"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. I started having a crazy idea in the fourth inning that Richard Nixon was the home plate umpire, and once I thought I was pitching a baseball to Jimi Hendrix, who to me was holding a guitar and swinging it over the plate. 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."                                                    
                                                                         ~ Dock Ellis, former Pittsburgh Pirates Pitcher



It's difficult to decide how to feel about Dock Ellis and his epic pitching performance against the San Diego Padres on June 12th, 1970. Do I feel ecstatic or dumbfounded. Ellis, who won 19 games in 1971 for the World Champion Pirates, played for six teams in his career, including the Mets and Yankees, but is best known for the no-hitter he threw while under the influence of LSD, a powerful hallucinogenic drug.

The first question that came to mind was what he thinking taking acid before a game? However, it turns out he was visiting friends in Los Angeles thinking he was off. He was still high when his friend's girlfriend told him he was pitching that night. He boarded a shuttle flight to the game and pitched a masterpiece, not being able to remember parts of the game.

It's a remarkable performance in a game that requires concentration and focus. Pitching in the major leagues is difficult enough in its own right, let alone while hallucinating. It is an experience that the sport of baseball will probably never see again, albeit not knowing about it until 13 years later. However, it is arguably the most phenomenal and unique pitching performance in the history of baseball.