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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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This Day In History - June 12, 1970
#7036983 - 06/12/07 07:08 AM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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June 12, 1970 - Dock Ellis, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, pitches a no-hitter - on LSD
When the subject of baseball and drugs comes up, the story of Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis and his celebrated "LSD No-Hitter" stands out above all others. On June 12, 1970, the 25-year-old pitcher was between starts, so he stayed back in his Los Angeles hotel while his team flew on to San Diego to play the Padres. Ellis invited his girlfriend over, and they dropped hits of acid around noon.
As he tells it in his autobiography, In the Country of Baseball:
"I had taken LSD ... I thought it was an off day. That's how come I had it in me. I took the LSD at 12 noon. At one, my girlfriend looked in the paper and said 'Dock, you're pitching today'."
The original starting pitcher for the Pirates was a last-minute scratch due to an injury. Dock's girlfriend drove him to the airport for a 3 p.m. flight. With great difficulty, he managed to get to the ballpark on time. He was on the mound throwing the first pitch at 6 p.m. It was the first game of a two-night doubleheader against the Padres.
"I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched, I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the catcher's glove."
"The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes; sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't."
He saw comet-tails on every pitch. He was wild that evening, walking eight batters, but pitched that rarity -- a no-hitter. For advocates of the mind-expanding properties of psychedelic drugs, this was the stuff of legend.
Ellis waited until 1984 to reveal that he was on acid the night he achieved baseball immortality. Back in 1970, it would have been damaging to his career to make that admission publicly. By 1984 he was out of baseball, working as a drug rehabilitation counselor, and he decided to set the record straight.
LSD wasn't his only drug. Ellis sometimes swallowed 10-15 amphetamines before a game. "I was going out there on the average of 75 milligrams," he says. "Some guys I pitched against, we would try to guess which one of us was higher."
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UnderNose
all out of bubble gum



Registered: 03/04/06
Posts: 1,613
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Re: This Day In History - June 12,1970 [Re: veggie]
#7037041 - 06/12/07 07:43 AM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Nice one veggie, I remember reading about that a while ago, great story.
I would love to see footage of that game, probably hard to track down.
Quote:
From Wiki
No-hitting the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970 despite being, as he would claim in 1984, under the influence of LSD throughout the course of the game. Ellis has claimed that the ball actually talked to him during the hallucination, advising him which pitches to throw.
-------------------- LAGM 2.022  
Edited by UnderNose (06/12/07 07:53 AM)
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SuperD
Cacti junky



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Re: This Day In History - June 12,1970 [Re: UnderNose]
#7037529 - 06/12/07 11:15 AM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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<<"Some guys I pitched against, we would try to guess which one of us was higher.">>
--------------------
   D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
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biggysmall
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Re: This Day In History - June 12,1970 [Re: SuperD]
#7037583 - 06/12/07 11:24 AM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
<<"Some guys I pitched against, we would try to guess which one of us was higher.">>

i know that made me laugh pretty good
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dedjam
Electro Penguin




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Re: This Day In History - June 12,1970 [Re: biggysmall]
#7037849 - 06/12/07 12:46 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
biggysmall said:
Quote:
<<"Some guys I pitched against, we would try to guess which one of us was higher.">>

i know that made me laugh pretty good
I thought it was hilarious too. I sent this to my wife and under that quote I put "now I understand why people like baseball"...as I was never much a baseball fan.
She replied that didnt matter anyways...lest we forget that the government now controls the substance use/abuse policies of MLB for some unknown reason.
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Cowgold
Bullshit


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Re: This Day In History - June 12, 1970 [Re: veggie]
#7038243 - 06/12/07 02:28 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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I've been looking for a Dock Ellis throwback jersey for a while and can't find one at all. 
On the roster his name appears as... Ellis D.
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OneMoreRobot3021



Registered: 06/06/03
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Re: This Day In History - June 12, 1970 [Re: Cowgold]
#7038272 - 06/12/07 02:38 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Heh, I never even thought of that.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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UnderNose
all out of bubble gum



Registered: 03/04/06
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Ellis D. I like that coincidence.
Anyone think that game was recorded on film or what.
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UnderNose
all out of bubble gum



Registered: 03/04/06
Posts: 1,613
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Damn double post shit sorry everyone.
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Cloud9
I don't feel, and it feels great




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Re: This Day In History - June 12, 1970 [Re: UnderNose]
#7038671 - 06/12/07 04:33 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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i wonder if anyone else has tried it since? even if he pitched shitty, i bet it would have been a lot of fun.
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FurrowedBrow
Free yourself from yourself



Registered: 10/26/06
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Re: This Day In History - June 12, 1970 [Re: UnderNose]
#7038714 - 06/12/07 04:45 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Where did this article come from?
-------------------- Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies - Become a member!
I prefer dangerous freedom to peaceful slavery. ~ Thomas Jefferson
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Sebastian23
Stranger



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Re: This Day In History - June 12, 1970 [Re: FurrowedBrow]
#7038974 - 06/12/07 06:09 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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The question is, do you have to be on LSD to enjoy baseball?
-------------------- "If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on." -Terence McKenna Marijuana Myths Debunked
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Cowgold
Bullshit


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Re: This Day In History - June 12, 1970 [Re: Sebastian23]
#7039202 - 06/12/07 07:17 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Yes and No.
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Cloud9
I don't feel, and it feels great




Registered: 07/03/03
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Re: This Day In History - June 12, 1970 [Re: Sebastian23]
#7039577 - 06/12/07 09:09 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Sebastian23 said: The question is, do you have to be on LSD to enjoy baseball?
no, but you'd have to be on something..
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