The Dock-tor is Out

Dock Ellis, the only major leaguer to have co-authored his autobiography with a future U.S. Poet Laureate, has died of liver disease at the age of 63. Renowned for his colorfulness, such as showing up at ballparks with his hair in curlers, Ellis’ most famous day on the mound came on June 12, 1970, when the Pirates’ ace no-hit the San Diego Padres in a game he later claimed to have pitched while high on LSD because he thought the Pirates had an off day. On another occasion, when he didn’t think the Pirates were playing tough enough, he vowed to hit every player on the Reds. He hit the first three batters, narrowly missed the 4th with 4 pitches, forcing in a run, then just missed the head of the next batter and got lifted. His best season was 1971, when he won 19 games for the World Champions and started the All-Star Game, where he gave up Reggie Jackson’s HR off the light tower in Tiger Stadium. That auto-biography, co-authored with Donald Hall, was Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, published in 1976.