"You know Henry James said to be one of those on whom nothing is lost." "Dock was one on whom nothing was lost." "(Crowd cheering and music)" "(Crowd cheering and music)" "Commentator:" "Well, here we are in the 7th inning." "Dock Ellis working on a no-hitter." "Dock Ellis has put nine men on the bases." "Eight walks and one hit batsman, but three outs separate him and a no-hitter." "Somewhere along the line, I'm sure this is all being recorded, so that we can have it for dock if he throws the epic." "Looking out at the scoreboard, he can see zero, zero, zero where it says San Diego." "Dock Ellis:" "During the time when i was pitching the no-hitter in San Diego, I really didn't know..." "I didn't see the hitters." "All I could tell was if they was on the right side or the left side." "As far as seeing the target, the catcher put tape on his fingers so I could see the signals." "But as far as seeing the batters themselves, i didn't really see who they were." "I didn't really see who they were." "( Star spangled banner playing)" "The opposing team and my teammates, they knew I was high, but they didn't know what I was high on." "They didn't really see it, but I had the acid in me, and I didn't know what I looked like with that acid." "I had lost all concept of time." "[Distorted announcer commentary]" "[Distorted announcer commentary]" "It was easier to pitch with the LSD because I was so used to medicating myself." "That's the way I was dealing with the fear of failure." "You know, if dock's pitching, you know he's high." "How high is he?" "( Star spangled banner playing)" "I pitched every game in the major leagues i pitched every game in the major leagues under the influence of drugs." "( Star spangled banner playing)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "DockEllispitcheda no-hitter on LSD." "Those who have taken LSD, tell the others how hard that might be." "Youheardstoriesabouthim that was wild stories, but they really didn't get the intellect of dock." "Oh,that'sthedudeused  to pitch for the pirates, the acid guy." "Nah, it's cool." "You know." "I'm remembered." "You know, everybody wants to be remembered." "Basically,onehell of a pitcher." "Commentator:" "The pirates, in a world series for the first time in 11 years, start dock Ellis." "For the first time in 11 years, start dock Ellis." "Andtherewasno cookie cutter persona to dock." "Youneverknewwhether he was serious, whether he was kidding, but he was always a guy that had something to say." "Hewasprobablyone ofthe most misunderstood people in the game." "Hedonealot of damn good things while he was doing the bad things, but no one... oh, no, no." "They don't pick that out." "They just pick the bad." "Heunderstoodplaying, but he understood," "I think, that he had a better calling." "I think, that he had a better calling." "I'mnotoneofthoseguys that won 300 games and a cy young award, but I was a guy that was personable," "I was controversial." "My entire career I was an angry black man." "I don't know." "I was there playing a dream of a lot of people, but I was angry." "Dock,a militant, black athlete." "He was a athlete, and he was black." "Hetalkedaboutrace but in a way that was really accessible and sort of logical." "He seemed to bend the rules or chafe against authority he seemed to bend the rules or chafe against authority a little bit." "Therehadn'tbeenahell of a lot of progress made in terms of the comfort level of players of color since Jackie Robinson." "Dock was one of the most impactful guys in regard to those issues that has ever come down the pike." "Alotpeopledid  not understand him, but if some people say that he didn't know what he was doing, that's wrong." "He knew what he was doing." "He always knew what he was doing." "Dock was never the one to appease the society." "Dock was never the one to appease the society." "Dock's gonna tell it the way it is, and you deal with it." "(Music)" "(Music)" "DockEllis." "Are you familiar with him?" "Well, the baseball commissioner, he's been ordered by the commissioner not to wear hair curlers during team practice." "Commissioner not to wear hair curlers during team practice." "My hand on that." "The man had hair curlers and was out." "He doesn't like that." "He's got... he's a great pitcher." "He's got three great pitches." "A fastball, a slider, and a spitcurl." "Have you seen that?" "(Laughter)" "Nowyougottosetthestory up with the fact that we're playing all day games, so everybody's hung over." "You know, we're out trying to stay away from the manager, so we're all out there in the bullpen benches and here comes dock out of the dugout with a gaggle of writers and photographers." "With a gaggle of writers and photographers." "Dock, any other town." "We're hurting." "We don't want to run, but we're gonna run just to stay out of this nonsense, just to get away from this maniac who's decided to put curlers in his hair at wrigley field when everybody has a hangover." "Not fair, dock." "Not good." "Not good on that day." "(Music)" "Dock:" "Putting curlers in my hair." "Ah... you know, that was hip and slick." "I was throwing spitballs." "I was throwing spitballs." "I had a perm, so all I had to do was go to the back of my neck, and I would have had a handful of water." "Sweat." "I remember one time, sweat coming off the ball, and the umpire at third base called time and said," ""he's throwing a spitball."" "The home plate umpire told the third base umpire to get back to third base." ""You don't know what you're talking about." "He throws a natural sinker."" "He came out one day with curlers in his hair, and it, you know, everybody was shocked." "And it, you know, everybody was shocked." "I was sitting in the dugout with Danny murtaugh, the manager, and he says to me, "hey, is this your buddy there?"" "And I looked at him and thought, "oh, my God." "Is this dock?"" "And I looked again and it was dock there, and there were red and blue and yellow curlers on his head." "Danny murtaugh came to me, and he said, "Bob," he said," ""go out there in the bullpen and tell dock to take the curlers out of his hair."" "So I walked out, and dock knew why I was coming out there." "He said, "alright." "What do you need?"" "I said, "well..."" "I said, "well..."" ""'Bout my hair, isn't it?"" "And I said, "yeah."" "It was no big thing to me." "You know, I saw curlers all the time." "And maybe it was a cultural thing." "You know, in the black community, you saw, you know, sometimes men with curlers in their hair." "So it wasn't nothing new to me." "(Music)" "He always had a purpose of doing something." "He always had a purpose of doing something." "A lot of people thought dock was crazy." "Dock wasn't crazy." "Dock knew a lot more than other people, and he proved points by making them on the baseball field." "Hetookstands." "He felt that the brothers should be able to wear their hair any way they damn well please." "Dock:" "In wearing the curlers on the field, i was defying the club because they said I couldn't wear the curlers because it wasn't part of the uniform code." "That's not acceptable." "That's not the image that major league baseball that's not the image that major league baseball wants to portray." "Dock:" "I was anti-management because I didn't believe in anyone trying to tell me how to dress, who to date." "I remember one time I had my hair braided and they wanted to know what is that about." "Don't ask me about my hair being braided." "Get out of my face." "When he decided to wear curlers, they suspended him for 10 days, but we resisted the suspension, and it went away." "Dock:" "You know, it's not that you got to watch how I dress." "Dock:" "You know, it's not that you got to watch how I dress." "You got to watch how I play." "Baseball in that decade really collided with pop culture in a way that it never had previously." "We saw players expressing themselves in ways that, you know, the media and baseball fans weren't really used to seeing." "He had a certain style on the field and off the field." "Dock:" "Superfly." "(Groovy music)" "(Groovy music)" "Dock was a... he was a dresser, man." "I mean, the big Cadillac." "He was flashy." "(Groovy music)" "We were a team that was dressed to kill." "We loved clothes." "And dock would wear the loud colors." "Dock:" "I wasn't like Dennis rodman." "I didn't wear any dresses or nothing, but I wore the clogs, the bell-bottoms, the bags, the t-shirts." "The bell-bottoms, the bags, the t-shirts." "Dock's the first ballplayer that I ever remember who wore a earring." "Steve blass:" "Dock was up-to-date." "He was up-to-date." "He was a chapter ahead." "Whatever was going on in culture or our world, he was at least a chapter ahead." "Hecalledhimselfthe  'muhammad Ali of baseball'." "I asked him..." "I said, "why you act so crazy?"" "I asked him..." "I said, "why you act so crazy?"" "He says, "'cause that'll make me money."" "He learned it from..." "He said he..." "Because him and muhammad Ali became friends." "And he said he'd always talk." "And the more he talked and he bragged about himself, the more people came to see him, and the more money he made." "Right, I would agree." "He was always called 'peanut.' okay?" "Because of his head." "But they changed it because he was.." "He nutted up on you in a minute." "And they just started calling him 'the nut.' because, in other words, he was crazy." "Because, in other words, he was crazy." "He was a controlled crazy." "He knew how to be crazy." "Marsha:" "Right, yeah." "Paula:" "He knew when to be crazy." "Yeah." "Selective crazy." "And when not to be crazy." "He would have a catchphrase like 'the nut." "Nuttier than a walnut.' 'the crazy nut.' 