Show APIA SPEAKING OF N B y BERT te leased b by wt newspaper paper UJ ICK ALTROCK baseballs fun I 1 ny man who has delighted e erat rations ions of fans be become come gen one ona of the games supreme jesters strict astric ly through choice until a june day of 1912 in cleve cieve land nick was a mere pitchers pitcher pit cheri s good one but nothing more in the th years that went before he had bad es eg himself as an idol of achl cagos south side by his pitching teats feats for the hitless wonders TS during 1906 he I 1 led ed all the sox pitch r ers in winning the pennant lie ha won 20 victories that year as corn pared with doc Vv whites bites 18 lind and el ed 17 in the world series with the cubs he beat mordecal mordecai brown in the opening game 2 to 1 but back to that june day in 1812 1912 nick had been traded to ton in 1909 washington shipped him to minneapolis then to kansas city he was finally brought bade back to washington as a relief hurler it was during a game with cleveland when washington was trailing 2 to 0 0 that dark clark griffith looked at nick and asked what mat in the world did I 1 ever hire you forr tor the fateful answer nick figured the question at all unreasonable but he yelled back at griffith just put me out on that third base coaching box and find out griffith followed nicks suggestion gregg the cleveland pitcher walked the first man and that when altrock the clown was born 1 he went into a phantom boxing act that convulsed fans and players ot of both teams even gregg the opposing mounds man was getting a real belly laugh to make it short the washing toniann picked up four runs that thai inning and when nick got back to the bench griffith decided that his early game question had been answered he had hired altrock to be L funny t C there were plenty of squawks when nick first started his funny stuff howls of protest were heard from managers one sports writer M 11 ax faa edff vi WM 7 NICK ALTROCK suggested that if altrock intended to make a three ring circus out of baseball he might well spread sawdust over the infield ban johnson was league president then enough protests came his way to make a command performance necessary ban a big slow moving individual laughed heart heartily iII at Alt rocks clowning and told him to keep it up no regrets for nick though it was one of those spur of the moment remarks that resulted in nicks new profession he never regretted it lie he has found rich pickings in the comedy business though he be pitched competitively since 1918 yet year after year he be has held down a high salaried big league job he has clowned crowned in tank towns and before world series customers he has supplemented his income by vaudeville appearances and through writing a syndicated comedy column no nick any regrets he started h his 1 s car career e er at grand rap rapids ids where after winning 17 out of 19 1 games he was sold to louisville tot for from there he went to the national league where the highest salary was 2400 finally he got with the th e white sox his only eriv I 1 strictly as a pitcher re be when olous moments came stepped in at first base to cut a lew few ane then practice capers during infield of came that fateful da day y in june 1912 29 g after clowning tor for the past P his years nick can affo afford rd to spend fish and winters in florida 90 golfing efing ing he probably would be spend spena f n d er ing his winters in an altonet altogether Grif griffith hada had ferent fashion if dark clark that t during bit disgusted a particular grown washington W a shi n agton cleveland clev ea I 1 dd encounter why should deNick have any re grets |