Baseball on Acid

[rostasi]

Cover story from this week's Dallas Observer

on baseball legend Dock Ellis.

"It's not an urban myth: Dock Ellis, now 60 and drug-free,

pitched a no-hitter in 1970 while high on LSD and various other drugs."

Balls Out

---

Now playing: Hakon Kornstad-Tetuzi Akiyama-Toshimaru Nakamura - May 11, 2002

[.:.impossible]

That was a fun read. I would like to see the footage!

Being born in 77, characters like Dock Ellis were pretty much long gone by the time my interest in baseball began. I certainly wish that baseball was more like it was when my dad was a kid. Hell, the baseball world hardly resembles what I remember of the game during my childhood. I'm not going to claim that it is dead, because I lived in New England for the past few years and baseball is anything but dead in New England, but as a whole, it seems 'dead inside'.

[JSngry]

Too bad that Dock Ellis & Bill Lee were never on the same staff together.

[Dave James]

I will bet you The Spaceman (Lee) pitched high quite a number of times. I'd even be willing to bet there were some seasons when he pitched more often stoned than sober. Maybe not acid, but loaded nonetheless. Of course, let's not sell David Wells short in this discussion. He apparently was so hung over on the morning he pitched his perfect game, he could hardly walk to the mound.

Up over and out.

[chris olivarez]

I remember that. That's impressive being so fucked up that he could barely handle it and still pitching a no hitter. Jerry May was probably pretty used to how Dock handled things but I can't help but wonder what kind of challenges this presented to May in how he called the game behind the plate. BTW the Padres were pretty sad at the time and that couldn't have helped their self esteem any.

[Big Wheel]

Great story, although I wish there had been more discussion of the game instead of background.

[Randy Twizzle]

Jerry May was probably pretty used to how Dock handled things but I can't help but wonder what kind of challenges this presented to May in how he called the game behind the plate.

←

This was the signal for a change up

and this meant fast ball

[Jazzdog]

I found this song written by Chuck Brodsky

Dock Ellis’s No-No

It was a lovely summer’s morning

An off-day in LA

So thought one Dock Ellis

As he would later say

His girlfriend read the paper

She said, “Dock, this can’t be right...

It says here that you’re pitching

In San Diego tonight”

“Got to get you to the airport”

And so off Dock Ellis flew

His legs were a little bit wobbly

And the rest of him was too

Took a taxi to the ballpark

An hour before the game

Gave some half-assed explanation

Found the locker with his name

Time came to go on out there

Down the corridor

The walls were a little bit wavy

There were ripples in the floor

He went out to the bullpen

To do a bunch of stretches

Loosen up a little

Throw his warm-up pitches

All rose for the national anthem

People took off their hats

Fireworks were exploding

The cokes were already going flat

Dock was back there in the dugout

So many things to watch

Some players spit tobacco juice

Others grabbed their crotch

The umpire hollered, “Play Ball!”

And so it came to be

Dock’s Pirates batted first

And when they went down 1-2-3

Dock’s catcher put his mask on

And he handed Dock the ball

It was 327 feet

To the right & left field walls

The Pirates took the field then

And Dock stood on the rubber

He bounced a couple of pitches

And then he bounced a couple others

You might say about that day

He looked a little wild

The lead-off batter trembled

Nobody knew why Dock Ellis smiled

You walk 8 and you hit a guy

The things that people shout...

Especially your manager

But he didn’t take Dock out

Dock found himself a rythym

And a crazy little spin

Amazing things would happen

When Dock Ellis zeroed in

Sometimes he saw the catcher

Sometimes he did not

Sometimes he held a beach balll

Other times it was a dot

Dock was tossing comets

That were leaving trails of glitter

At the 7th inning stretch

He still had a no-hitter

So he turned to Cash, his buddy

Said, “I got a no-no going”

Speaking the unspeakable

He went back out there throwing

Bottom of the ninth

& He stood high upon the mound

3 more outs to go

He’d have his name in Cooperstown

First up was Cannizzaro

Who flied out to Alou

Kelly grounded out for Dean

The shortstop yelled, “That’s two”

It must’ve been a mad house

The fans upon their feet

The littler ones among them

Standing on their seats

Next up would’ve been Herbel

But Spezio pinch-hit

He took a 3rd strike looking

And officially, that was it

It was a lovely summer’s morning

An off-day in LA

So thought one Dock Ellis

As he would later say

There's also the song Bill Lee by Warren Zevon

You're supposed to sit on your ass and nod at stupid things

Man, that's hard to do

And if you don't, they'll screw you

And if you do, they'll screw you, too

When I'm standing in the middle of the diamond all alone

I always play to win

When it comes to skin and bone

And sometimes I say things I shouldn't

Like....

And sometimes I say things I shouldn't

Like....

They don't make players like this anymore. They don't make songwriters like this anymore either.

[chris olivarez]

Jerry May was probably pretty used to how Dock handled things but I can't help but wonder what kind of challenges this presented to May in how he called the game behind the plate.

←

This was the signal for a change up

and this meant fast ball

←

[7/4]

Trippy story.