'nutty nut.' he intentionally would stir your shit up, and get, get in your head to where you'd just get so pissed off at him, you'd just want to knock the hell out of him." "Ray Jones:" "No, he was good at that." "Floyd Hoffman:" "He was good." "Healwaysstartedshit." "Okay?" "Okay?" "If you went with dock somewhere, you was gonna get put out or your was gonna be asked to leave." "And also, you know, he uh..." "He always wanted to be a gangster." "If wouldn't have played baseball, he'd a been a gangster." "I really do believe." "Peter golenbock:" "When you were very young..." "Five, six, seven, eight years old..." "Do you have any strong memories of your playing baseball?" "Do you have any strong memories of your playing baseball?" "Dock:" "I remember playing center field and throwing the ball over the backstop, so they put me on the mound." "As we grew older and he started playing baseball, and I wouldn't play baseball with him after a while because he would throw the ball so hard." "It would be so hard you could hear this ball cutting the air." "And I'm thinking that he's trying to hurt me because he's throwing the ball so hard." "So I just quit playing with him." "So I just quit playing with him." "I said, "I'm not get hurt out here like this."" "You know." "But we didn't know anything about him having an arm that he could pitch like this, but it showed that he just had a natural talent to throw that ball." "What was the first realization that you said to yourself," ""hey, I got a shot here to play professional ball?"" "I knew it from the time I could throw a ball to my father or my cousin." "I knew then." "I always knew, and I always had the dream, and I always ask young kids who are playing, "have you had the dream?"" "And they know what I'm talking about." "The dream is you see the banners." "You don't know where you are, but you're in the big leagues." "You don't know where you are, but you're in the big leagues." "Dock Ellis was one of those guys that, you know, at an early age was a pitcher and not a thrower." "He had that drop." "I mean, he'd throw the ball and it wasn't a curveball that curves like this and like that." "It would go, and it would drop straight down." "Dock had one of them dippers." "The curveball." "It'd just come up there and automatically, it dropped to the damn dirt." "It dropped to the damn dirt." "Okay, they call it a slider today." "What he had." "But his was a lot further than a slider." "Yeah, yeah." "But his would just drop off the table." "Boy 1:" "What is this, man?" "This is warm." "What did you guys keep it?" "In the sun?" "Boy 2:" "So me and Mike was standing in front of the liquor store, right?" "And this big, old, fat dude comes along, and I go," ""hey, mister." "Will you please go in there and buy my mother some beer?"" "Dock, when he got into trouble, you know, dock, when he got into trouble, you know, he always brought me into it." "And so big dock would come over and talk to my dad and then so now we're both in trouble." "Big dock, he wasn't mean." "He was strict." "Some of the kids would come by and they'd see big dock outside." "Well, they'd rather go the other way." "He worked hard, and my father only had a third grade education." "He moved to California." "He got a job working at the post office." "And he was a longshoreman." "He worked... did the longshoreman at night, worked at the post office." "Then he started going to school to learn then he started going to school to learn the shoe repair business." "Floyd Hoffman:" "Big dock was not a real outgoing person, and he was all about going to the shop, working all day, coming home and eating, making sure the kids was done, and that was his routine every day." "Dock, he was always at the shop with dad, and he had the kids that he played with in Compton, where the shop was, which I didn't know." "But he knew all of them, all the little so-called gang members but he knew all of them, all the little so-called gang members and all of that." "He'd say, "son, they alright."" "I said, "okay." "You gonna get in some trouble there."" "Sure enough, he got us in trouble." "He liked the lifestyle." "But, you know, his daddy was his... you know, his backbone." "See, big dock took care of everybody, you know." "He took care of that family, you know." "He helped kept them together." "You know, junior had to be home at ten o'clock." "You know, junior had to be home at ten o'clock." "Okay?" "And at ten o'clock, junior was home." "My Uncle would be in the audience, and when dock would strike somebody out, he'd jump up, and he'd just start hollering, and he jumps up." "Then he has to take..." "He has asthma, so he has to take these inhalers." "And as dock would do something good on the field, he'd take and start inhaling himself." "(Breathes heavily) Because, you know, he's wheezing." "And dock would tell me, "see, he shouldn't even be here and dock would tell me, "see, he shouldn't even be here at this baseball game."" "Marsha Hoffman:" "That sounded just like him!" ""He's gonna die sitting out here at this baseball game cheering for me."" "Everybody in our neighborhood..." "Most of all the best players, you always wanted to play on Chet brewer's team." "Chet was an ex-negro league player, but he had an affiliation with Pittsburgh." "And so all of us tried to play on his team because he had the best players, and a lot of scouts would come watch best players, and a lot of scouts would come watch his team play." "If you talk to people about Chet brewer, he's in the same breath as satchel Paige." "Chet could throw sinkers." "He could throw curveballs." "He could throw fastballs." "He could spot the ball." "And some of the pitches that he had, dock picked up." "That's where dock got his stuff from." "At that time, dock was a youngster, but he was always a little bit above and more knowledgeable than most of the other guys around the neighborhood." "He asked a lot of questions." "He asked a lot of questions." ""Well, why you do this?"" ""Well, how you make that ball do this?"" "When he was on the ball field, he was in command." "He was our number one starter." "Dock:" "I used to always tell my first wife," ""I'm gonna be in the big leagues." "I ain't gonna be home."" "(Music)" "Dock didn't really get hooked up with girls until he met Paula." "I was George Washington's first black homecoming queen." "Dock was my escort, because we were going together at that time." "She was a swimmer." "She was an athlete." "She was in drum and bugle." "She was in every club that there was on campus." "The thing about Paula that was so impressive is that their entire family were always these people who stood up for the right thing and who had a say-so, who had a voice of activism." "My father stressed and my parents stressed my father stressed and my parents stressed good moral behavior, good conduct." "Profanity was never used or allowed in our house." "My parents didn't drink or smoke." "Dock would come to pick Paula up at school, and we would be in awe that this guy with this loud car that would rev would come and pick up our star." "And she was our star." "She was a person that we all looked up to and held great promise of what was her future going to be." "I don't know what it was that attracted me to him at first." "I don't really know." "I don't really know." "But he could be funny." "He could be funny." "Everyone in the neighborhood spoke very well of him." "And I guess to a certain extent, he had a certain bad boy image that for my family and my upbringing was unique, was novel." "So I guess when you put it all together, it turned into love." "Ray Jones:" "Now, you're married." "Okay?" "Okay?" "I say, "dock, you got to do something better than this."" "Because he was up there with the... that wrong influence." "He said, "son, I'm going to do something."" "I said, "well, you got to just do it for yourself."" "And then when his daddy died, you really got to do something now." "Now what you gonna do now?" "And then that's when he decided that he would go ahead and concentrate on one thing and concentrate on that baseball." "And concentrate on one thing and concentrate on that baseball." "And that's what he put..." "He went full steam ahead." "Peter golenbock:" "Where'd they send you that first year?" "Dock:" "Batavia, New York." "Peter:" "What was that like?" "Dock Ellis:" "It wasn't that bad." "I got into drinking then, though." "Peter:" "Oh, so where did they send you the next year?" "Dock:" "Kinston, north Carolina." "Peter:" "M-hmm." "Dock:" "You know the first night in town I cussed the police out." "They said, "boy, where you from?"" "I said, "California."" "And they said, "oh, lord." "You one of them ball players?"" "You one of them ball players?"" "I said, "you're damn right."" "A lot of people didn't realize things that we had to go through in the minor leagues." "You know, when I first came into baseball in '66," "I went to Salem, Virginia, and we were separated, the black players from the white players." "I mean, we couldn't stay in the same hotel." "My first, first full year in professional baseball," "I spent in Raleigh, north Carolina, the capital of the ku klux klan." "And we stayed at a hotel, eight of us altogether." "Blacks and Latin." "And somebody had went by my room and put three 'k's' on my door." "And somebody had went by my room and put three 'k's' on my door." "Now, I'm scared to death to even go in this room and for about four or five nights, I never even slept in that room." "I went to the other room with the other players." "There was a lot of things that when you look at a baseball game you didn't see." "And it was maybe more blatant in the carolinas and Columbus." "And my first reaction and dock's first reaction was now you want to fight somebody." "And it's just, you know, it's not gonna work here." "We talking '60's and say this and say that." "We talking '60's and say this and say that." "You can't say all that, 'cause you have a career." "Because you... the next thing they gonna do is blackball you." "I could always talk to dock." "There's probably two players I know of, maybe three, that could have talked to dock and calmed him down, and that would have been clemente, stargell, and myself." "And that was because of the respect that he had for us." "Paula Johnson:" "His first roommate was Roberto clemente, and Roberto clemente was way ahead of his time." "And Roberto clemente was way ahead of his time." "Just a different approach." "But he was just as vocal, just as innovative as dock." "Not as flamboyant." "Not as outrageous." "Roberto clemente:" "I am puerto rican." "I am black." "So anything that I do first, it will be reflected on me because I am black." "And second, it will be reflected on me because I am puerto rican." "Dock:" "What happened was uh..." "Johnny pesky was the manager at Columbus, and he had asked me to be his