It's June twelfth, nineteen seventy Pittsburgh Pirates versus San Diego Padres in Major League Baseball. Behind home plate stands the umpire for tonight's game, President Richard Nixon. As the defense finish their warm up, basster Jimmy Hendrix steps up to the plate. Hendrix takes a few practice swings, then gets set to face his first pitch, but the pitcher notices that Hendricks isn't swinging a baseball bat.
It's an electric guitar.
No rock and roll legend, Jimmy Hendrix never played baseball, and Richard Nixon most certainly did not moonlight as a major league umpire. All of this is in picture Doc Ellis's head because right in the middle of a professional baseball game.
He's high on LSD.
HI.
I'm Tony Armstrong.
Welcome to the pool room, where we celebrate the winners, losers, and the weird stuff between. Doc's career in the big leagues took off pretty quickly. He went from being in the minor leagues to a relief pitcher before making it as a regular starter for the Pirates. All of a sudden, he was playing against the best in the world. Under immense pressure. This was pretty hard for Doc. He had a huge fear of failure. He'd be kept awake at
night worrying about letting his teammates down. That's not uncommon for professional athletes, especially those who get thrown into the spotlight, but in Doc's case, he turned to using drugs to cope.
Pills. Mostly usually he didn't let.
Drug taking effect his game, but one night the two factors collided, resulting in one of the most remarkable games in baseball history. It's Thursday, the eleventh of June nineteen seventy. The Pirates have just arrived in San Diego. They'll face the Padres in a doubleheader tomorrow, but today's an off day for the players. Doc Ellis gets permission from the coach to head to his hometown of La so he
can catch up with an old friend. He hires a car for the short trip north, but before he leaves, he takes a hit of acid, the idea being that the drug would kick in as he arrives. When he eventually turns up at his friend's door, she notices that something's up. Doc confess. He says, and I'm quoting here, that he's as high as a Georgia Pine. Doc and his friends spend the evening catching up on old times. They indulge in several drinks and some wheat. Eventually Doc
falls asleep. When he wakes up, he takes some more LSD. Then his friend enters the room with a concerned look on her face. She's holding up a newspaper and reading the sports section. It says the Pittsburgh Pirates are playing the Padres tonight and Doc Ellis is listed as the starting pitcher.
What happens to yesterday? Says Doc? He thought it was still Thursday.
In fact, it was two pm on Friday and he was due at the San Diego Ballpark in four short hours. So Doc jumps in a taxi to the airport, catching a three thirty flight back to San Diego. He lands an hour later and makes his way to the stadium, plenty of time to spare. But the problem is that Doc is still high on acid and he's about to pitch a Major League baseball game. Doc heads into the
locker room and gets changed into his uniform. Now by this point, his teammates know that he's high on something.
They just don't know that it's LSD. Regardless.
The catcher puts reflective tape on his fingers to make it easier for Doc to see his hand signals. Those indicate what kind of pitch he should throw. It's a misty night. As the Pirates head onto the field, Doc stands on the mound trying to focus, but it's immediately clear that this is not going to be a normal game of baseball. Doc delivers the first pitch to get things underway. In his day's state of mind, he can barely see the batters. All he can make out is
if they're right or left handed. But amazingly, he gets through the first two innings without giving up a hit. The second baseman calls out, you've got a no no going, meaning a no hitter. Yeah right, replies Doc. The other players are trying to shut the basement up. It's a superstition that you never mentioned a no hitter during a game. But as the innings pass by, Doc's no hit performance continues.
Now Doc isn't exactly having his best game. He's throwing pitchures in the dirt, he's hitting batters, he's all over the place. But still the Padres can't get any hits. Every couple of innings, the second baseman yells out again, you've got a no no going.
Meanwhile, Doc has seen people who aren't even there.
Several times he makes a dive for it or jumps out of the way, completely misjudging the pace of the ball. Sometimes the ball looks huge and he's afraid to catch it, but other times it looks tiny, like it's been shrunk. And then there's the times when he can't even see it all. By the bottom of the ninth inning, the Pirates are leading to nothing. San Diego still have no hits. The crowd are on their feet, and the Pittsburgh players are on edge. It comes down to the final out.
Doc Ellis takes the mound and winds up one, two, three strikes and he's done it. The Pirates win and Dock secures a no hitter, a feat that many of the best pitchers never achieve, and he's done it while under the influence.
Of psychedelic drugs.
The truth about that night in nineteen to seventy didn't come out until years.
Later, after Doc had retired.
He confessed to taking LSD before his no hit a game, and admitted that throughout his entire baseball career, not once did he pitch a game sober, whether it was alcohol or a variety of other drugs he was taking.
But the Doc Eller story didn't end there.
He knew he had a problem and he wanted to change. Following his career, Doc entered rehab and got clean for good. Then he dedicated the rest of his life to helping others overcome drug addiction. Some of the people he helped even credit to Doc for saving their lives. While his LSD story became baseball legend, his sobriety and commitment to helping others is his true legacy.
Thanks for listening to the Ballroom.
I'm taking a break for a few weeks, but I'll be back with more incredible sports stories really soon. And if you have a great story that you'd love to hear on the Pullroom, I want to know about it. Go to the Pullroom podcast dot com to send me a message. You've been listening to an iHeart production. I'm Tony Armstrong and I'll speak to you soon.