Throwback Thursday: Dock Ellis' No Hitter
🧾Today In MLB History
On this date, June 12th 1970, Dock Ellis threw maybe the most famous no-hitter in the history of the MLB. There have been 326 no-hitters in MLB history, some in the playoffs, a couple in the World Series even! So why is a random June Friday night in San Diego so famous? Well, because Dock Ellis notoriously pitched this one while high on LSD!
Dock Ellis played 12 seasons in the big leagues with the first 8 all in Pittsburg. One All-Star selection and was a part of the World Series champion Pirates team in 1971. With a career 3.46 ERA, Dock was a solid reliable pitcher throughout his career.
💊The Greenies Era
People like to think the steroid era of the 90s and 00s was the only PED era, but it was far from it. All throughout the 1970’s all the players talk about an amphetamine called “Greenies” which were green pills players would take to enhance performance. Players were very upfront about using them because they were not on the MLB banned list until 2006! All the biggest stars of the 1970s have admitted of greenie use including Dave Parker, Willie Stargell, Pete Rose, and the former home run king, Hank Aaron.
Dock Ellis? He was popping greenies like tic-tacs. He admits to using up to 15 before games that he pitched. He claims that he never pitched a game sober or ‘naked’ as he would say. So, what brought him to make the jump on June 12th from greenies to acid? A trip to California of course.
😵 What Day Is It!!??
The story goes that the Pirates got to San Diego Wednesday night and he wasn’t going to be pitching until Friday night. Los Angeles being his hometown he got permission from his manager to drive to LA until he pitched on Friday. Well Friday came along, and legend goes Dock took the LSD around noon and when his friend saw him take it, the conversation went like this…
“What are you doing? Aren’t you pitching today?'“
Dock replied “No, I’m not pitching until Friday”
“It is Friday!”
“What happened to Thursday?”
⚾The LSD Game
Dock rushed back to the airport and before he knew it, he was in Pittsburg at the stadium at 430 with a 6:05 start. No time to think about what he was actually about to do, which was take the mound in a major league baseball game and pitch tripping on LSD. Now, as a giant Grateful Dead fan myself I can imagine how that must’ve been (if you know what I mean) and terrifying would be the word I would use.
So how did he do it? Not very well! Ellis was all over the place with his accuracy and walked 8 batters and hit another one! But not one hit! Padres players said they never even realized that he was throwing a no hitter because they had base runners every inning.
✉ “It was an ugly no hitter, I got letters about it, but it was a no no”.
Dock recalls the game saying he could not see who the batter was, all he could see was if it was a lefty or righty in the batter’s box. He also couldn’t see the catchers’ fingers so he made him put tape on his fingers so he could see what signs were being called. Ellis also said everyone on both teams could see that he was high on something they just didn’t know what.
🌲 “I was higher than a Georgia pine” 🌲
Ellis went on to pitch for the Yankees later in his career and had a stellar career but will always be known for that June 12th day in 1970 when he no hit the Padres tripping balls on acid.
“I realize I’ll always be known for the no hitter and how it happened, I’m proud of the no-no but I wish it came with a story I could be prouder of”
I disagree Dock, you should be damn proud. Throwing a no hitter in the MLB high on LSD, let’s be honest, that fucking rules.