June 12, 1970: Doc Ellis no-hitter drug induced?
Submitted by BTGrimes on Sun, 06/12/2011 - 5:00am |
| ‘Take me for a trip...' SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Doc Ellis no-hit the San Diego Padres on this date in 1970. Sometime later the flamboyant right-hander claimed he pitched the masterpiece while under the influence. It wasn't like he'd had a few beers before the game. He says he was trippin' on acid, LSD - Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, the hallucinogenic preferred drug of the hippy generation. Ellis won the game 2-0, but he was hardly perfect, walking eight. Willie Stargell provided all the scoring for the Pirates, hitting two solo home runs. Ellis isn't real clear on the timing, but according to Keven McAlester of The Dallas Observer, he arrived in San Diego a day or so before a series with the Padres. Once there, he made a side trip to see friends in Los Angeles. He seemed to have lost track of time during a day or two of booze, pot, various other drugs and some sleep. After waking up around noon, he took a hit of acid. McAlester writes, "Doc Ellis would frequently drop acid on off days." He'd "lock himself" in a room and "listen to Jimi Hendricks and Iron Butterfly for days." Not long after taking the LSD, one of his fellow partiers, while flipping through a newspaper, said, "Doc, you're supposed to pitch today." Doc said he wasn't scheduled to pitch until Friday. "It is Friday," he was told. Ellis scrambled to get to San Diego for a start about 5 hours later. The effects of an LSD trip were apparently still with him when he took the mound. CONTRIBUTING SOURCES: This story is brought to you by TODAY in BASEBALL. |
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