You've probably never even heard of him, even if you know about baseball pretty well. If you have heard of him, then you've most likely heard about this story already. What's interesting is that most people are completely unaware that this ever happened. Dock Ellis's no hitter in 1970 was one of the more unique things to ever happen in baseball.
The funny thing is, it was not until 14 years later that we were told what made his no-hitter infamous: he was under the influence of LSD. Even more ironic about this all is the fact that he was working for an anti-drug program at the time when he finally admitted it.
Why would a pitcher ever take drugs on the day of his start, you ask? Well, it wasn't as if he purposely did this. He actually mistakenly believed that his next start wasn't for a few days, so he had taken LSD on his day off, not thinking he would have to pitch until a few days later. When he learned that it was his turn to start, he rushed to the stadium immediately.
He would later say he remembers very little about the game. He focused solely on the catcher's glove, and was pretty wild the entire game. He had numerous walks and hit batters, but no one could actually hit him.
Teammates had to let him in on the past actions of the hurler. He had a few fielding chances, but jumped out of the way. Sometimes he said the ball looked very small, while other times it was big.
LSD is bad for you. No one needs to be told that, and certainly not someone now who works to teach youth how bad it is. However, the fact a guy could pitch a no-hitter in a MLB game while on such a powerful drug is truly remarkable.
The feat will always be more infamous than famous, but this is one record that hopefully will never be broken. I'm not sure if anyone could if they tried.
The funny thing is, it was not until 14 years later that we were told what made his no-hitter infamous: he was under the influence of LSD. Even more ironic about this all is the fact that he was working for an anti-drug program at the time when he finally admitted it.
Why would a pitcher ever take drugs on the day of his start, you ask? Well, it wasn't as if he purposely did this. He actually mistakenly believed that his next start wasn't for a few days, so he had taken LSD on his day off, not thinking he would have to pitch until a few days later. When he learned that it was his turn to start, he rushed to the stadium immediately.
He would later say he remembers very little about the game. He focused solely on the catcher's glove, and was pretty wild the entire game. He had numerous walks and hit batters, but no one could actually hit him.
Teammates had to let him in on the past actions of the hurler. He had a few fielding chances, but jumped out of the way. Sometimes he said the ball looked very small, while other times it was big.
LSD is bad for you. No one needs to be told that, and certainly not someone now who works to teach youth how bad it is. However, the fact a guy could pitch a no-hitter in a MLB game while on such a powerful drug is truly remarkable.
The feat will always be more infamous than famous, but this is one record that hopefully will never be broken. I'm not sure if anyone could if they tried.
About the Author:
About this author: While he loves baseball, he also regularly blogs about the DeLonghi 4 slice toaster and other DeLonghi toaster ovens.
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