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Show CALL NICK ALTROCK CLOWN OF BASEBALL Fans Think He Is Funniest Thing Walking on Two Legs. Nick Altrock Is the "clown of baseball." base-ball." The Washington American league team keepB Nick on Its payroll because he lures thousands of fans eoth year to the ball park. During his Chicago White Sox days, Nick was a great southpaw. He slipped, inevitably, in course of time, and Coralskey sent him to the American Ameri-can association. Nick felt It In his arms and legs and all through his body that he was aging and had only a few years at most to stick to baseball. One day he happened to call around the training quarters of Johnny Kll-bane, Kll-bane, then featherweight champion. Kilbane was shadow boxing at the time. Altrock thought It a queer stunt. Up to this time he had always been a rather sober-minded sort of fellow. One day a ground ball struck a pebble or something, bounded and hit Nick In the face. The picture of Kilbane shadow boxing crossed his mind. At once Nick began to shadow box, fighting off Imaginary opponents and finally going down for the count. Tha Incident took place in Kansas City, Kan. The crowd in the stands went wild. Altrock got up and looked at the crowd In amazement. lie had no Idea that his stunt would get across. Knowing Know-ing that his old pitching arm was getting get-ting all kinked up, he decided then and there to capitalize that shadow boxing act. He became the "clown of baseball." Everybody who follows the fortunes of the American league teams thinks he Is about the funniest thing on legs. Nick has kept up the stunt that first brought him fame as a clown, but he has added scores of others. His tight rope act on the foul lines never falls to get the crowd. When the mud Is soft in the coaching coach-ing boxes after a rain, Nick performs fancy skating stunts, the skit ending with a heavy fall, but always In the grass. He has dozens of skits, all pantomime, panto-mime, and every one of which gets the crowd with him. When Nick started his baseball career as a stellar southpaw south-paw he had no Idea he would end It as a clown. He seems good for several sev-eral years yet ; as long as the crowd likes his antics, Altrock will continue to draw his pay check. |