dog for 30 days, and I would get to the big leagues." "30 days, and I would get to the big leagues." "So I said, "what do you mean?"" "He said, "be ready to pitch every fucking day."" "And so I did, and I was in the big leagues." "(Music)" "(Music)" "When you get to the major leagues, it's easier coming up the ladder, but it's hell to stay there." "(Music and cheers)" "(Music and cheers)" "(Music and cheers)" "Jackie robertson told me, and satchel Paige said the same thing, said "listen, this is what's going" ""to happen to you." ""They're going to call you names that you've" ""never been called before." ""You're going to have to do things that you don't think" ""you're going to have to do things that you don't think" ""is the right thing to do, but there's one thing" ""that you've got to always remember." ""You can't feel sorry for yourself." ""When you walk across those white lines and they say, 'play baseball!" "'"" "they said, "you better win."" "Boy 3:" "Winning is where it's at, man." "Winning is everything." "You know." "The major leagues." "The world series." "That's where I'm headed." "To the big time." "Dock:" "You get to the major leagues, and you say," ""I got to stay here." ""What do I need?" "Oh, yeah, I need some of this shit right here."" "It was dexamyl, better known in baseball as 'greenies.'" "i didn't know that the stimulants would enhance your performance." "It gives the impression that you are throwing hard sometimes, pinpoint control, pinpoint control, breaking off curveballs that you've never seen before." "You're more in tune to what you're doing, and you're zeroed in." "You're like what they call 'in the zone' now, and sometimes you feel before the game, if you're warming up, say, "ah, man, I don't have shit on the ball." "I don't know what's going to happen," and go out there and throw a hell of a game." "I would say over 90% of major leagues was using dexamyl i would say over 90% of major leagues was using dexamyl when I was playing." "Yeah, they was all high." "Naw, it was about 95%." "Maybe 96%." "I mean, I took greenies." "Everybody did." "All it was was like drinking 15 cups of coffee and going..." "Maybe 20 cups of coffee..." "And going out there and pitching a ballgame." "If you didn't take it, you were gonna get released and sent home." "I wasn't going back to my 'hood." "So I took it." "So I took it." "Yeah." "I mean, everybody did." "I used to hear that trainers would distribute them in the '60's, but then at some point they were outlawed and so it went underground, but players still used it." "I didn't get into that, but I knew other guys did." "But it was tough." "It's demanding." "You're playing 162 games in that 180 day time period, and it's nine innings." "It's three hours of concentration at extremely it's three hours of concentration at extremely high pitch." "All it takes is just a little bit of a lack of concentration in a major league game to make the big difference." "Here's my take on it." "I don't believe that babe Ruth and Lou gehrig drank all night long, rode on those trains all night long, got up, and played a 1:00 game on Sunday or every day in the sun without some help." "And I believe everybody's had help throughout this game." "Nobody knows who's going to get hooked." "Nobody knows who's going to get hooked." "Sometimes a player could be using drugs or alcohol for a long time before his game starts slipping." "Boy 4:" "I heard one of the guys on the high school varsity got caught drinking." "Or maybe it was with uppers, or something like that." "But my brother said all's the coach did was tell him not to do it no more." "Do you think they'd kick him off if he wasn't so hot?" "When I took the job in 1967, the first meeting I had with the players, I said," ""I don't want them in my trainer's room." ""I don't want anybody to use them." ""I don't want anybody to use them." "If you use them, don't do it in front of me."" "I was thoroughly against the amphetamines, especially dexamyl." "Dock:" "You know, it was a thing where I started off with one greenie and then i did well." "I'd take one again." "I didn't do well, I took two." "I used to take it, take them, shake them, throw them." "If they fall down, i wouldn't take them." "If they stood up, I did." "Then if it wasn't enough standing, I'd take the ones that was laying down." "If they took them, I never saw it." "If they took them, I never saw it." "I was thoroughly against that because I used to read the literature, and I used to try to get the players to read the literature on how later on in life, you'll pay for that with heart problems and lung problems." "Dock:" "I would try to out-milligram any opponent." "Before a game, I would take a maximum of 15, 17 pills." "Not to say that I didn't have enough stuff to pitch in the major leagues." "It's just that I was trying to get the little edge." "Willie mays can't hit that." "Hank can't hit that." "They all tell you that." "We can't hit that." "I think that a lot of people thought that dock went out there on his talent alone." "He thought about his craft, he thought about what he had to do as a pitcher, and the mental part of the game was big time with him." "Here's something I wrote about him in a poem called" ""baseball."" "Dock said that pitcher and poet were up to the same tricks." "Dock said that pitcher and poet were up to the same tricks." "All I'm trying to do, he said, is fool 'em." "When you expect Robin's egg blue, I suppose you've got rubberized cement instead." "Always remember, curt, that Sandy koufax spoke of pitching baseball as the 'art of intimidation.' dock:" "My thing was basically intimidation." "It's the battle between the pitcher and the hitter." "It's the battle between the pitcher and the hitter." "Good hitters are going to hit you, there's no doubt about it." "But you've got to pop them sometimes." "Some of that plate is yours." "Some is theirs." "Not too much of it is theirs because they've got the bat." "You know, I didn't have overpowering stuff." "My ball was heavy." "It moved." "But just to look at me chewing the gum, I know put fear in some of them's hearts because they didn't know what this fool might do out there." "And you know, the rumors about me and what I was doing." "They'd say, "well, how's he feeling today?" "They'd say, "well, how's he feeling today?" ""He looks like he's out to lunch." ""Why is he stepping off the mound?" ""What is he doing out there?" ""What is he looking for?" "What's wrong with him?"" "So a lot of that played a very important part in helping me deal with the opponents, you know." "Commentator:" "Strike three!" "From a breaking pitch." "It was a treat to be on a team that had a dock Ellis on it." "It was a treat to be on a team that had a dock Ellis on it." "There was a lot of substance to dock that people..." "A lot of people weren't aware of, and he was a hoot." "Al Oliver:" "I can honestly say that we could not have asked for a better teammate because every clubhouse has to be loose, and most of our games were won and lost in the clubhouse." "When you're loose in the clubhouse, then the game is a piece of cake." "Anybody who ever left the pirates and went to another team, you were fairly bored." "Well, dock was just crazy, and he would do anything." "Well, dock was just crazy, and he would do anything." "You never knew what he was going to do." "You never knew what he was going to say." "Every situation was fraught for humor or high jinks when dock was around." "He took almost nothing seriously, somewhat including his own career." "I give Pittsburgh pirates credit for drafting people that was fucking crazy." "Bruce kison:" "I mean, everybody was creative." "Clemente had his own, you know, stargell," "Dave Parker came through, and the Manny sanguilléns." "I mean, there was always something going on in that clubhouse." "In that clubhouse." "Everybody was a victim." "Everybody was a target." "From Roberto to Willie, it didn't matter." "Larry demery:" "We were just a close-knit ballclub." "Off days, if we were in another city, we'd get together." "Not just the black ball players that was on the team but the white ball players, and we'd go to... more than likely, we'd go to Willie stargell's suite, and we'd just hang out" "and have food, drink, and you know, just you know, we were just that close knit." "The one thing that I never will forget about dock is when muhammad Ali walked into the clubhouse." "Dave cash:" "And that's the first time I've seen dock just kind of shut up." "Al Oliver:" "And dock was quick on his feet and quick with his hands, and him and Ali were sparring." "Dock could act like him, you know, throw the punches." "He had the Ali shuffle, and he had the flurry and the jabs." "Dave cash:" "He jumps up in front of Ali and starts jabbing, and I thought, "oh, man!" "What are you.." "Are you crazy?"" "And dock said, "no, I can take him." "I can take him."" "It was one of the greatest sights I've ever seen, it was one of the greatest sights I've ever seen, and the players were in awe." "They didn't realize how dock could move his feet so fast like Ali." "They were circling and dock's doing the Ali shuffle around and throwing punches, and Ali gave him just a quick little jab in the middle of dock's chest, and it folded his chest." "And it was... he didn't even throw a punch." "It was just..." "A tap?" "Just a tap." "Gene clines:" "He threw maybe three or four punches that scared the bejesus out of dock." "Scared the bejesus out of dock." "And it scared everybody, and dock just kind of like ran away and said, "oh, my God!"" "I said, "come on, big mouth." "Here he is."" "Commentator:" "Sellout crowd tonight." "Been sold out for months here." "54,000 in tiger stadium." "Floyd Hoffman:" "At all-star break, I think he was 13-3, 13-4." "Him and vida blue." "Him and vida blue." "And I don't know who was interviewing him, but he made the statement that there 'ain't no way in hell they're gonna start two black pitchers in an all-star game.' and after that statement was made," "of course the newspapers blew it up." "Dan Epstein:" "I feel like dock was very media savvy." "You know, he wanted to start that game." "He knew vida blue was going to be going for the American league, and he was pretty sure that sparky Anderson the