Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter against San Diego Padres while on LSD!

[Better Believe It]

Did LSD Make a Baseball Pitcher's No-Hitter Possible?
By James Blagden
November 16, 2009

Perhaps the greatest athletic achievement while a psychedelic journey, No Mas and artist James Blagden proudly present the animated tale of Dock Ellis' legendary LSD no-hitter.

In celebration of the greatest athletic achievement by a man on a psychedelic journey, No Mas and artist James Blagden proudly present the animated tale of Dock Ellis' legendary LSD no-hitter. In the past few years we've heard all too much about performance enhancing drugs from greenies to tetrahydrogestrinone, and not enough about performance inhibiting drugs. If our evaluation of the records of athletes like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds needs to be revised downwards with an asterisk, we submit that that Dock Ellis record deserves a giant exclamation point. Of the 263 no-hitters ever thrown in the Big Leagues, we can only guess how many were aided by steroids, but we can say without question that only one was ever thrown on acid.

Sadly, the great Dock Ellis died last December at 63. A year before, radio producers Donnell Alexander and Neille Ilel, had recorded an interview with Ellis in which the former Pirate right hander gave a moment by moment account of June 12, 1970, the day he no-hit the San Diego Padres. Alexander and Ilels original four minute piece appeared March 29, 2008 on NPRs Weekend America. When we stumbled across that piece this past June, Blagden and Isenberg were inspired to create a short animated film around the original audio.

http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/143985

See the animated video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUhSYLRw14&feature=player_embedded

-I'm not an advocate of nor do I use LSD. It's not a "safe" drug in my opinion and unlike pot is harmful to your brain-

[Winterblues]

1. I shot one of the greatest games of pool for me ever while under the influence of Acid.

It was absolutely incredible. I simply could not miss, the pockets were the size of a basketball hoop.

[dysfunctional press]

8. i got my highest score ever on asteroids while i was tripping...

i eventually just had to walk away from the game, with lots of little ships/lives left on the screen.

but it took me awhile longer to shake the feeling that i was still in the game.

[conscious evolution]

10. I owned a bumper pool table one night

Could not miss.I could see exactly where on the bumpers I needed to aim for to pocket the balls.Plus the balls were the size of marbles and the pockets were hugh!

[T Wolf]

11. I once (?) played Risk in college on acid. Accumulated a huge army in Alaska, then after two hours

went on an around-the-world conquest, wiping out everyone including myself and set the game back to the beginning.

ps - my pre-attack army looked much bigger than it actually was, but it got the job done.

[HopeHoops]

2. "Be the ball. Just BE the ball."

This shit works!

[tjwash]

3. I think the 1970 padres had a couple of no hitters in tee-ball that season.

[madrchsod]

4. interview with doc in 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA5JwXK8R3M&feature=related

[frylock]

5. i believe that i read somewhere that the term "no-no" was coined that night

[Nikki Stone1]

6. What? Really?

K & R

(what the hell)

[victoryparty]

7. THC achievement

No biggie -- I once ate two whole bags of Doritos while on THC while watching a doubleheader.

www.widsheets.com
WIDsheets - Write It Down and get organized!

[johnnie]

9. .

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. The video is too funny! Thanks for this!

[InternalDialogue]

13. Todd Snider wrote a song about it and has been playing it live for a long time.

Rolling Stone this summer named it the best song ever written about Dock Ellis' no-hitter.

(Some audio of it at the link)

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/06/24/new-music-report-todd-snider/#

America's Favorite Pastime (The Ballad of Dock Ellis)
From The Excitement Plan

dock ellis didnt think he was pitching that day
back in 1970
when he and his wife took a trip to the ballpark
a little bit differently
so by the time that he hit the bullpen
half the world had melted away
that's about the time coach murtaugh came and said
dock you're pitching today

taking the mound the ground turned into
the icing on a birthday cake
the lead off man came up and turned into
a dancing rattle snake
the crowd tracked back and forth
in waves of color underneath the sun
the ball turned into a silver bullet
his arm into a gun

i took a look all around the world one time
finally discovered
you cant judge a book

three up three down for three straight innings
in a zero zero tie
as all those batters names come ringing
from a voice out of the sky
hallucinating halloween scenes
each new swing of the bat
his sinker looked like it was falling off a table
but nobody was hallucinating that

i took a look all around the world one time
finally discovered
you cant judge a book

by the top of the seventh he was up one to nothing
and giving them padres fits
by the top of the eighth he was up two to nothing
and they still hadn't got any hits
with one out left to go in the game
the batter looked like a baby child
that birthday caking was shaking
them waves of color was going wild

by the time that he mowed the last man down
he was high as he had ever been
laughing to the sounds of the world going around
completely unaware of the win
and while the papers would say he was scattered that day
he was pretty as a pitcher could be
the day dock ellis of the pittsburgh pirates
threw a no hitter on lsd

i took a look all around the world one time
finally discovered
you cant judge a book

[Berry Cool]

17. It really is a pretty amazing story.

He was in LA and didn't know he was scheduled to pitch half a doubleheader in San Diego that day. Had to catch a last-minute shuttle, climb on the mound and hope the ball didn't turn into monsters or something while he was trying to pitch it.

[dogknob]

14. I was 6 months old then...

...born in SD, and I could have possibly pitched a no-hitter against the '70 Padres. However, I too had a similar experience on acid in my early 20s: After spending the day tripping with my girlfriend in Balboa Park, we went to get some pizza. While we were waiting, we sat down at a Ms. Pac-Man table. I never played the game enough to grok the "patterns" and such, but to my amazement, I managed to triple the standing high score on my first life, which took about 45 minutes.

[Blecht]

15. That was awesome

What a great little video! Thanks.

[Blue_Tires]

16. awesome find...

i wonder what clemente thought as that was going on...

[Buddyblazon]

18. Best game I ever played of Rugby I was on acid.

Though I only came through with one score...I was just more aware. No ball carrier got past me...and no single opponent could tackle me. I hit harder than any other game I think I ever played.

My teammates, at the traditional party afterward, were patting me on the back telling me how I had had such a fantastic game. When I told them I was tripping...they went ape. They thought it was hilarious.

[intheflow]

19. "Error: You can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours."

:( This story is worth one more rec! ah well, I can kick it up, anyway.

[WilliamPitt]

20. Alternet got their edition of SI today, I see.

There's a Dock Ellis story in the latest edition. Great story. :)