Sunn Stream Productions, a new streaming service in Reno, hosted the world premiere of "Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball" documentary.

The premiere was held at the Reno Aces: Greater Nevada Field Theater on Friday.

Emmy-award-winning documentary filmmaker Gregg Dehart shared why he made the film. It all started with an encounter he had with Max Patkin while DeHart was a minor league pitcher getting ready to wind up at the mound.

"He was flailing his arms and scolding me like a coach, and the crowd was going crazy. Being the one person on the mound trying to make it to the big leagues, I wasn't really happy he was out there. And I told him to get off the mound, and he told me, 'Just go with it, kid, just go with it.' I'll never forget those words, and the crowd loves it," said Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball, Director and Producer Greg DeHart.

When he had his encounter with Max Patkin, DeHart was pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers single-A baseball team, and the game was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

DeHart says years later, after he had become a documentary filmmaker, he wanted to produce a film about minor league baseball, and he thought that his personal experience with Max Patkin was the right avenue to broach the subject of minor league baseball.

"It's such a broad topic, I wasn't quite sure how to go about it, and then I remembered that night with Max Patkin," said DeHart.

Back when baseball was less corporate and had less strict rules, there were clowns instead of mascots, and Max Patkin was best known as the Clown Prince of Baseball. Max Patkin was cast in the 1988 Hollywood romantic sports comedy Bull Durham, which stars Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. Patkin performed his act for 50 years every night in a different city for over 5,000 consecutive minor league baseball games, which made Greater Nevada Field the ideal location to premiere the film.

"The Reno Aces ballpark is the perfect place to premiere this because Sunn Stream Productions produced it, and it airs on Sunn Stream dot com, a new streaming service. They are based in Reno, literally across the street from the Reno Aces ballpark," explained DeHart.

DeHart tells us it was a 20-year journey to make the documentary, interviewing many MLB greats along the way.

Learn more about: "Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball"

Reno's new streaming service, Sunn Stream Productions, releases original movies, TV shows, and music.