Review of No No: A Dockumentary (2014) by Walter M — 08 Sep 2014

Children do not do this at home:

In 1971, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis threw a no-hitter. While under the influence of LSD because he lost track of time and did not think he had to pitch on that day. To be honest, he was a little wild with eight walks and a hit batter which I don't think is a record, actually. What this documentary does in fine style is showing that there was much more to Dock Ellis than just that one event, warts and all, as he eventually gave up drugs to gain control of his life and became a counselor himself, advocating anonymous treatment for major league players.

At his athletic best, he was a very good pitcher with some excellent teams especially the Pirates of the early 70's. Along with Vida Blue, they became the first African American pitchers to face each other in the All Star Game in 1971. During that same game, Ellis was also the same pitcher who gave up the famed tape measure shot to Reggie Jackson which reportedly led to some bad blood between the two and might have caused the Yankees to trade Ellis, just as Jackson was about to be signed in 1977 because New York was just not big enough for the two of the them.

Ellis was also outspoken on such subjects as race just as the black liberation movement was becoming more visible to mainstream America. And this was also at a time unlike today when professional athletes could be interesting, have fun and share their opinions.

And now one of these days I am finally going to have to watch "Gung Ho" which Dock Ellis plays a small part in.