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| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | Re: Dock Ellis |
| Date | Wed, 04 Jan 2006 04:44:25 -0500 |
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> Date: Tue, 03 Jan 2006 15:02:12 -0500
> From: "Aaron Milenski" <amilenski@hotmail.com>
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Re: Dock Ellis
> Message-ID: <BAY106-F5B6CB1B41A6BAC880891DBC2C0@phx.gbl>
>
> Dock's shining moment wasn't the LSD no-hitter. It was
> the time he decided he was going to teach the Cincinatti
> Reds a lesson by hitting every batter in the lineup with a
> pitch. He hit the first two guys and had Joe Morgan doing
> the two-step in the batter's box before he got taken out
> of the game by an embarrassed manager.
>
Aaron, Ellis actually hit Morgan.
The game took place on May 1, 1974. Ellis, made edgy by a pregame dose of amphetamines and a sense that his teammates weren't as keyed up about the rivalry with the Reds as he was, plunked the leadoff batter, Pete Rose, in the ribs. He hit the second batter, Joe Morgan, in the side. He hit the third batter, Dan Driessen, in the back as Driessen was ducking out of the way; it must've been pretty obvious at that point that Ellis was on a private vendetta against the Big Red Machine. The cleanup hitter, Tony Perez, managed to somehow dodge Ellis's beanballs and drew a run-scoring walk, but Ellis managed to throw two pitches at the head of the fifth batter, Johnny Bench, before Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh finally came out to the mound and ended the one-man war by taking his loose cannon of a pitcher out of the game.
This incident, as well as the LSD no-hitter, is described in detail at http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/ellis.asp. I've checked the box score of that '74 Reds/Pirates game on the baseball archival site www.retrosheet.org, and it substantiates the snopes.com precis of the game.
(Read the snopes.com story about Ellis, even if you're not a baseball fan. Dock Ellis was one of the greatest loons of modern-day sports; a man who was maced by a stadium security guard and who wore curlers in his hair while taking part in warm-ups on the field before the game is a man who deserves to have pop songs written about him. Of course, the irony of it all is that Ellis cleaned up his act and became the coordinator of an anti-drug program in L.A. after his playing days were over.)
For the record, I agree with Steve and everyone else who considers Joe Morgan to be a menace to the airwaves. He has myriad faults as a television baseball analyst, but Google the words "Banks Boulevard" to discover why Cubs fans in particular have a special hatred for Morgan.
Gregory Sager
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