Sunn Classic Pictures announces 'Max Patkin Documentary' is in Production in sync with Minor League Baseball Spring Training

LOS ANGELES, March 16, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In sync with the 2022 Minor League Baseball Spring Training, Sunn Classic Pictures announces the first feature film documentary about the life of Max Patkin (1920-1999), a minor league baseball pitcher who became the "Clown Prince of Baseball", is in production. This "Max Patkin Documentary" (Working Title) will highlight his unique gift for making millions of fans laugh for 50 years with 5,000 consecutive performances (1944-1993) at minor league games across small town America – and uncover true stories behind a very complicated person.

When Director Ron Shelton filmed the romantic comedy "Bull Durham", he cast Max Patkin as himself in the opening scene. It was the definitive film about the minor leagues. Shelton, who is also in this new documentary, says to this day, "I couldn't have made 'Bull Durham' without Max. He was minor league baseball."

Emmy Award-Winning Producer and "Max Patkin Documentary" Director, Writer and Producer Greg DeHart first met Patkin while pitching in the minor leagues in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. When Patkin came out to the pitcher's mound to make DeHart part of his comedy routine, he wasn't happy. DeHart sternly told Max to get off his mound, and Patkin's reply was "Cool it kid, it's only a game for fans to enjoy!" DeHart reflects, "This long form documentary will take fans to the ballparks and behind-the-scenes to the very human side of Max Patkin, who used baseball to hold back his demons. Patkin's act was his livelihood. The baseball diamond was just where he worked."

Prior to WWII, Patkin was a pitcher in the Chicago White Sox minor league system and a coach for the Cleveland Indians in the 1940s. While serving during the war, Patkin pitched an exhibition game for the U.S. Navy in Hawaii in 1944. When the legendary Joe DiMaggio, who later led the New York Yankees to nine World Series championships, hit a mammoth home run off Max's pitch, he spontaneously chased him around the bases. When the fans went wild cheering, a clown was born.

Afterwards, MLB franchise owner and promoter Bill Veeck hired Patkin to be a comic first base coach to boost attendance for the Cleveland Indians. The fans loved Patkin, but baseball's front office did not. Veeck then helped Patkin get started in the minor leagues ballclubs, where his clown act would help fill stadiums for decades. With his goofy antics, oversized uniform, sideways cap, rubber nose, elastic face, tongue twisted, contorted body and spitting an endless spray of water into the air, Max never let down his fans.    

The new documentary will also feature Max Patkin's life as a paradox between laughter and sadness, sanity and instability, mockery and applause. Like most clowns and many comedians, his personal life was a dangerous disaster that included being bullied as a child. After Max caught his wife having an affair, she split his skull open with a hammer. It would have killed Max, if not for his daughter Joy, who stopped her mother's attack. Max and his wife soon divorced, and the court awarded Joy to her dad while her mother went to jail.

Sunn Classic Pictures President and TriStar Pictures original Founder/Owner Lang Elliott explains, "Patkin's story is a reminder of how minor league baseball used to be, even during a World War – when a funny looking man with a disheveled uniform could travel from town to town, night after night, entertaining fans for all he was worth. The public needed comedy and laughter as they do today. If you've never been to a minor league baseball game, the new 'Max Patkin Documentary' film will take you there, along with the backstage stories and emotions."

Director DeHart adds, "Fans will see a combination of interviews, archival footage/photos, and stylized b-roll/recreations. Our team has interviewed baseball legends from coast-to-coast, including MLB Star pitcher Bill "Spacemen" Lee (Boston Red Sox) at Fenway Park. We also have a heartfelt interview with Max Patkin's daughter Joy Tietsworth, who recalls Max as a kind and loving father. Fans will see Patkin's signature question mark (?) jersey that is displayed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and more memorabilia."

Sunn Classic Pictures CEO Garrett Sutton adds, "We're excited to announce this new Max Patkin film that will highlight how an unsung baseball hero played a major role in the history of the game and small town America. We are grateful to our 'Max Patkin Documentary' film team, and that Opening Day games are now scheduled for early April for MLB and MiLB with good fun, laughs, hot dogs and venders yelling "Get um while their hot!"

Audiences will leave inspired by Max's resilience, grit, love for the fans and dedication to America's national sport. For more information and updates on the upcoming "Max Patkin Documentary" (Working Title), visit https://www.maxpatkin.com

MEDIA CONTACT
Liz Kelly, Goody PR, 310-987-7207

FILM CREDITS:
A Sunn Classic Pictures Presentation: Max Patkin The Clown Prince of Baseball

• Executive Producers Lang Elliott and Garrett Sutton
• Director, Writer and Producer Greg DeHart
• Producer Paul Dzilvelis
• Director of Photography Richard Pendleton
• Editor Paul Freedman
• Interviews with Director Ron Shelton ("Bull Durham"), Steve Wulf (Sports Journalist, ESPN), Harold Reynolds (Former MLB second baseman for the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, and California Angels), Bill "Spaceman" Lee (Former MLB pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos), Bob Feller (Hall of Fame Pitcher), Don Zimmer (legendary baseball "lifer") and many more to come
• Production Coordinator Stephanie Lutz

Media Contact

Liz H Kelly, Goody PR, 310-987-7207, [email protected]

SOURCE Sunn Classic Pictures