Legendary major league pitcher Dock Ellis was born on this day in 1945. He is no longer with us, having passed in 2008, but he was involved in several memorable and controversial incidents during his major league career. One of those took place here in Cincinnati.
On May 1, 1974, Dock thought he would make a point by beaning every hitter in the Reds lineup. He successfully hit the first three Reds batters - Rose, Morgan, and Dreissen - and attempted to hit Tony Perez, but Perez eluded the pitches and walked. Dock then threw the first two pitches at Johnny Bench and with that, his manager, Danny Murtaugh, pulled him from the game. In the sissified baseball world of today he would have been tossed before he hit batter number two. But that's a topic for another day.
Dock is also the pitcher who gave up Reggie Jackson's mammoth homerun in the '71 All Star Game in Detroit - the one that hit the light tower on the roof! A couple of years after this, Dock had the opportunity to face Jackson again, and promptly beaned him in the head. He apparently had a temper.
But his status as "legend" was sealed in 1970 when he pitched a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres while high on LSD. Years later Dock narrated to an interviewer his recollections of that event, and recently this interview was made into an animated short that is worthy of some sort of award. So if you have 5 minutes to waste (and who doesn't?) then check out the video below. The voice is that of Dock Ellis, and both the narrative and accompanying animation are priceless as they say.
RIP Dock. You were one of a kind.
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