Dock Ellis



Ellis with the Pirates

Dock Phillip Ellis Jr. (March 11, 1945 – December 19, 2008) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1968 through 1979, most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won five National League Eastern Division titles in six years between 1970 and 1975 and, won the World Series in 1971. Ellis also played for the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, and the New York Mets. In his MLB career, he had a 138–119 (.537) record, a 3.46 earned run average, and 1,136 strikeouts.

Ellis threw a no-hitter on June 12, 1970, and later stated that he accomplished the feat under the influence of LSD. Ellis was the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star Game in 1971 and later that year, the Pirates won the 1971 World Series. Joining the Yankees in 1976, he helped lead the team to the American League pennant, and was named the league's Comeback Player of the Year.

Ellis was an outspoken individual who advocated for the rights of players and African Americans. He also had a substance abuse problem, and acknowledged after his retirement that he never pitched without the use of drugs. After going into treatment Ellis remained sober and devoted the remainder of his life to counseling others with substance use disorder in treatment centers and prisons. He died of a liver ailment at age 63 in 2008.

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Playing career

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Pittsburgh Pirates

Ellis made his MLB debut that June, beginning as a relief pitcher. The Pirates moved Ellis into the starting rotation later that season. Ellis pitched his first complete game in September. He had a 6–5 win-loss record with a 2.51 ERA with the Pirates in 1968. In 1969, Ellis made the team's starting rotation for Opening Day. The struggles of Steve Blass kept Ellis in the starting rotation, as Blass was moved to the bullpen.

June 12, 1970, no-hitter

On June 12, 1970, Ellis no-hit the San Diego Padres, 2-0, in the first game of a twi-night doubleheader at San Diego Stadium, while self-reportedly under the influence of LSD. The Pirates flew to San Diego on Thursday, June 11 for a series against the Padres. Ellis reported that he visited a friend in Los Angeles and used LSD "two or three times." Thinking it was still Thursday, he took a hit of LSD on Friday at noon, and his friend's girlfriend reminded him at 2:00 PM that he was scheduled to pitch that night. Ellis flew from Los Angeles to San Diego at 3:00 PM and arrived at San Diego Stadium at 4:30 PM; the game started at 6:05 PM.

Ellis said he threw the no-hitter despite being unable to feel the ball or see the batter or catcher clearly. Ellis said his catcher Jerry May wore reflective tape on his fingers which helped him to see May's signals. Ellis walked eight batters and struck out six, and he was aided by excellent fielding plays from second baseman Bill Mazeroski and center fielder Matty Alou.

As Ellis recounted:

I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the [catcher's] glove, but I didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters, and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes, I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. I started having a crazy idea in the fourth inning that Richard Nixon was the home plate umpire, and once I thought I was pitching a baseball to Jimi Hendrix, who to me was holding a guitar and swinging it over the plate. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me.

Ellis reported that he never used LSD during the season again, though he continued to use amphetamines. After the story was made public, he said he regretted taking LSD that day because it "robbed him of his greatest professional memory."

Assessments of LSD claim

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Press believes Ellis' version of events that day, although he did not witness the game in person. Smizik was the reporter who first broke the story in 1984. Bill Christine, also of the Pittsburgh Press, does not believe Ellis' claim and was at the game that day. Christine was a beat reporter who "practically lived with the team that year". Christine said that he did not notice anything unusual, and says that if Ellis had reported to the stadium only 90 minutes before his scheduled start, reporters would have been told. John Mehno, a reporter who had "extensive interactions" with Ellis over his career, was skeptical about many stories told by Ellis, including the LSD no-hitter. Mehno said that he has not found a teammate who would corroborate the story. However, one of his close friends, Scipio Spinks, a pitcher for the Houston Astros, has said he has no doubt Ellis was telling the truth about his LSD use as he was very familiar with Dock's drug habits, including the use of LSD.

The no-hitter in pop culture

Ellis collaborated with future United States Poet Laureate Donald Hall on a book, Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, published in 1976. The first edition of the book reported that Ellis had been drinking vodka on the day of his no-hitter. Hall updated the 1989 edition to reveal the LSD use. Singer-songwriter Barbara Manning paid tribute to Ellis and his no-hitter in the psychedelic pop song, "Dock Ellis,", as did folk singer Todd Snider with "America's Favorite Pastime" on his 2009 album The Excitement Plan. A 2009 animated short film by James Blagden about the game, Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No, features narration in Ellis' own voice, taken from a 2008 NPR interview. The no-hitter is featured in the documentary about Ellis' life, No No: A Dockumentary, (2014) directed by Jeffrey Radice.

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