American league, and he was pretty sure that sparky Anderson was going to go with tom seaver or Steve Carlton." "So he said to, you know, whatever reporters were nearby," ""there's no way they're going to put a brother against a brother in the all-star game."" "(Music)" "See, dock was a psychologist, too." "Dock would set people up, and the media would fall for it." "He realized the racial tensions that were going on in the country, and baseball gave him a platform to speak his mind." "Commentator:" "Well, all the talk's been about vida blue, but here's a fellow, dock Ellis, who has quite a record himself." "He leads his league in victories with 14." "He has the lowest earned run average, and he has a 12-game winning streak." "(Music)" "Dan Epstein:" "That's an incredibly savvy move and an incredibly ballsy move for a player in 1971, and an incredibly ballsy move for a player in 1971, especially a black player, to just kind of come out and use that sort of reverse psychology to get what he wants." "Dock:" "It's a privilege being here." "It's a privilege also being chosen as a starting pitcher." "Vida blue:" "I don't know what it did for baseball, but I know what it did for the afro-American community." "You know, it gave my people a chance to stand up and be proud about an accomplishment of having two African American players starting in the all-star game." "Commentator:" "He was booed today when his name was announced as the starting pitcher..." "Been making the newspapers and radio." "You always prayed and hoped that no one would challenge dock racially because dock would stand up and put you in your place." "Dock:" "You know, the threats and letters, they never really bothered me." "They wanted to go down, we could go down." "They threatened me." "Threatened to shoot me." "If you stick your head over the dugout, if you stick your head over the dugout, we're going to shoot you, and I had my head over the dugout the whole game." "Really, it was pretty rough." "I was warned by Jackie Robinson about things that was going to be afforded me that I was not going to get." "That I would look over my shoulder and my brothers wouldn't be there because of the way I... the things I stood for." "I need my glasses." "You might ..." "Interviewer:" "Oh, the Jackie Robinson letter?" "Dock:" "Here it is." "Dock:" "Here it is." "Interviewer:" "Actually, could you read that?" "Dock:" "I read your comments in our paper the last few days and wanted you to know how much I appreciate your courage and honesty." "In my opinion, progress for today's players will only come from this kind of dedication." "I am sure also you know some of the possible consequences." "The news media, while knowing full well you are right and honest, will use every means to get back at you." "There will be times when you will ask yourself, there will be times when you will ask yourself," ""is it worth it all?"" "I can only say, "dock, it is."" "And even though you will want to yield, in the long run, your own feeling about yourself will be most important." "Try not to be left alone." "(Choked up) Try to get more players to understand your views, and you will find great support." "(Sobbing) You have made a real contribution." "I again appreciate what you are doing - continued success." "I again appreciate what you are doing - continued success." "Jackie Robinson" "(sobbing) Aw, man." "I never read that like that." "Aw, shit." "There was a lot of older black players at that time that never said anything." "I mean, great players." "They never said anything because they didn't want the heat on them." "What dock did, he would come out and he would say it." "What dock did, he would come out and he would say it." "And it was the truth." "In our generation, yeah, we put up with a whole lot." "When dock came in, it was a little bit different story." "In our day, we didn't push it, but it needed to be pushed at that time because maybe things wasn't moving as fast as it should have been moving." "Male #1:" "We gonna walk on this racist power structure, male #1:" "We gonna walk on this racist power structure, and we gonna say to the whole damn government," ""stick 'em up, motherfuckers!" ""This is holdup!" "We come for what's ours!"" "Richard Nixon:" "Are these primarily blacks that you're dealing with?" "Male #2:" "Oh, yes, the whole thing was led by the blacks." "(Blast goes off)" "Male #3:" "We are going to control our communities by any means necessary." "Male #4:" "A black united front is what we're about!" "Richard Nixon:" "We just will not tolerate this kind of anarchy." "(Protestors singing) ♪ the revolution has come.♪" "♪ off the pigs. ♪" "♪ Time to pick up the guns. ♪" "♪ Time to pick up the guns. ♪" "♪ Off the pigs. ♪" "♪ The revolution has come.... ♪" "Dave cash:" "When we first went out on the field," "I don't think anybody realized it." "At that time, I didn't really figure out what was going on until the national anthem." "You know, when the game starts like that, you're concentrating..." "At least, I was..." "On who the first hitter is, what is he going to do." "One of the clubhouse batboy kids made a statement one of the clubhouse batboy kids made a statement and said, "the homestead grays are playing tonight."" "And I'm saying, you know, "what are you talking about, the homestead grays, you know?"" "And it was, you know, negro league team." "Al Oliver:" "We usually had five starting anyway, and if dock pitched, it was six." "You know, the pirate organization was loaded with black and Latin players." "I'm standing out in center field, and I'm thinking about what this kid had said." "And I looked to my left, and I looked at stargell, and I looked to my right at clemente." "There's Jackie, there's renny, there's Al, there's clemente, there's Jackie, there's renny, there's Al, there's clemente, there's clines, stargell, sanguillén, and dock's on the mound." "I looked around, and I said," ""Al, man, there's nine brothers out there."" "And he looked at me, and he was astonished, too." "He didn't even realize what was going on." "And then he said, "yeah."" "It was a night that I didn't realize that we had nine minorities starting until about the third or fourth inning." "I turned to Dave cash, and I said, "Dave, you know what?" "We got all brothers out there, man."" "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "And I looked, I said, "oh, my God!"" "Manny sanguillén:" "When I looked, I said, "oh, man." "We were playing nine players."" "And people don't want to recognize because they say we're Latino." "We're black, too." "Steve blass:" "I was on the bench, and I don't remember having any particular reaction on the bench." "Through nine innings, we weren't all," ""my God, look at it." "It's just brothers."" "It was just." "They were our teammates." "They were our teammates." "It was buccos, yeah." "We were fielding a ballclub." "I have no idea if murtaugh recognized this fact or not." "Manny sanguillén:" "Danny murtaugh, he said," ""my manager and me, we see nine ballplayers that are going to win the game."" "Gene clines:" "For us at the time, it wasn't any big deal." "I didn't even realize that that's the first time it had ever happened." "There was nothing really said about it because we were down seven runs in the first inning of that game, so it wasn't time to reminisce about an all black team." "We got to try and get it together because we're we got to try and get it together because we're getting our tails kicked." "And it just so happened, we did get it together, and I think we ended up winning the game 9-7." "Probably one of the..." "One of the best games we played all season." "(Music)" "And to field an all minority team was something that I never will forget." "It's history now." "There's a book written about it." "The team that changed baseball." "We're proud of that." "Dan Epstein:" "It was reflective of a time in American culture where black arts, black music, black film, where black arts, black music, black film, all these things were kind of pushing their way into the mainstream." "Black fashion was starting to influence what was happening in white fashion." "So in some ways it seems like 1971 was the perfect time for, you know, for the first all black and brown lineup." "But at the same time, it's also like what took you guys so long." "Commentator:" "And now it's the world series." "(Music)" "(Music)" "Commentator:" "The pirates, in a world series for the first time in 11 years, start dock Ellis." "(Music and crowd cheering)" "(Music and crowd cheering)" "Commentator:" "When boog Powell follows the homer with a walk," "Ellis takes a walk himself." "Dock:" "I started having trouble with my arm in dock:" "I started having trouble with my arm in" "San Francisco, the first game i pitched in the playoffs, and I knew then that my arm was gone." "But I will definitely be back next year." "(Music and crowd cheering)" "Commentator:" "And the final score," "Pittsburgh 5;" "Baltimore 1" "(music and crowd cheering)" "Commentator:" "The world series is all tied up." "(Music and crowd cheering)" "(Music and crowd cheering)" "Commentator:" "Clemente, the unsinkable pirate." "(Music and crowd cheering)" "Commentator:" "The last act." "Commentator:" "And the game, the series, it's all over." "Pittsburgh!" "Boy 5:" "You can't tell me you wouldn't like to win the world series." "Boy 6:" "Yeah, everybody jumping and screaming and splashing champagne all over each other." "And splashing champagne all over each other." "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "News reporter:" "The coast guard cutter, sagebrush, and a Navy helicopter led the search for the four engine" "DC-7 cargo plane that crashed moments after takeoff from" "San Juan airport on new year's Eve." "Roberto clemente, star outfielder for the" "Pittsburgh pirates, was heading a mission carrying relief supplies to the victims of the Nicaragua earthquake." "A special election will be held by baseball writers to honor clemente, who was only the 11th man in the major leagues to get 3,000 hits." "To get 3,000 hits." "Bob Cain, nbc news" "(vinyl record static)" "(Vinyl record static)" "I remember getting to the house, and the team was already there, and dock was you know, between Manny and dock, I think those