Little is known about Edward Arnett Davis’ childhood or later years, but those who knew him as “Peanuts” or as a Clown knew he could play baseball.
“When Peanuts Davis was on the mound, batters underestimated him at their peril,” Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) states. “They quickly found out …he was an accomplished pitcher, with a knuckleball few could hit.”
Born in New Orleans in 1917, Davis grew up in Jackson, Miss. His first baseball job was as a peanuts vendor. He earned his “Peanuts” nickname by bagging and selling peanuts faster than his counterparts.
“Davis had no intention of remaining a peanut vendor,” SABR states. “He wanted to play baseball … he joined a local semi-pro team while still in his teens.”
At 23, Davis got married and had two daughters and a son before divorcing. He got on the pitcher’s mound because he could entertain as well as throw the ball. For $60 a month, he wore face paint, dawned a fake African name and performed funny routines.
In the 1940s, Davis “became one of the most successful pitchers and entertainers in Black baseball,” 64 Parishes states. He played for the Zulu Cannibal Giants, Miami Ethiopian Clowns and Indianapolis-Cincinnati Clowns.
According to SABR, the 5-foot-11, 150-pound Davis was “loose-limbed and hilarious. He could make the spectators laugh with his clowning. By 1940, he was regularly being called the ‘Negro Clown Prince of Comedy.’”
From 1944 to 1951, Davis played for several teams, including the Army’s Fort Benning Reception Center Tigers, Florida’s Jacksonville Eagles, North Carolina’s Durham Bulls and Asheville Blues, and Canada’s Indian Head (Saskatchewan) Rockets.
Davis died in 1973.
“Today, he has been almost forgotten,” SABR states, “but had he not lived when baseball was still segregated, perhaps more people would know who he was.”
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
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