Here’s a little baseball history: During World War II, when playing against the Navy service team, Joe DiMaggio hit a home run. That’s when the legend began. No, not DiMaggio’s. He was already a star. But the opposing pitcher threw down his glove and chased after DiMaggio as he circled the bases, mimicking the way he ran. That pitcher, Max Patkin, soon gave up playing and became known for 50 years as the Clown Prince of Baseball, traveling to stadiums, clowning around, copying players, juggling and dropping his or players’ pants. So baseball finds itself here again, channeling Patkin, to resolve its sticky-substance, cheating-pitchers scandal. Baseball is worried about its integrity, and the solution? Have pitchers drop their pants on the field. Yes, that makes commissioner Rob Manfred baseball’s new clown prince. It happened Tuesday, when umpires approached Oakland A’s pitcher Sergio Romo to see if he might have some banned sticky substances somewhere on him. Romo tossed his glove and hat to the field, whipped off his belt and, yes. . . Dropped his pants to his knees. LOL. Good stuff, baseball. There is rampant cheating in baseball, where pitchers are putting a glop called Spider Tack on the […]

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