This is a great story. On June 12, 1970, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates threw a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. And while that’s already newsworthy (only 263 no-hitters have ever been thrown in the history of Major League Baseball), what is really extraordinary is that Mr. Ellis apparently threw the game whilst tripping on LSD. Wowzers. (This story has been verified by Snopes.) Sort of fitting this week, especially with the “revelation” that Mark McGwire — the man who owns the record for most home runs in a season (70 in 1998) — admitting today to using steroids and human growth hormone for over a decade. Shocker. I didn’t know who Ellis was as I don’t watch much baseball, but the guy was apparently quite the character, and was known for wearing hair curlers while warming up. Nice touch.

From the producers of the video:
“In celebration of the greatest athletic achievement by a man on a psychedelic journey, No Mas and artist James Blagden proudly present the animated tale of Dock Ellis’ legendary LSD no-hitter. In the past few years weve heard all too much about performance enhancing drugs from greenies to tetrahydrogestrinone, and not enough about performance inhibiting drugs. If our evaluation of the records of athletes like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds needs to be revised downwards with an asterisk, we submit that that Dock Ellis record deserves a giant exclamation point. Of the 263 no-hitters ever thrown in the Big Leagues, we can only guess how many were aided by steroids, but we can say without question that only one was ever thrown on acid.

Sadly, the great Dock Ellis died last December at 63. A year before, radio producers Donnell Alexander and Neille Ilel, had recorded an interview with Ellis in which the former Pirate right hander gave a moment by moment account of June 12, 1970, the day he no-hit the San Diego Padres. Alexander and Ilels original four minute piece appeared March 29, 2008 on NPRs Weekend America. When we stumbled across that piece this past June, Blagden and Isenberg were inspired to create a short animated film around the original audio.”

So there you go, enjoy the fine work of James Blagden and the hilarious words of Mr. Dock Ellis…