Jackie Price

For the British Olympic bobsledder, see Jackie Price (bobsleigh).
For the English politician, see Jackie Doyle-Price.

Jackie Price
Shortstop
Born: (1912-11-13)November 13, 1912
Winborn, Mississippi, U.S.
Died: October 2, 1967(1967-10-02) (aged 54)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 18, 1946, for the Cleveland Indians
Last MLB appearance
September 20, 1946, for the Cleveland Indians
MLB statistics
Batting average.231
Home runs0
Runs batted in0
Teams

John Thomas Reid Price (November 13, 1912 – October 2, 1967) was a Major League Baseball shortstop who played in seven games for the Cleveland Indians during the 1946 Cleveland Indians season.[1]

He was known for delighting fans with his skills – such as batting while hanging upside-down or throwing three balls to three different players in one movement[2] – and was dubbed "the Clown Prince of Baseball" for his other antics, which also included releasing a pair of five-foot boa constrictors on board a train.[3][4][5]

Price briefly teamed up with Max Patkin, another baseball clown; together they were described by Boston Red Sox manager Lou Boudreau as the "funniest show I ever saw".[6]

On October 2, 1967, Price committed suicide by hanging himself.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Schneider, Russ (2005). The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 205. ISBN 1582618402.
  2. ^ Daniel Okrent & Steve Wulf (1989). Baseball Anecdotes. Oxford University Press. p. 219. ISBN 0195043960.
  3. ^ Ballgame, Teddy (April 2, 2009). "Remembering Baseball's Clowns". The Baseball Zealot website. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  4. ^ Welsh, Charles (August 11, 1959). "Jackie Price Finding Fewer Places To Show". Park City Daily News: 10.
  5. ^ Barthel, Thomas (2007). Baseball Barnstorming and Exhibition Games, 1901-1962: A History of Off-Season Major League Play. McFarland. p. 148. ISBN 978-0786428113.
  6. ^ Poling, Jerry (2002). A Summer Up North: Henry Aaron and the Legend of Eau Claire Baseball. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 45. ISBN 0299181839.