two guys took it really, really hard." "Really hard." "He did not look like dock that I knew." "I know he was hurting very, very badly, and he was very emotional." "This changed him a lot too, you know, when he seen this." "Life can be, you know, end any second." "And you're not controlling your own life, and suddenly he realized it." "He was a completely changed person." "Peter golenbock:" "Do you have any particular memories of clemente as a ballplayer?" "Was he as great as they say?" "Dock:" "I don't talk about him." "Peter:" "You don't." "Any particular reason why?" "Dock:" "Because I have it here and here." "Peter:" "In your heart?" "Dock:" "Where it stays." "Peter:" "Do you love the guy?" "Dock:" "Yeah." "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "It must have been some time not long after" "Roberto clemente died in that horrible plane crash that his drug use was continuing to escalate." "I remember at one point he pushed me against the dresser in the bedroom and we had these two little statues on each end, and I remember reaching back to grab it." "And then I realized I couldn't hit him, you know." "And then he says, "you gonna hit me with that?"" "And I remember him jumping me and throwing me down on the bed and I remember him jumping me and throwing me down on the bed and choking me." "That's when I grabbed our daughter, I rushed out of the house, and our friends lived next door, and when she cracked her door, I just pushed my way in and said," ""you gotta get me out of here." "I think he's gonna kill me."" "I mean, I really thought my life was endangered at that point." "In fact, I called delores stargell, and I told her, "you've got to go to the airport with the team," ""and you've got to call me back and tell me that you see dock get on that airplane."" "I still had this thought, okay, he's gonna not get on the plane and I'm gonna go back to the house, and you know." "And I'm gonna go back to the house, and you know." "So she went to the airport with Willie and called me from the airport to tell me that he indeed got on the plane with the team and they had left and during that road trip," "I got a few things that I wanted from the house, and I came back to California." "Drugs had really taken over him." "I think he thought he was taking them over, but I think it was the other way around." "Main thing for him is to stay out of trouble." "And being a pitcher, what do you have?" "And being a pitcher, what do you have?" "You know a pitcher only pitches one day every four days or every five days, right?" "So you can go, and when you leave there you should be going home, but now you're not married, okay?" "So now you can go where?" "You can go anywhere you want to go, right?" "So, hey, you kind of get away from your objective." "You're not doing what you're supposed to do, first, because you remember in baseball you have a lot of distractions." "(Music)" "(Music)" "Floyd Hoffman:" "He went butt wild." "When they came to town, I went into the hotel and there was just ladies everywhere." "Fine ladies everywhere." "I missed a lot of dock's stories because of lot of dock stories came after midnight." "Ray Jones:" "He'd go in a club and he could sit down ray Jones:" "He'd go in a club and he could sit down and he could drink it." "I mean, he'd drink your ass under the table, so he did his drinking." "Especially back there in Pittsburgh." "God dog boy!" "Peter golenbock:" "Were you doing a lot of dope at this particular time?" "Dock:" "Oh, yeah." "Dock would call me at maybe 3:30 A.M." "When I'm in the bed." "I'd pick up the, "hello."" ""Big daddy, what you doing?"" "I'd say, "I'm asleep, fool!" "I'd say, "I'm asleep, fool!" "What the hell you think I'm doing?"" "Al Rambo:" "I would just listen to him just go on and on and on, and I could tell that he was out of his mind and like he was kind of like reaching out for help." "Floyd Hoffman:" "He would call me a lot, and that was due, because he was homesick, and lonely." "Al Rambo:" "He was the kind of guy who was under control as far as he was concerned, but maybe he was reaching out for help, and I didn't have the ability to really respond to his request for help." "To his request for help." "Dock:" "I know in spring training I would walk all the way out to the backstop of a field and sit out there, drink, get high and plant weed, and they wouldn't bother me, because they'd say, well, he's here." "He's not out in the streets nowhere;" "there he is, right there." "He's sitting over there getting drunk!" "(Laughs)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "A literary agent of mine who's a baseball fan got the notion of suiting up a number of total amateurs and visiting spring training at the very beginning of spring training when things are pretty loose, and writing about it." "So I put on the uniform and went out and started doing laps with the players." "And I did one lap, and then by the time..." "It was merely a lap around the base paths, rather short..." "It was merely a lap around the base paths, rather short..." "By the time I got to second base the second time, two young catchers who are strong and hearty types, picked me up under the elbows and carried me the rest of the way." "And a tall, black pitcher, said, "man, you're out of shape!"" "And that was dock Ellis." "Well, that day, one of the Pittsburgh newspaper men interviewed me." "Somebody told him I was a poet." "And dock said, "you're a poet?"" "And I said, "yeah, yeah, sure I am."" "And I said, "yeah, yeah, sure I am."" "He was curious about poetry." "He had never met a poet before." "And out of the spring training, I wrote the piece called fathers playing catch with sons." "And I published it in playboy , and I think it may have been at that point that dock said he wanted to write a book, and it started from that point." "(Jet engine)" "Dock:" "We flew into San Diego, and I asked the manager could I go home, because we had an off day." "And they normally let you go home if you're in the area, so he said, "yeah."" "So I took some LSD at the airport when I took off with the car, because I knew where it would hit me..." "With the car, because I knew where it would hit me..." "In LA!" "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "♪ I, I just took a ride in a silver machine, ♪" "♪ and I'm still feeling mean!" "♪" "The real high from LSD came from snorting the LSD, where you crushed the pills and you actually snorted the LSD." "And we did LSD in my girlfriend's house at that time, and we did LSD in my girlfriend's house at that time, and whether or not the story becomes fictional -- as far as how he got to San Diego and all that stuff " "I am not privileged to that information." "A lady picked up the phone and says," ""who is calling?"" "I told him we are calling for the pirates, we want to talk to dock Ellis." "She said, "he's sleeping."" "I tell him, you better wake him up, because he's supposed to be in San Diego right now." "Because he's supposed to be in San Diego right now." "(Music)" "And the next thing I know, I'm waking up, and I go outside, and I remember her saying," ""you gotta pitch today."" "I said, "what are you talking about?"" "And she said, "San Diego, you gotta pitch."" "I said, "no, I pitch tomorrow."" "She says, "oh, no, no, no!" "Look, look!"" "She says, "oh, no, no, no!" "Look, look!"" "And I said, "well, what happened to yesterday?"" "(Crowd cheering)" "So there I was out there, you know, high as a Georgia pine, tripping on acid." "We had a rookie on the team at that particular time named" "Dave cash, and he sat next to me." "And he kept saying after the first inning, he said," ""you got a no-no going."" ""You got a no-no going."" "I said, "yeah, right."" "Dave cash:" "He didn't respond at the time." "He was so wrapped up in the game." "And then about a couple innings later, he came back, he said," ""Dave, I still got a no-no going."" "Dock:" "I could also feel the pressure from other players wanting to tell him to shut up, because you're not supposed to say nothing if somebody's throwing a no-hitter, because it's bad luck." "Commentator:" "Bouncer down to first base." "Oliver, brilliant play." "Underhand's to Ellis, two down." "I hit a couple guys." "It was an ugly no-hitter, I got letters about it." "But it was a no-no." "Commentator:" "Everybody in that bullpen is standing and walking around nervous." "Strike one." "Now, the pitch." "Strike two." "Dock Ellis, looking out at the scoreboard, dock Ellis, looking out at the scoreboard, he can see zero, zero, zero where it says, San Diego." "And dock Ellis checks his sign and comes down." "Strike three!" "They're going after him." "He got it!" "(Crowd clapping, cheering)" "Commentator:" "They're mobbing dock Ellis on a no-hitter!" "I remember the phone started ringing." "Them calling Paula, the news media, and we're like," ""what?" "What, what?"" "I told him, "hey dock, you did a hell a job!"" "He said, "what the hell I did?"" "I said, "what you mean, what you did?" ""You know what you did." "You pitched a no-hitter," and he says to me, "no shit!"" "Dock:" "I was gone." "I was in the wind..." "To party all night." "(Music)" "(Music)" "Commentator:" "With the reds against the pirates, the pirates start dock Ellis." "The pirates start dock Ellis." "One night, we're playing at the stadium and he comes in the trainer's room and I reach for the vida oil, and he says, "oh, what am I doing here?"" "He says, "I'm not going to be out there too long."" "Dock:" "Cincinnati, to me, had been intimidating the pirates." "When we were sitting there, I said, "look at them, here they come."" "I said, "just look at them shaking hands."" ""Just look at them over there!" ""And they're going to kick our ass and then talk shit about us."" "And I reminded them, I said, "if you shake hands," "I'm going to hit you."" "So I thought of throwing at my own teammates, so I thought of throwing at my own teammates, hitting them with the ball." "Get away from them!" "And they said, "oh, he's gone nuts."" "So they stopped talking to them." "But that was my thing, trying to let my teammates know, that these guys are going to come in here and kiss your ass and kick your ass, and laugh at you." "Our players were getting knocked down, getting hit and everything, but