Al Schacht, 'Clown Prince of Baseball,' had a giant baseball mitt that looks pretty roomy

The Clown Prince of Baseball and his giant mitt

By Ben Cosman

November 17, 2015

Last week, 18 players across MLB were honored with Gold Glove Awards for their excellence in the field and, appropriately, they will be given literal golden gloves. Personally, I think the winners should also be awarded with giant baseball gloves that look more like beanbag chairs, like the one above.

That's Al Schacht, trying to bring Godzilla's baseball mitt onto an airplane. Unfortunately, he wasn't headed to play an actual game among giants, though that does sound like a fun addition to All-Star Week. Schacht played a few seasons professionally, but he's best known as the "Clown Prince of Baseball" -- according to the New York Times' obituary for Schacht, he was basically baseball's precursor to Bob Hope:

"He entertained in many World Series and All-Star Games, and in nearly every city in both the majors and minors. He brought happy moments to troops in Europe, Africa and Asia during World War II."

Clearly, Schacht knew one of the golden rules of comedy: Oversized versions of regular objects are always funny. And it's even better behind the plate:

Though it'd probably make throwing out runners a little tough.