the way from Westfield NJ to see you today at the Yankee game and we just had a great dinner. Do you think you could give him that bat as a souvenir?” Al was not happy about parting with the little beauty free of charge. This surprised me, being such an adorable child. [Ed. note: Haha!] But a little more prodding prompted the funny man to hand it over-reluctantly. I loved that bat!
Here’s some amusing stuff on Al Shacht’s “Score Card’ menu: Pepper Martin Steak, Dizzy Trout, Connie Mackerel. Or how about, Duck Medwick Vitt Appling Sauce or Chicken a la Clyde King. For dessert, enjoy Pie Traynor, Yogi Berries, Napolean Lajoie, or Del Rice pudding. On the back of the menu—“Try our Oysters. If you find a pearl, you might break even.”
Alexander Schacht passed in 1984 at 91, survived by his wife, Maybelle.
“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.”
Bill Schaefer
Sources: Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers-Al Schacht; Bullpen Front Page-Al Schacht; Rafael Sabatini-Scaramouche; Al Schacht-Baseball Reference.com; Al Schact/SABR/article/Ralph Berger; Al Schacht, Wikipedia pages; Al Schact’s “Score Card” Restaurant Menu
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