the other starting pitchers from our team wasn't doing nothing from retaliation." "Dock walked out and stopped at batting practice and said," ""every one of you coming to the plate tomorrow," ""every one of you coming to the plate tomorrow," "I'm hitting you."" "Dock:" "I told the team, it's no need of us having a meeting, going over the hitters, because it's on." "I'm going to do the do today." "(Music, crowd cheering)" "He said to me, "Manny, there's no sign today."" "He said, "just you step behind home plate, I throw the ball."" "When the game started, you know, that was Pete rose." "I threw at him a couple times, I said, the only thing" "I threw at him a couple times, I said, the only thing" "I can hit on him is his big butt." "First batter, dock hit him." "When I hit him, he ran down to first base, and he had the ball and flipped it to me." "I said, "I want to kill him!"" "Because he was telling me, it don't hurt." "Second batter, dock hit him." "Joe Morgan was up next, and Joe told Pete rose," ""he won't hit me because I'm a brother."" "And I popped his butt." "Third batter, dock hit him." "Dock:" "It was all about intimidation, and the next hitter was Dan dries sen." "By this time, the fans are mumbling." "They have no idea what's going on." "Dock:" "And then after him, was Tony Perez." "And I couldn't hit Tony." "You can't hit anyone if they know you're throwing at them." "Threw at Johnny bench and they took me out." "Then I was gone." "I mean, it was unbelievable." "We could not imagine what was going on." "Murtaugh came out angry, because he knew that this murtaugh came out angry, because he knew that this was not a lapse of control." "He knew that dock was being dock and he yanked him out of the game." "It was a pretty bizarre and eventful day." "There was a lot of friction up there at that batter's box." "You think of stories of dock, and it's not all praise because he could piss you off in a minute, too." "But we're in Montreal and the starters are all pitching bad." "Murtaugh called a meeting, and he says, "I don't know what's murtaugh called a meeting, and he says, "I don't know what's" ""going on with you guys, but somebody's going to have to go to the bullpen."" "Dock stood right up and said, "well, who am the one what am going to the bullpen?"" "With an exaggerated black accent." "And he says, "blass ain't going to the bullpen," ""moose ain't going to the bullpen, and you know the docktor ain't going to the bullpen!"" "And murtaugh..." "I don't know what got resolved." "Hopefully, we started pitching better." "I got to go to the bullpen." "You got to go..." "You were the one that got to go to the bullpen?" "If they start moving you now from a starting pitcher if they start moving you now from a starting pitcher to the bullpen, you really start thinking, uh, are they going to move me off the team?" "I'm not going to get as many opportunities now." "Do they think that I'm sort of losing it a little bit?" "Dock wasn't having a good year." "From spring training to maybe June or July, dock had not won a game." "Everybody eventually gets put out to pasture." "I mean, it happens." "I mean, it happens." "You don't play, you don't pitch forever." "And it's a tough call, sometimes, for a manager or a pitching coach to make that determination." "Bob smizik:" "I think they used him once in the bullpen, and then the second time, he refused to go into the game." "This was like on a Thursday that he refused to go into the game, and that Saturday, dock was going to speak to the team and apologize to murtaugh for not going in to pitch." "Dock apparently got up to speak, and as he's slowly talking, people are starting to realize, and as he's slowly talking, people are starting to realize, he's not apologizing, he's just reinforcing" "his belief that they were wrong in putting him in the bullpen." "By 8:00, the pirates made an announcement that dock Ellis had been suspended." "Commentator:" "Ellis was suspended, you know, for awhile." "Tom reich:" "When you're a dock Ellis, confrontation becomes unavoidable." "Becomes unavoidable." "Dock:" "Maury wills was doing a telecast, and made mention that dock Ellis was being showcased." "He will be somewhere next year." "Commentator:" "Ellis is just 30 years of age, so he is by no means an old timer." "Well, it was time for him at that time, for a change, like a trade." "Steinbrenner, who I knew very well, I said to him," ""when he is on the mound, he's as serious as a heart attack."" "What a terrible trade." "What a terrible trade." "One of the worst trades I have ever seen." "Period." "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "I remember when he went to the Yankees." "I was thinking a little bit, dock Ellis and the Yankees," "I don't know!" "(Laughs)" "(Music and crowd cheering)" "Dock:" "It was a hard spring training for me, because I was trying to fool the players." "Because I was trying to fool the players." "They partied together." "I told them I didn't do those things." "They were all new to me, and I had to have my time to check 'em out, but what they were telling me is, "we're cool." ""We're all cool." ""We know you're cool." ""We've found out about you." "Come on!"" "I'm saying, "no!"" "Peter golenbock:" "How long did it take you to check them out?" "Dock:" "First night, of the season." "We all got high together." "We all got high together." "That team drank, smoked dope, cocai..." "Everything, together." "But it was kick-ass and take names." "Boy 1:" "I know plenty of guys who do drugs and still put out their best." "Boy 2:" "Yeah, now what about that, mister?" "I can remember him hitting Reggie Jackson one time." "Dock:" "A lot of people talk about that home run Reggie hit off of me in the all-star game." "Dan Epstein: 1971 all-star game, Reggie Jackson hits this mega-lific home run off of dock Ellis." "Commentator:" "There's a long drive..." "Commentator:" "There's a long drive..." "That one is going up, it is..." "Off the roof." "Dan Epstein:" "And that's pretty much the last time they faced each other until 1976." "They say that's the reason why I hit him when he was with Baltimore, but that wasn't the case." "It was something else." "He had stood up on the top of the dugout steps and challenged me." "So, dock's pitching against the orioles." "He's facing mark belanger, who's the orioles' like great field, no-hit shortstop." "No-hit shortstop." "Dock:" "While I was exchanging baseballs, mark had his head down, and when I threw the ball back, belanger almost got hit because he hadn't come out of the box." "He had his head down." "And they tell me Reggie was coming up the steps and he thought I had thrown at belanger." "And he screamed, "why don't you hit a big so-and-so like me?"" "And I just glanced back." "I said, ooooh, you know." "Again, I was high as a Georgia pine, and so when he got to the plate, thurman came out to the mound and asked me, to the plate, thurman came out to the mound and asked me," "he said, "did you hear what your brother man said?"" "I said, "yeah, I heard him." ""Get your little fat butt back behind the plate and don't say nothing, don't give me no signals."" "So Reggie comes up and I just, you know, different pitches in and out and caught him leaning, and hit him." "Peter golenbock:" "Did he say anything afterwards?" "Dock:" "Yeah." "He says I should have called." "He had the paper, I should have called to see how he was." "He had the paper, I should have called to see how he was." "But I was embarrassed I didn't really hurt him." "I go back in the locker room and i got three one hundred dollar bills over my locker, and I never had to buy another drink the rest of the year from them guys." "I remember the incident." "You know, Reggie probably popped off, said something to him, and he says, okay, take this." "But there's a way you do it and there's a time you do it." "Never a ball in the head area." "If you hit somebody and hurt them or there's a fight because you're hitting him and both teams are hurt." "Because you're hitting him and both teams are hurt." "Ownership is really set back with a lot of money sitting on the side, and for that reason, during owner's meetings and gm's meetings, it was stressed that we clean the game up." "All the players are protected now." "They've got shin guards on their elbows, they've got pads everywhere." "You can't knock a hitter down anymore." "They don't pitch inside." "That's why you see so many home runs hit." "The game has changed." "The game has changed." "Dan Epstein:" "He had a really strong year for the Yankees that year." "I think that was maybe the second best year of his career." "It seemed like he was really revitalized." "(Music)" "Donald hall:" "He came up to look over the manuscript, and we sat at the table, at the dining room, going over it, page by page." "Donald hall is a very good writer, and I had a lot of" "Donald hall is a very good writer, and I had a lot of respect for him, but there were certain things that would've been extremely damaging to dock." "Donald hall:" "And he said, "you can't put that in there."" "And I said, "why?"" "He said, "I am working for Mr. steinbrenner."" "Tom reich:" "This was a very serious issue." "Some of this material could have been very fatal to his career." "You know, and with a public figure, and particularly you know, and with a public figure, and particularly at that time, the players had no leverage." "There were no long-term deals yet." "Dock:" "You had to read between the lines with me, because in my book it talks about going back to the hotel, drinking the orange juice, gin and smoking "super kools,"" "which was..." "Super kool was cocaine, but nobody really knew what that was back then." "But read through the lines and you know I was going back to the hotel to get high." "To the hotel to get high." "I just hate that I was not sober when I played for the Yankees." "See, I can only vaguely remember some of that." "I saw greenies, marijuana and cocaine, but I never saw meth or heroine or anything like that." "It was in Pittsburgh." "That's where we met." "Dock was at the bar having a drink." "He comes up to me and asks me for my autograph." "He comes up to me and asks me for my autograph." "I had no idea who he was." "When he was around me, we were