Today (June 12) marks the 43rd anniversary of a unique – perhaps even legendary – event in MLB history. On June 12, 1970, Pittsburgh hurler Dock Ellis – one of MLB’s true “characters” – reportedly threw a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. In this post, BBRT takes a look at some of the stories that make up Dock Ellis’ truly “storied” career – that 1970 no-hitter in particular. But let me lead off with a few facts to keep in mind. Ellis was a solid major league pitcher who ran up a 138-119 record, with a 3.46 ERA in twelve MLB seasons. He was an All Star in 1971, when he went 19-9, 3.06 with eleven complete games in 31 starts for the Pirates (finishing fourth in the Cy Young Award balloting). Ellis started the 1971 All Star game for the NL, opposing Vida Blue of the A’s, which – for you trivia buffs – was the first time two African-American hurlers started the All Star contest. Ellis was voted Comeback Player of the Year in 1976, when he 17-8, 3.19 for the Yankees. Ellis, who pitched for six teams in his career (including three teams each in 1977 and 1979), won 10 or more games in a season nine times. Ellis was aa outspoken civil right advocate throughout his career. And, after retiring, he acknowledged his substance-abuse issues and became a drug counselor. He also worked with the Black Athletes Foundation for Sickle Cell Research and U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Health on the issue.
Now on to that LSD-fueled no-no. This is an often-related story – immortalized not just in print (books and news articles), but also in song (America’s Favorite Pastime by Todd Snider, Dock Ellis by Barbara Manning, and Dock Ellis’ No-No by Chuck Brodsky) and in film (the animated short film Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No, directed by Jeffrey Radice).
Click the link under the image below to view the animated film, which includes Ellis’ own account.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUhSYLRw14
The roots of this particular performance were reportedly laid on Thursday, June 10, 1970, when Ellis was enjoying an off-day. On Wednesday, the Pirates had wrapped up a series against the Giants in San Francisco and were scheduled to take the field next in San Diego on Friday (when Ellis’ turn in the rotation came up.) An LA native, Ellis decide that the off day offered a chance to party with some friends back home and he rented a car and headed to the City of Angels. Wednesday night, legend has it, Ellis and friends enjoyed an evening that included LSD, marijuana and alcohol – finally winding down in the early morning hours. As Ellis tells it, he woke up Thursday and, confident he’d have plenty of time to recover before Friday’s start, dropped another tab of LSD.
Now for the character-building turn of events. One of the partying group informed Ellis – post LSD ingestion – that it was already Friday. Ellis had slept away the remainder of his Thursday and he would be taking the mound in just a few hours. The 6’3”, 200-lb. right hander (Doesn’t it seem like he should have been a lefty?) caught a shuttle flight from LA to San Diego and made to the ballpark about 90 minutes prior to game time. To counteract the effects of the LSD, Ellis decided a sensible course would be to take a few Benzedrine tablets. Ellis would later say he pitched primarily in a fog, throwing the ball – which felt at times small and at other times unusually heavy and large – down a “multi-colored path” to his catcher, Jerry May. Among the stranger “events” Ellis later reported occurring during the game were at various points believing Richard Nixon was umpiring the game; Jimi Hendrix was at the plate with a guitar for a bat; and his exclamation of “Ooh, I just scored a touchdown.” after successfully covering first on a fielding play. His memory, like his viewpoint that day, was a bit foggy.
The final result (celebrated today) was a 2-0 win for the Pirates, with Ellis tossing nine innings, with no hits, no runs, eight walks, one hit batsman, and six strikeouts.
Remember, I indicated Ellis’ had a storied career. Here is a snapshot of just a few of those stories.
- Ellis, always adamant in his pursuit of the rights of and respect for African-Americans was known (during his minor league tenure) to go into the stands to confront racist hecklers.
- In May 1, 1974 Ellis set a major league record, while attempting to “wake up” the last-place Pirates. Angry that the Pirates would allow themselves to be intimidated by Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine and feeling the Reds did not show the Pirates proper respect, Ellis make an impassioned, expletive-laced pregame speech to his teammates in which he vowed to hit every one of the Red batters. And, Ellis did his best to deliver. In the top of the first, he nailed lead-off hitter Pete Rose in the ribs, and then plunked number-two batter Joe Morgan in pretty much the same spot. Dan Dreissen was up next and (apparently pretty sure of what was headed his way) got nailed in the back while turning away from a pitch. The next hitter, Tony Perez, proved more nimble, avoiding four attempts by Ellis (at least one reportedly behind his head) to add him to the day’s victim list. Perez walked to plate a run. Johnny Bench was up next and after two very high, very tight pitches, Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh decided (in the pursuit of public safety?) to pull Ellis from the game. Ellis that day set a record by hitting the first three batters in a game, tied a record for three hit batsman in an inning and added to his reputation as an intimidating presence on the mound.
- Late in the 1973 season, Ellis was photographed wearing hair curlers in the bullpen prior to a game, which did little to endear him to the baseball establishment.
- In May of 1972, after missing a team bus to Riverfront Stadium, Ellis was denied entrance by a security guard because he lacked proper identification. (Willie Stargell and Rennie Stennett, who were with Ellis and had ID, were admitted.) Ellis offered up his World Series ring as proof he was a Pirate and in the course of the dispute the guard maced Ellis. Ellis was initially charged with disorderly conduct and sued for assault by the Reds (Ellis counter-sued). Eventually, the charged were dropped and the Reds apologized.
Dock Ellis, clearly one of baseball’s most storied characters. And, by the way, does anyone else find it interesting that Dock Ellis might have been listed in the box score as Ellis D. ?
