We thought we'd to have to cajole. And probably beg and convince and debate and negotiate and explain and, in all honesty, do a snow job on Richie Sexson to get him to dress up as the Joker for an ESPN The Magazine article naming him the clown prince of baseball.

At first, it seemed like such a good idea. The photographer, Evan Hurd, and I had spent the previous day driving around Phoenix looking for props that would make Sexson look like the biggest prankster in sports. We hit the magic shop in the mall for a whoopee cushion and graffiti poppers. Then we raided the costume store and picked up a court jester hat, more graffiti, and a pullover with a picture of the Joker on it. Perfect. We thought.

The next day we were appalled by what we had done. Who would dress up like this for a national magazine? What could we have been thinking? So we devised a plan. I would lay the bait and just let Sexson know we had an outfit for him and we hoped he was up for it. Then Evan, who is more disarming than the Easter Bunny, would reel him in. Simple enough.

Of course, I choked. I spent 45 minutes before the photo shoot hanging in the Brewers clubhouse with Sexson, Geoff Jenkins and Jeffrey Hammonds. Then Sexson asked me, "do I have time to shower, or do you want me in my uniform?" My answer: "Umm, I don’t know. The photo stuff is all Evan. I’m not involved.Why don’t you go ahead and shower. Because, like I said, I’m not sure what Evan has planned so I’m sure you’ll be fine in your shorts."

When I walked outside Evan asked, "He into it?"

Me: "I don’t know."

Evan: "What happened?"

Me: "I couldn’t ask him."

Evan: "Pathetic."

Me: "I know."

Then Sexson walked out in his shorts, flip-flops, and T-shirt. We were set up in a makeshift dugout and, humbled, I walked to the end of the bench. So Evan casually held up the Joker outfit and asked, "Dude, you wanna wear this?" Sexson shrugged and said, "Okay."

But his shirt showed up underneath the joker top. So Evan asked, "Can you go topless?" Sexson shrugged and said, "Okay." Then his shorts peeked out from the bottom of the joker top. So Evan asked, "Will you take off your shorts?"

Sexson looked at him and said, "But I’m only wearing boxers."

Evan: "No prob, man. I won’t show ‘em."

Sexson shrugged, and took off his shorts.

Pretty soon, Evan had Sexson running barefoot here and there on the Brewers main field, a lone jester in an empty stadium. Here he was making faces at the camera. There he was looking forlorn. But then the players started coming out of the locker room. And then the people in the Brewers offices, whose windows looked onto the field, started recognizing who was running around half naked on the field with a court jesters hat on. The longer it went, the more Evan, who kept yelling "Come on cute boy" to the 6'7" Sexson, had to keep his subject’s enthusiasm up. Because the catcalls were coming.

"You better be getting big bucks for this, Sexson!"

"The joke’s finally on you Sexson!"

"Man, I can’t even look at you!"

To which Sexson answered, "I can’t even look at myself."

And then he yelled uncle. Not, "I want to stop," or "I’m done." He actually yelled "Uncle."

As Sexson walked off the field, one more person yelled out, "Are we that bad?" The answer is no. Sexson is just that good.

Chad Millman is a frequent contributor to ESPN The Magazine. E-mail chad.x.millman@espnmag.com.