just ordinary people." "I didn't feel like he was a Reggie Jackson or this big star." "He was dock to me, you know?" "Just because he played ball, that was his job." "He was very low key, but he just made me feel special." "I don't know what he did on the road, but he never made me feel like there was somebody else, ever." "Feel like there was somebody else, ever." "I don't remember, you know, any bad times at that time." "Dock loved being in New York." "Commentator:" "The Yankees would like to see themselves get back into this series, and they're hoping that, that man, dock Ellis, a 17-game winner and a former national leaguer, can help them stem the red tide." "(Music and crowd cheering)" "(Music and crowd cheering)" "17 and 8, he went for the yanks." "He went 17 games for the Yankees." "They went to the world series." "Commentator:" "Pete rose is ready to start the action." "He gets it going in a hurry." "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "Dan Epstein:" "I remember him pitching in the world series and, you know, not doing well, but then the Yankees got completely steamrolled by the reds in that series." "(Music)" "Commentator:" "Cincinnati scores one more to make the final score 7-2." "That was about the end of dock as a star, but it was a very stirring comeback by him, and attributable, very stirring comeback by him, and attributable," "I think, to his skill and to the force of his personality." "I think him and steinbrenner had some kind of disagreement, and I was telling him to chill out, because I love New York," "I didn't want him to go anywhere." "And of course, he was so stubborn and bull-headed, he wanted to speak his mind, and that ultimately got us traded." "It was a little surprising, and I think the Yankees it was a little surprising, and I think the Yankees traded him to Oakland, as I recall, and he wasn't pitching very well there, and so we thought we might" "be getting a guy who had suddenly lost it." "But corbett did a lot of things without explaining them to anybody." "Brad was a swashbuckling character who operated on whims, and so I think he said, this is the guy we need at the back end of our rotation now." "And you know what, he was right." "In 1977, when dock came into the rangers, what I recall is when I looked at dock on TV or when I saw him pitch, is when I looked at dock on TV or when I saw him pitch," "I thought, I don't want to meet him in an alleyway." "We were Miles apart in terms of who we would run around with, and so our relationship was strictly professional." "Jim Reeves:" "In '78 is when he had the big clash with Billy hunter." "Billy hunter was old-school baseball, and dock Ellis was new-school baseball." "You know, baseball was under a transition at that time." "You know, baseball was under a transition at that time." "We were moving away from basically indentured servitude to the free agent market." "And the old-school guys were used to saying," ""you do it my way."" "Billy had a, like a lot of old-school managers did, had a team rule that players could not drink at the hotel bar where the team was staying, because that bar was reserved for the manager." "But dock didn't like that rule, and he basically led a player but dock didn't like that rule, and he basically led a player revolt saying, "we're grown men, we can do what we want to," "we can drink where we want to."" "He wasn't going to let Billy hunter take away what he felt like were his rights." "And that was kind of the essence of dock." "Billy hunter was just considered by the players too dictatorial, too hard-ass." "And they let him go." "And they let him go." "Dad was a players' owner, and he listened to the players." "In some ways, Brad corbett was a father to dock." "Dock may have seen something in Brad that he may have liked to have experienced later on with his father, and never had the opportunity to do that." "Dock and dad loved each other." "They were truly friends." "A lot of fond memories of dock." "A lot of fond memories of dock." "And you know, one of the things that was so amazing about dock is now we know that he was really loaded some of the times, and he never really seemed out of control." "He seemed like he was having a good time, you know." "My Uncle remembered one time when he came over and he drank a bottle of vodka in 45 minutes, and he said he didn't seem any different after the bottle of vodka was gone any different after the bottle of vodka was gone" "than when he showed up." "Austine Ellis:" "When he was around me, he wasn't a sloppy drunk." "He spoke well." "I didn't... maybe I was blind to it, but like I said, he wasn't what I thought a drunk was at the time, you know." "Dock: 'Cause I would drink chivas regal in the morning, and then some orange juice or coffee, it didn't make me no damn difference." "But then, when I go to lunch, I'm going to eat olives but then, when I go to lunch, I'm going to eat olives from the Martinis, and I would slip out, and I was gone to my local bar." "I was drinking the vodka and shit." "Dock was on the back side." "Dad loved dock as a person, but it was time to move on." "Dock:" "The last team I pitched for was the pirates." "They let me come back and die a pirate." "That's what I asked them, to let me come back and die a pirate, end my career as a pirate." "Dock was a meaningful guy in my life, and to watch him pitch and be as good as he was, and then to get him back, he was at the end and he knew he was at the end." "But I was happy to see him back, because hey, it's dock, and dock has something to offer." "And dock has something to offer." "And dock said, "I'm shot, I don't have anyth..." ""My arm's gone." "I don't have anything."" "It kinda..." "It hurt." "Ray Jones:" "You know when you're getting close to the end, you know?" "Even when he'd say, son, my arm is hurting." "Hey, it's over." "He'd say, hell, he can't even break glass, you know." "But hell, you done had, you had a hell of a run." "Dock:" "Anything that would get me high, I would do it." "Dock:" "Anything that would get me high, I would do it." "Cocaine, heroine, mescaline, crank, alcohol..." "I mean, I had guys who'd get something on the street and say," ""dock, I wonder how high this would get you."" "I'd say, "pinch off some and let me check it out."" "I just remember one night I drove home, and I was getting out of the car and dock came out of the house, and I didn't think anything of it." "And I didn't think anything of it." "I had a babysitter there at the time." "And anyway, to make a long story short, he was angry and drunk..." "And I didn't know what was going on." "So, I managed to get the little girl, the neighbor, and I took her home, and I made the mistake of going back." "And I guess he had just gotten the news of him being released, and I guess he had just gotten the news of him being released, so from about 12 in the evening until 5:00 in the morning," "he took it out on me..." "With guns and rifles and shotguns, revolvers in my mouth, and it was devastating." "He had never done that before, and he managed to let me he had never done that before, and he managed to let me call a girlfriend, and I told her to call the police." "And she did." "And the police came, but because I wasn't screaming or anything, they didn't enter." "So I guess he finally got tired or whatever, and I told him I had to go to the restroom, and so he carried me to the bathroom." "And then he wanted to have relations." "And then he wanted to have relations." "And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me." "And so, we got in the bed, and he says," ""if I go to sleep, are you going to kill me?"" "And me thinking of my son, I said, "no, I wouldn't kill you."" "I was just so hurt that he did that, because we were so close, and we would walk in the room and people wanted to be us, because, I mean, I don't know, it was just a great relationship." "It was just a great relationship." "And I was just so hurt that after the way he treated me that he could do that, you know." "And so, I didn't go to sleep." "And when it got light, I was getting up, and he says," ""where are you going?"" "I said, "I'm going to the hospital."" "And so, I got up and got dressed and went to the hospital and never went back." "He called me and he said, "pick me up from the airport." "He called me and he said, "pick me up from the airport." "Have a bottle of vodka, because it's going to be my last drink."" "He said, "I'm a drug addict and an alcoholic."" "And I said, "what?"" "He said, "I'm a drug addict and an alcoholic." "I'm going into treatment."" "And I did, I picked him up from the airport and had his bottle of vodka." "And to my knowledge, that was his last drink." "(Music)" "(Music)" "Peter golenbock:" "How long did you stay in this center?" "Dock:" "I stayed almost two weeks more than the insurance, because I was afraid." "You know, it was like I didn't have the six bullets in my gun." "It was like I had five and I knew it." "So whatever it was, I was going to stay there 'til I got it." "You can always change and be a better person." "You can always change and be a better person." "I think he went there." "And we tried to go back." "Because I loved him, I mean, he was wonderful." "It was just that one night that tore everything apart." "Once you are an addict or have been cured of it, you don't have a problem talking about it, because that's in your makeup." "Because that's in your makeup." "You're supposed to talk about it, because after I stopped using... the thing was," "I needed to talk about it to make myself fine." "You've got to face what you did, and then you've got to live your life." "In Pittsburgh this morning, major league baseball players begin testifying about alleged cocaine deals with a clubhouse cook." "Keith Hernandez, of the mets, formerly of the" "St. Louis cardinals, said at one point, he estimates, that between one-third and a half of the major league players that between one-third and a half of the major league players were using cocaine." "News reporter:" "Enos cabell, a journeyman infielder, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, testified." "Former Pittsburgh pitcher dock Ellis talked this week about how tempting he found cocaine and amphetamines in the big leagues." "Yes, a