With major athletes such as Aaron Rodgers or Mike Tyson opening up about their use of psychedelic drugs in order to improve their lives, one former MLB star comes to mind. His name is Dock Ellis and he was a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates when his life completely changed. On June 12, 1970, he wasn’t expected to pitch on a Friday against the San Diego Padres.
At least he didn’t think he was starting but the coach told him that he would only a few hours before the game. Ellis thought he was playing on the second of two games at San Diego Stadium, which is why he thought taking some LSD on the same Friday at noon was a good idea. The game started at 6:00 p.m. on the same day and Ellis was already tripping balls by then. What happened during that game is still the stuff of legend to this day and became part of pop culture in America.
Dock Ellis’ account of the no-hitter on LSD.
Ellis said the following to the press after pitching that legendary no-hitter under the effects of LSD: “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, but I didn’t hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters, and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn’t.
“Sometimes, I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn’t hit hard and never reached me.”
The event took such force in the culture that many documentaries were made after it happened, Dock Ellis became a celebrity for what happened. Although Aaron Rodgers‘ improvement was more spiritual than actually performance-wise, both men now share a bond as athletes who were helped by psychedelic drugs.
