Dock Ellis dies

Dock Ellis wasn't exactly a hero of mine, but he was a Pittsburgh Pirate and that was essentially the same thing. He died yesterday at age 63. I remember him pitching a no-hitter, though I didn't know until much later that he said was under the influence of LSD the entire game:

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.

Perhaps not his best moment, but who can say? But maybe this was:

Incensed that the Reds were bullying his Pirates, he hit Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Dan Driessen in succession on May 1, 1974, and tried to hit Tony Perez but missed. After aiming two pitches at Johnny Bench's head he was pulled.

Man, the Pirates back then were a great team.

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Here's Ellis explaining his no-hitter (with the bonus of the call by the legendary Bob Prince):