lot of money causes a lot of problems, and a lot of problems causes a lot of stress, a lot of stress causes a lot of need for medication, and to medicate those problems, a lot of athletes," "a lot of individuals seek drugs and alcohol." "When you used drugs as an athlete, did it make you when you used drugs as an athlete, did it make you more aggressive on the field?" "Did it affect your play?" "Well, I can recall one incident, ed, where I hit some baseba..." "Some players for the Cincinnati reds." "But you're not the only pitcher who's thrown at someone." "I threw to hit them." "I mean, I threw to hurt them bad." "But what do young athletes need, then?" "What's the advice?" "Educate and make the young guys in the rookie leagues, the rookies, aware of drug dangers and alcohol dangers." "Have an anonymous rehabilitative program for major league have an anonymous rehabilitative program for major league baseball players, and a thorough after-care program, and help these guys." "I felt that I had some colleagues that were involved with drugs and alcohol, and what I had learned, if I could share that with them, they might stop or they might think about stopping, so I said," ""I'm going to go to school." "I'm going to learn about this counseling stuff."" "And that's what I did." "He loved going to school." "He'd come over." "He'd come over." "He'd want me to help him with his papers." "He just put his all into what..." "Into that." "And that's what he did with anything he tried, he was going to 100%." "His dream was that major league baseball put a real drug program in." "Baseball hasn't addressed that." "Football hasn't addressed that." "His idea was go to the clubhouse." "Go to the hotel." "Go to where they're at." "They ain't going to come to you." "They ain't going to come to you." "By the time they come to you, they've already been locked up or their old lady's thrown them out." "And his idea was to go around to different clubhouses in different cities and just have a group on living." "Hi, everybody." "Our guest on sports look today was once referred to as the muhammad Ali of baseball." "Dock Ellis, who is now a counselor, drug counselor and alcohol abuse counselor for the New York Yankees, and on retainer for a number of other players..." "I think dock had a natural leadership quality." "I think dock had a natural leadership quality." "There was a wisdom there, because at this point in dock Ellis' life, he'd been through a hell of a lot, and was really kind of an inspiring presence on the set." "(Players chatter)" "The casting director just said, "do you know who wants to come in and just audition is dock Ellis?"" "To come in and just audition is dock Ellis?"" "And I said, "really?" "That's kind of amazing."" "I know he's retired now, but why not?" "(Cheering)" "I most vividly remember dock when we were doing this company softball game sequence, and it was a chance to actually kind of talk baseball." "And that was the first time that I had heard his claim that he pitched the no-hitter on LSD." "And he talked about it with embarrassment." "It wasn't like some sort of cool calling card." "It wasn't like some sort of cool calling card." "He was talking about that day, about sort of his own disappointment in himself." "So, when he referred to it, it was with regret." "Even though all the other guys, comics, hip guys, you can imagine them chortling and goading and coming up with one-liners about it, and pretending that they were on acid pitching and stuff like that, and he'd joke along with them, but you also felt" "and he'd joke along with them, but you also felt that he was disappointed in himself." "I just remember this look in his eyes and him saying," ""I'm glad I threw a no-hitter, I suppose, but I'd probably trade that for not having pulled a stunt like that," you know?" "And maybe some day some of these big-time stars will come around to you kids because they really care about you, and they're going to tell you about some of the hell and pain they've been through because of booze and drugs." "Some of you don't know it, but I'm a former major league baseball player." "I did some things in baseball that I see some of you guys do today." "And you know, some of you who are off the hook sometime, and that's just the way my life is." "I met dock at an aa convention, and we changed cards and pleasantries." "And we changed cards and pleasantries." "I said, you know, if you ever need me for something, dock," "I'm up at the boys' school and you want to come up and give a talk to my young inmates, more than welcome." "Probably three days, four days later, I get a call." "He said, "I'm coming up!"" "So he came up, and a week later, I said, "do you want a job?"" "I was out to lunch." "Off the hook." "I should not have been allowed to play baseball for things that I did." "For things that I did." "But they allowed it." "Larry demery:" "If you're lying to 'em, they'll get up and say, fuck you!" "I done a lot of wrong." "That's what they want to hear." "They don't want to hear bullshit." "They want to hear the facts, the truth." "And it has to come from here." "He was so effective with inmates, because he treated an inmate just as a person." "Dock wouldn't follow all the institutional rules, now." "Dock wouldn't follow all the institutional rules, now." "Dock would bring in food, and that was a no-no." "He'd let them make phone calls." "That was a no-no." "But there was a method in his madness." "One time he called me in for a counseling session." "I thought he was fittin' to chew me out about not coming to group and tell me that I probably was going to have to get moved back to prison." "And he opened up his lunch bag and he pulled out some Greens and he opened up his lunch bag and he pulled out some Greens and some pork chops and cornbread, and he put them on his desk, and he said, "let's have lunch."" "And I sat there and I thought about it." "I said... because it was against the rules and policy..." "But I thought, I said, "this man don't even know me and he's willing to take this chance, you know."" "And I asked him why." "He said, "I know you're tired of eating this food in here."" "And it really showed me that for no other reason and it really showed me that for no other reason than just because he cared, he did it." "Because I didn't have anything to offer;" "I was doing time." "I talked with dock about, what do you tell these guys and young ladies that you are counseling and trying to get them to take a different direction?" "And he said, "I would just talk about the times that I really" ""hit rock bottom, and I talk about it very candidly and say, 'you really don't ever want to be here.'"" "and he would talk about how lucky he was to have been able and he would talk about how lucky he was to have been able to live through that, because with what dock experienced during that time of his life, he should have passed away then." "And when you listen to stories from a man that had it all and lost it all, it's a big eye-opener when you can relate to a guy that had that kind of success, and has the same problems you have." "Victor beecham:" "I was a gang member for over 20 years." "I've been shot, I've been in many gun battles." "I've been shot, I've been in many gun battles." "Life was at the point to where it really didn't matter." "And dock Ellis helped me get back into the normalities of life, to look things as they are, realistically, and make good decisions and apply ethics and morals." "Dad had a lifelong battle with alcohol, and about '97, and about '97," "he really kind of hit bottom." "He was drinking, you know, two bottles of vodka a day and two bottles of wine a day and cognac, and it was time." "And dock helped dad, talked him through what he had to do, how it had to happen, you know, and helped him get how it had to happen, you know, and helped him get to the other side." "I do motivational speakings for people that are incarcerated and on parole." "I run homeless shelters." "I help the youth." "And I was just thinking, "dock, can you see me now?"" "The first pitch, the first strike out, Willie mays, the first pitch, the first strike out, Willie mays," "the first win against the Dodgers, you know," "I could put groups of kids in that category." "I get calls now from guys... (Sobbing) A guy called me the other night." "He says, "dock, that shit you talked about, fear," he says, he says, "dock, that shit you talked about, fear," he says," ""I know what that shit is now, I've been promoted."" "(Laughs)" "He said, "I didn't know that, that's all it was." "I was scared."" "Because I used to tell him he could do anything he wanted to." "He talked so much shit." "I said, "man, you could sell anything."" "But he didn't have no confidence in himself, because he was scared." "And he called me to tell me, he says, "I know what that shit is now, all that shit you talked about in the class."" "Is now, all that shit you talked about in the class."" "But that's the reward I get." "(Silent film)" "(Silent film)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Music)" "(Clears throat)" "I couldn't view the body." "I couldn't view the body." "And so the last memory that I have in him is, and I try to shut it off on everybody that funerals I go to, is remembering him the last time that he stood up and we were talking with each other." "And, um..." "And that's pretty much it." "(Music)" "Dock was a great human being." "And it was very easy for me to eulogize him." "And it was very easy for me to eulogize him." "At first, I thought it was hard, but once I got there, it was very easy to talk about somebody that you liked and somebody that you loved." "As guys talk about their homeys, he was my homey." "He was content." "He had found peace with himself." "You've got to uplift yourself before you can lift somebody else." "And that's what he did." "And I told him all those things before he died, and I told him all those things before he died, what he did to translate me into a better person." "A lot of kids nowadays, especially the players, don't understand what happened or what dock Ellis type of people did." "Jackie Robinson..." "He might have said it all..." "(Sobbing)" "When he said, you might want to give up." "But I never did, and I never will."