Speaker 1: It's June twelfth, nineteen seventy Pittsburgh Pirates versus San Diego
Speaker 1: Padres in Major League Baseball. Behind home plate stands the
Speaker 1: umpire for tonight's game, President Richard Nixon. As the defense
Speaker 1: finish their warm up, basster Jimmy Hendrix steps up to
Speaker 1: the plate. Hendrix takes a few practice swings, then gets
Speaker 1: set to face his first pitch, but the pitcher notices
Speaker 1: that Hendricks isn't swinging a baseball bat.
Speaker 2: It's an electric guitar.
Speaker 1: No rock and roll legend, Jimmy Hendrix never played baseball,
Speaker 1: and Richard Nixon most certainly did not moonlight as a
Speaker 1: major league umpire. All of this is in picture Doc
Speaker 1: Ellis's head because right in the middle of a professional
Speaker 1: baseball game.
Speaker 2: He's high on LSD.
Speaker 1: HI.
Speaker 2: I'm Tony Armstrong.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the pool room, where we celebrate the winners, losers,
Speaker 1: and the weird stuff between. Doc's career in the big
Speaker 1: leagues took off pretty quickly. He went from being in
Speaker 1: the minor leagues to a relief pitcher before making it
Speaker 1: as a regular starter for the Pirates. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: he was playing against the best in the world. Under
Speaker 1: immense pressure. This was pretty hard for Doc. He had
Speaker 1: a huge fear of failure. He'd be kept awake at
Speaker 1: night worrying about letting his teammates down. That's not uncommon
Speaker 1: for professional athletes, especially those who get thrown into the spotlight,
Speaker 1: but in Doc's case, he turned to using drugs to cope.
Speaker 2: Pills. Mostly usually he didn't let.
Speaker 1: Drug taking effect his game, but one night the two
Speaker 1: factors collided, resulting in one of the most remarkable games
Speaker 1: in baseball history. It's Thursday, the eleventh of June nineteen seventy.
Speaker 1: The Pirates have just arrived in San Diego. They'll face
Speaker 1: the Padres in a doubleheader tomorrow, but today's an off
Speaker 1: day for the players. Doc Ellis gets permission from the
Speaker 1: coach to head to his hometown of La so he
Speaker 1: can catch up with an old friend. He hires a
Speaker 1: car for the short trip north, but before he leaves,
Speaker 1: he takes a hit of acid, the idea being that
Speaker 1: the drug would kick in as he arrives. When he
Speaker 1: eventually turns up at his friend's door, she notices that
Speaker 1: something's up. Doc confess. He says, and I'm quoting here,
Speaker 1: that he's as high as a Georgia Pine. Doc and
Speaker 1: his friends spend the evening catching up on old times.
Speaker 1: They indulge in several drinks and some wheat. Eventually Doc
Speaker 1: falls asleep. When he wakes up, he takes some more LSD.
Speaker 1: Then his friend enters the room with a concerned look
Speaker 1: on her face. She's holding up a newspaper and reading
Speaker 1: the sports section. It says the Pittsburgh Pirates are playing
Speaker 1: the Padres tonight and Doc Ellis is listed as the
Speaker 1: starting pitcher.
Speaker 2: What happens to yesterday? Says Doc? He thought it was
Speaker 2: still Thursday.
Speaker 1: In fact, it was two pm on Friday and he
Speaker 1: was due at the San Diego Ballpark in four short hours.
Speaker 1: So Doc jumps in a taxi to the airport, catching
Speaker 1: a three thirty flight back to San Diego. He lands
Speaker 1: an hour later and makes his way to the stadium,
Speaker 1: plenty of time to spare. But the problem is that
Speaker 1: Doc is still high on acid and he's about to
Speaker 1: pitch a Major League baseball game. Doc heads into the
Speaker 1: locker room and gets changed into his uniform. Now by
Speaker 1: this point, his teammates know that he's high on something.
Speaker 2: They just don't know that it's LSD. Regardless.
Speaker 1: The catcher puts reflective tape on his fingers to make
Speaker 1: it easier for Doc to see his hand signals. Those
Speaker 1: indicate what kind of pitch he should throw. It's a
Speaker 1: misty night. As the Pirates head onto the field, Doc
Speaker 1: stands on the mound trying to focus, but it's immediately
Speaker 1: clear that this is not going to be a normal
Speaker 1: game of baseball. Doc delivers the first pitch to get
Speaker 1: things underway. In his day's state of mind, he can
Speaker 1: barely see the batters. All he can make out is
Speaker 1: if they're right or left handed. But amazingly, he gets
Speaker 1: through the first two innings without giving up a hit.
Speaker 1: The second baseman calls out, you've got a no no going,
Speaker 1: meaning a no hitter. Yeah right, replies Doc. The other
Speaker 1: players are trying to shut the basement up. It's a
Speaker 1: superstition that you never mentioned a no hitter during a game.
Speaker 1: But as the innings pass by, Doc's no hit performance continues.
Speaker 1: Now Doc isn't exactly having his best game. He's throwing
Speaker 1: pitchures in the dirt, he's hitting batters, he's all over
Speaker 1: the place. But still the Padres can't get any hits.
Speaker 1: Every couple of innings, the second baseman yells out again,
Speaker 1: you've got a no no going.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Doc has seen people who aren't even there.
Speaker 1: Several times he makes a dive for it or jumps
Speaker 1: out of the way, completely misjudging the pace of the ball.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the ball looks huge and he's afraid to catch it,
Speaker 1: but other times it looks tiny, like it's been shrunk.
Speaker 1: And then there's the times when he can't even see
Speaker 1: it all. By the bottom of the ninth inning, the
Speaker 1: Pirates are leading to nothing. San Diego still have no hits.
Speaker 1: The crowd are on their feet, and the Pittsburgh players
Speaker 1: are on edge. It comes down to the final out.
Speaker 1: Doc Ellis takes the mound and winds up one, two,
Speaker 1: three strikes and he's done it. The Pirates win and
Speaker 1: Dock secures a no hitter, a feat that many of
Speaker 1: the best pitchers never achieve, and he's done it while
Speaker 1: under the influence.
Speaker 2: Of psychedelic drugs.
Speaker 1: The truth about that night in nineteen to seventy didn't
Speaker 1: come out until years.
Speaker 2: Later, after Doc had retired.
Speaker 1: He confessed to taking LSD before his no hit a game,
Speaker 1: and admitted that throughout his entire baseball career, not once
Speaker 1: did he pitch a game sober, whether it was alcohol
Speaker 1: or a variety of other drugs he was taking.
Speaker 2: But the Doc Eller story didn't end there.
Speaker 1: He knew he had a problem and he wanted to change.
Speaker 1: Following his career, Doc entered rehab and got clean for good.
Speaker 1: Then he dedicated the rest of his life to helping
Speaker 1: others overcome drug addiction. Some of the people he helped
Speaker 1: even credit to Doc for saving their lives. While his
Speaker 1: LSD story became baseball legend, his sobriety and commitment to
Speaker 1: helping others is his true legacy.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Ballroom.
Speaker 1: I'm taking a break for a few weeks, but I'll
Speaker 1: be back with more incredible sports stories really soon. And
Speaker 1: if you have a great story that you'd love to
Speaker 1: hear on the Pullroom, I want to know about it.
Speaker 1: Go to the Pullroom podcast dot com to send me
Speaker 1: a message. You've been listening to an iHeart production. I'm
Speaker 1: Tony Armstrong and I'll speak to you soon.