Not all drugs are performance-enhancing.
IT WAS THE FOURTH inning of the Pirates-Padres game, and Dock Ellis was throwing 1970´s first no-hitter. His teammates from Pittsburgh kept their mouths shut: it was bad luck to talk to a pitcher in the middle of a no-no.
Ellis was more worried about striking out Jimi Hendrix. Just hours before the game, Ellis had taken several tabs of LSD, under the mistaken impression that he didn’t have to play until the next day. Around the beginning of the inning, the home plate umpire had turned into Richard Nixon. Now, Hendrix was standing at the plate, brandishing his guitar like a bat.
Dock Ellis ended up getting his no-hitter, the only (known) time that an MLB pitcher has done so on acid. Inspired by the story, No Mas and James Blagden took a 2008 NPR interview with Ellis and set it to super-trippy animation, retelling the story of the no-no in Ellis’ own words.
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Adam Roy
Chicago native Adam Roy is the former-Editor of Matador Sports and an aspiring renaissance man to boot. For more of Adam's writing, check out his blog at Ill-Advised Adventures.
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