No No: A Dockumentary

You know Henry James said to be one of those

on whom nothing is lost.

Dock was one on whom nothing was lost.

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.

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.

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?

I pitched every game in the major leagues

i pitched every game in the major leagues

under the influence of drugs.

>> Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter on LSD.

Those who have taken LSD, tell the others how hard

that might be.

>> You heard stories about him that was wild stories,

but they really didn't get the intellect of dock.

>> Oh, that's the dude used 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, one hell 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.

>> And there was no cookie cutter persona to dock.

>> You never knew whether he was serious,

whether he was kidding, but he was always a guy

that had something to say.

>> He was probably one of the most misunderstood people

in the game.

>> He done a lot 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.

>> He understood playing, but he understood,

I think, that he had a better calling.

I think, that he had a better calling.

>> I'm not one of those guys 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.

>> He talked about race 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.

>> There hadn't been a hell 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.

>> A lot people did 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.

>> Dock Ellis.

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?

>> Now you got to set the story 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.

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.

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.

>> He took stands.

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.

Dock was a... he was a dresser, man.

I mean, the big Cadillac.

He was flashy.

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.