Today (June 12) marks the 43^{rd<\/sup> anniversary of a unique \u2013 perhaps even legendary \u2013 event in MLB history.\u00a0 On June 12, 1970, Pittsburgh hurler Dock Ellis \u2013 one of MLB\u2019s true \u201ccharacters\u201d \u2013 reportedly threw a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD<\/span>.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0\u00a0In this post, BBRT takes a look at some of the stories that make up Dock Ellis\u2019 truly \u201cstoried\u201d career \u2013 that 1970 no-hitter in particular.\u00a0 But let me lead off with a few facts to keep in mind.\u00a0 Ellis was a solid major league pitcher who ran up a 138-119 record, with a 3.46 ERA in twelve MLB seasons.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Ellis started the 1971 All Star game for the NL, opposing Vida Blue of the A\u2019s, which \u2013 for you trivia buffs \u2013 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.\u00a0 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. \u00a0And, after retiring, he acknowledged his substance-abuse issues and became a drug counselor.\u00a0 He also worked with the Black Athletes Foundation for Sickle Cell Research and U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Health on the issue.<\/p>\n}

Now on to that LSD-fueled no-no<\/strong><\/span>. This is an often-related story \u2013 immortalized not just in print (books and news articles), but also in song (America\u2019s Favorite Pastime<\/em> by Todd Snider, Dock Ellis<\/em> by Barbara Manning, and Dock Ellis\u2019 No-No<\/em> by Chuck Brodsky) and in film (the animated short film Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No<\/em>, directed by Jeffrey Radice).<\/p>\n

Click the link under the image below to view the animated film, which includes Ellis’ own accoun<\/strong>t.<\/h2>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_vUhSYLRw14<\/a><\/p>\n

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The roots of this particular performance were reportedly laid on Thursday, June 10, 1970, when Ellis was enjoying an off-day.\u00a0 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\u2019 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. \u00a0Wednesday night, legend has it, Ellis and friends enjoyed an evening that included LSD, marijuana and alcohol \u2013 finally winding down in the early morning hours. \u00a0As Ellis tells it, he woke up Thursday and, confident he\u2019d have plenty of time to recover before Friday\u2019s start, dropped another tab of LSD.<\/p>\n

Now for the character-building turn of events.\u00a0 One of the partying group informed Ellis \u2013 post LSD ingestion \u2013 that it was already Friday.\u00a0 Ellis had slept away the remainder of his Thursday and he would be taking the mound in just a few hours.\u00a0 The 6\u20193\u201d, 200-lb. right hander (Doesn\u2019t 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.\u00a0 To counteract the effects of the LSD, Ellis decided a sensible course would be to take a few Benzedrine tablets.\u00a0 Ellis would later say he pitched primarily in a fog, throwing the ball \u2013 which felt at times small and at other times unusually heavy and large – down a \u201cmulti-colored path\u201d to his catcher, Jerry May. \u00a0\u00a0Among the stranger\u00a0 \u201cevents\u201d 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 \u201cOoh, I just scored a touchdown.\u201d after successfully covering first on a fielding play. \u00a0His memory, like his viewpoint that day, was a bit foggy.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Remember, I indicated Ellis\u2019 had a storied career.\u00a0 Here is a snapshot of just a few of those stories.<\/p>\n

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• 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.<\/li>\n
• In May 1, 1974 Ellis set a major league record, while attempting to \u201cwake up\u201d the last-place Pirates.\u00a0 Angry that the Pirates would allow themselves to be intimidated by Cincinnati\u2019s 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.\u00a0 And, Ellis did his best to deliver.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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\u2019s victim list. Perez walked to plate a run.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/li>\n
• 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.<\/li>\n
• 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.)\u00a0 Ellis offered up his World Series ring as proof he was a Pirate and in the course of the dispute the guard maced Ellis.\u00a0 Ellis was initially charged with disorderly conduct and sued for assault by the Reds (Ellis counter-sued).\u00a0 Eventually, the charged were dropped and the Reds apologized.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  Dock Ellis, clearly one of baseball\u2019s 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. ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Today (June 12) marks the 43rd anniversary of a unique \u2013 perhaps even legendary \u2013 event in MLB history.\u00a0 On June 12, 1970, Pittsburgh hurler Dock Ellis \u2013 one of MLB\u2019s true \u201ccharacters\u201d \u2013 reportedly threw a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. \u00a0\u00a0In this post, BBRT takes a look at some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n