Patrick Carney was an award-winning baseball player of the 1950's who went on to earn an engineering degree. He was soon assigned to a top-secret government facility, "Deep Freeze", that was secretly holding the heroes Captain America and Bucky in suspended animation after they had grown incurably insane. Shocked by the secret, Carney lamented that heroes were nevertheless needed for his generation.
Driving home that night, Carney encountered the time-traveler Cassandra Locke, who had collected information about a Skrull plot to subjugate Earth of her era. Locke was dying, and she passed on the information about the plot and Carney's future to him. She also left him her belt, the source of her time-traveling powers. Although he was only able to use the belt to boost his strength to superhuman levels, Carney used it to create the heroic identity of the Yankee Clipper.
With the force of Locke's commission behind him, Carney went on to become America's foremost champion. During his time, Carney met and adventured alongside heroes such as Liberty Girl the Black Fox, and he later founded the First Line, a group of superhuman champions, which his younger brother joined as Kid Justice (later Mister Justice).
During one adventure, Carney encountered Cassandra Locke once again, and the proximity of two time-traveling belts activated the capabilities of Carney's belt, propelling him 20 years into the future. Carney soon sought out his brother and other members of the First Line. The First Line member Pixie helped Carney adjust to his new time with the help of her family, the Eternals. A year later Pat deliberately time jumped again, reappearing shortly after the Fantastic Four debuted. Learning from Pixie that the First Line had died stopping a Skrull armada invading Earth, Pat decided the Yankee Clipper's time had passed, and quietly entered retirment.
