Pittsburgh Pirates Dock Ellis Pitches No-Hitter on LSD

Pitching a no hitter is difficult enough, but trying to pitch a no hitter while contemplating the follies of the universe at large and trying to pitch to a melting catcher’s mitt must be virtually impossible. Yet, Dock Ellis did just that on this day in 1970.

Dock Ellis was an interesting player. He was a solid pitcher, playing primarily for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was known for his advocacy for player’s rights and for African Americans. He was also known for his various substance abuse problems, as he admitted that he never took the mound without being on something.

That includes his performance on this day in 1970. The Pirates had gone to San Diego to face the Padres, and with that being the case, Ellis went to visit a friend in Los Angeles on Thursday. He claims to have taken a couple of hits of LSD, and at noon on Friday, took another tab since he thought it was Thursday. As it turns out, Ellis was slated to pitch that day, and only remembered because his friend’s girlfriend reminded him. Taking a 3:00 PM flight, Ellis arrived at the park at 4:30 for the game that was to start within an hour and a half.

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Then, Ellis pitched what must have been one of the more entertaining games to watch. He barely had any control, and even stated that he had issues seeing the catcher or knowing what size the ball was. Yet, through it all, Ellis managed to keep the Padres off the board, throwing a no hitter while walking eight and hitting a batter. He also mixed in six strikeouts, with plays by Bill Mazeroski and Matty Alou preserving his outing.

Ellis himself gave quite the interesting account of his game, or at least what he could recall of it.

"I can only remember bits and pieces of the game….I was zeroed in on the 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. 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."

Of course, eyewitnesses have a different take as to the events on the mound that day. Unfortunately, as the MLB has yet to make the video from that game available, no one can really say what Ellis was like on the mound. He certainly was not in any frame of mind as to be able to say what was happening, and chances are, those watching his performance had no idea that they were about to see one of the more interesting no hitters ever pitched.

Ellis also tried pitching while on LSD a second time. However, this time, he had determined to drill members of the Cincinnati Reds, the chief rivals for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the mid 1970’s. He made up his mind to drill every batter he faced, and on May 1, 1974, took literal aim at the Reds. He drilled Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Dan Dreissen, with Tony Perez avoiding his throws and drawing a walk. After Ellis fired two pitches at Johnny Bench‘s head, he was removed from the game, posting one of the oddest stat lines in baseball history.

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Dock Ellis turned his life around after baseball, entering a rehab program and later working as an addiction recovery counselor before his death from cirrhosis in 2008. Yet, for everything he did, Ellis will be remembered for pitching one of the more improbable no hitters in baseball history.