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Clarence Haskett Loves Being Fancy Clancy
Now in his 52nd season, the beloved beer vendor is still slinging cold ones at Camden Yards.
Clarence Haskett is recognized the minute he walks into the bar. Granted, the bar is Section 771, across the street from Camden Yards, where, during baseball season, he’s usually the most celebrated personality off the field. Wearing his signature Orioles baseball hat with the brim flipped up, he’s not trying to be inconspicuous on this February night. Quite the contrary. Haskett, 67, makes no bones about it—he loves being Fancy Clancy.
Among the most well-known vendors in the country, Fancy Clancy, as he’s universally known, has been a beer-slinging superstar at Orioles games for 52 seasons. During the course of a home game, he’ll pose for some 40 selfies with fans, always with a genuine smile on his face. Some even pass on other vendors so they can buy their $15 brew from him. He’s been featured on NPR and ESPN. A Virginia-based microbrewery makes Fancy Clancy’s Pilsner, with his illustrated likeness on the can, bulging biceps and all.
Last fall, he worked his first wedding, running down the aisle in full vending uniform, slinging cold ones into the crowd of guests. Who knows—bachelor parties and bar mitzvahs could come next. But how did it happen?
It’s a charming Baltimore story of a man with an intense passion—for the work, yes, but more importantly, the people. Clarence Haskett grew up on the city’s west side and started vending at Memorial Stadium as a teenager in 1974. His first assignment was hawking caramel popcorn, sodas, hot dogs, and peanuts in the upper deck. Back then, he was happy making $50, more than enough to buy a sandwich to eat on the bus ride home.
But his hustle got him noticed. Eventually, he was moved to the more lucrative lower level and given any ballpark’s golden goose: beer.
“I started saying, ‘Two cold cans for two thirsty fans, Clancy’s here with more cold beer,’” says Haskett, a natural showman.
“TWO COLD CANS FOR TWO THIRSTY FANS, CLANCY’S HERE WITH MORE COLD BEER…”
His nickname evolved in segments. As a sprinter at Catonsville Community College, his teammates dubbed him Clancy, after another lightning-fast collegiate runner of the day. Fancy grew from his vending antics.
“In the early ’90s, we had to pour a beer out of the can into a cup,” he says. “Then I learned the technique where I was able to pour two beers into a cup at once. And for some reason, I tried to pour the beer behind my back. And that caught on…[Then one time], this guy walked past and said, ‘That’s pretty fancy, Clancy.’”
So are his statistics, printed on the back of his baseball card-style business cards. From 2004 to 2019, Haskett was the top-selling beer vendor at O’s games, also proudly noting that he ranked number one in sales at RFK Stadium in D.C., from 1986 to 1996, and led the vendor standings at University of Maryland football games from 1981 to 2002. He’s worked four Super Bowls, three Kentucky Derbies, and the Preakness a whopping 32 times.
His most memorable game came on Sept. 6, 1995. Turns out there were two epic records set at Camden Yards that night. As Cal Ripken surpassed Lou Gehrig for most consecutive games played, Haskett bested his own record, taking in $960, he says.
Clancy and Cal have something else in common: They’re both iron men. From 2005 to 2019, Haskett missed only seven games. He attributes that durability to his physical fitness, which is evident to anyone who has seen him sprint up and down the ballpark’s lower-level stairs while holding a bin filled with ice and up to 70 beers. He’s not sure how much it weighs.
“All I know is it gets lighter every sale,” he says.
Now retired from his “other” job with the Maryland Department of Transportation after 32 years, Haskett isn’t thinking about hanging up his bin. Fancy Clancy’s here to stay, which means so is his call that echoes throughout his usual Camden Yards real estate, sections 16 to 27.
“You want it fancy, buy it from Clancy!”
