Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams has start reminiscent of Dock Ellis

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams tossed six hitless innings with five walks, becoming the first Pirate pitcher since Dock Ellis to do so.

Trevor Williams took the hill for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday and pitched a fine game. It wasn’t a gem, though. He pitched six scoreless innings but walked five batters and only struck out one. He threw first-pitch strikes to just ten of the twenty batters he faced and actually threw more balls than strikes in the outing.

The one thing Williams (and his defense) did well was prevent hits. The team didn’t give up a single hit in his six innings of work. After 85 pitches, just 42 of them strikes, Williams was removed and the Pittsburgh bullpen saved the 1-0 victory. They did allow two hits, which ruined the no-hitter, but it was a great game all-around.

Williams’ start was unusual. By pitching six innings, allowing no hits, and walking five batters, Williams became the first Pirates pitcher since Dock Ellis to hit all of those marks in a game. Back on June 12, 1970, Ellis pitched a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in which he walked eight batters (and hit another). In a strange twist, both Williams and Ellis started the first game of a double-header.

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Williams was removed from his start after 85 pitches. We don’t know how many Ellis pitched because pitch counts weren’t regularly tracked back then, but he faced 36 batters. He likely threw at least 130 pitches and may have thrown more than 150 when you consider that he walked eight and struck out six. Besides the disparity in pitches thrown and the three extra innings pitched by Ellis, there was another big difference between the two pitchers. Presumably, Williams didn’t pitch Sunday’s game while high on acid.

The story of Ellis’ no-hitter on acid was recapped in Sports Illustrated last June, on the 47^th anniversary of the start. According to Ellis, he had partied deep into the night with a friend in L.A., then continued the party the next morning by taking a hit of acid around noon. In all his revelry, he forgot he was supposed to start the game that night. He made his way to San Diego and arrived an hour-and-a-half before the game started. Ellis first told his story in 1984.

“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. 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 wasn’t a Hall of Famer, but he had an incredible career in many ways. He was a product of the times, an unapologetic recreational drug user, flashy dresser and outspoken voice for civil rights. This didn’t play well in the press, some of whom labeled him militant. His story was told in more detail in a 2014 film called “No No: A Dockumentary.”

Ellis was a key part of the great Pittsburgh Pirates team in the early 1970s. His most accomplished season came a year after he pitched his no-hitter. That year, Ellis was 19-9 with a 3.06 ERA and finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting. He started for the NL in the All-Star Game, squaring off against Oakland’s Vida Blue. It was the first time two pitchers of color matched up in an All-Star Game.

He was also part of a history-making lineup on September 1, 1971. Ellis was on the hill with Manny Sanguillen behind the plate. The infield was manned by Al Oliver at first base, Rennie Stennett at second, Jackie Hernandez at shortstop, and Dave Cash at third base. Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente played the outfield corners, with Gene Clines in center field. They were all African-American or Latino, making this the first time in MLB history that a team fielded an entire lineup featuring only people of color.

Ellis pitched 12 years in the major leagues, winning 138 games and finishing his career with an ERA relative to his league that was just slightly worse than Jack Morris. He was ultimately known more for the crazy stories about his career than his actual production. This included his no-hitter on acid, wearing hair curlers on the field and a crazy game he pitched against the rival Cincinnati Reds.

On May 1, 1974, Ellis must have slept on the wrong side of the bed because he started his game against the Reds with one thing on his mind. He wanted to bean every Cincinnati player. He started off by nailing Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen to load the bases. Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh inexplicably left Ellis in as he continued his attack by throwing repeatedly at Tony Perez. He didn’t hit Perez, but did walk him, which pushed Rose across for the first run of the game. Only then did Murtaugh pull Ellis from the game.

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Later in life, Ellis got sober and became a dug counselor with an emphasis on helping prisoners get clean. He died from cirrhosis of the liver in 2008. Trevor Williams doesn’t have the flashy personality that Ellis had, but he pitched a great game today that brought back memories of a fascinating Pirates pitcher from the past.