Dock Ellis was not the biggest name in baseball history, but he was a piece of it in 1970 when he fired a no-hitter. This is easily one of the weirder stories in sports history, and if you haven’t heard about it before, you’re in for a treat.

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.

Sometimes he couldn’t even remember the score of the game or what part of the inning the game was in. When a few balls were hit in his direction, he jumped away from them as if he was scared.

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 this author: While he loves baseball, he also frequently blogs about the Delonghi 4 slice toaster and other new DeLonghi toaster ovens.

Category: Baseball Players• Tags used in this article: 1970s  Dock Ellis  drugs  Lysergic acid diethylamide  Major League Baseball  Pitcher 

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