In 1984, the former Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Dock Ellis revealed that he had pitched his no-hitter in 1970 under the influence of LSD. We only have Dock’s word as proof of the feat, but examining his story within the context of his baseball career indicates that the acid-induced no-hitter probably occurred.
On June 12, 1970, Dock was scheduled to pitch in San Diego at 6:05 p.m. Thinking he had a day off, he stayed at his Los Angeles hotel with a friend and his girlfriend. Dock would frequently take LSD on off-days and weekends, and this day was no different. He ingested three tabs when he woke up at noon and it was only an hour later that his girlfriend, reading the newspaper, told Dock that his name was listed as the starting pitcher. His girlfriend rushed him to the airport and he took the short flight to San Diego, arriving at 4:30 p.m. Another player helped him find his locker, and after taking between four and eight amphetamines as a “precautionary measure,” he felt prepared to pitch.
As Dock disclosed to reporters, “I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria.” At the time he threw his first pitch, the peak effects of the drug, occurring one to five hours after ingestion, had probably worn off. Nonetheless, the still-powerful “coming down” sensations undoubtedly impacted his emotional state as well as his perception of space, time, and reality. “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.” He also reported that comet-tails accompanied the balls as they hurtled toward the catcher. Enduring cramps and unsteadiness, he walked eight batters, hit one, and allowed no hits as the Pirates won 2-0.
A drug of choice for Dock as well as for many current baseball players (that has received relatively little attention compared to steroids) is amphetamines. Dock stated that he never pitched a game without amphetamines and that “Some guys I pitched against, we would try to guess which one of us was higher.” His use of speed to gain a competitive edge may have helped him earn his 13-10 record in 1970 and go 138-119 for his career with a 3.45 earned run average.
In terms of strange affairs during Dock’s career, the no-hitter on LSD did not stand alone. In 1974, he tied a major league record by hitting three batters in a row. Feeling that his teammates had lost the emotional drive they had used to win division titles from 1970 to1972 and disturbed by the haughtiness of the Cincinnati Reds, Dock felt he needed to make a point. “We gonna get down. We gonna do the do. I’m going to hit these motherfuckers,” he told his teammates before his start against the Reds. In the game, he hit the first three batters in the ribs, stomach and back, respectively. The fourth batter successfully dodged pitches and drew a walk. Dock just missed hitting the next batter in the jaw and then the head, but his manager finally pulled him from the game. However, Dock’s attempt to catalyze his team may have succeeded: the Pirates won a division title that year while the Reds fell short of a division title for the first time in three years.
Many followers of baseball at the time criticized Dock for such incidents (he also rushed the stands once and swung a lead bat at a racist heckler) but failed to recognize his charismatic and selfless acts. Working for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, he aided in the rehabilitation of black prisoners. He also collaborated with other black athletes in 1971 to found the Black Athletes Foundation for Sickle Cell Research, which lobbied and raised money to research and treat sickle cell anemia. Dock currently works as a drug counselor at a penitentiary in California.
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