Todd Sniders story of pitching a no hitter on LSD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sugCwMxwPRk

Dock Phillip Ellis, Jr. (born March 11, 1945, in Los Angeles, California) is a former professional baseball player who pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates, among other teams. His best season was 1971, when he won 19 games for the World Series champion Pirates and was the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star Game.
However, Ellis is better-known for several bizarre incidents:
Beaning Reggie Jackson in the face in apparent retaliation for Reggie's monstrous home run off Ellis in the 1971 All-Star game in Detroit.
No-hitting the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970 despite being, as he would claim in 1984, under the influence of LSD throughout the course of the game.[1] Ellis had been visiting friends in Los Angeles under the impression he had the day off and was still high when his girlfriend told him he had to pitch a game against the Padres that night. Ellis boarded a shuttle flight to the ballpark and threw a no-hitter despite not being able to feel the ball or clearly see the batter or catcher. Ellis claims catcher Jerry May wore reflective tape on his fingers which helped Ellis to see his target. Ellis walked eight, struck out six, and was aided by excellent fielding plays by second baseman Bill Mazeroski and centerfielder Matty Alou.[2] During the game, Ellis is reported to have commented to his teammates on the bench between innings that he was pitching a no-hitter-- in spite of the superstition that discourages mentioning a no-hitter while it is in progress. Because the no-hitter was the first game of a double header, Ellis was forced to keep track of the pitch count for the night game.[3]
According to Ellis:
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. 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.[4]
Attempting to hit every batter in the Cincinnati Reds lineup on May 1, 1974. In an effort to prove a point to teammates, Ellis hit Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen in the top of the first. The clean-up batter Tony Perez avoided Ellis' attempts, instead drawing a walk, and after two pitches aimed at the head of Johnny Bench, Ellis was removed from the game by manager Danny Murtaugh. Ellis' box score for the game reads: 0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.[5]
On May 5 1972, Dock Ellis engaged in an argument with a security guard who barred him from entering through the players' gate at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium and then maced him. The guard maintained that Ellis had failed to adequately identify himself, "made threatening gestures with a clenched fist," and was carrying a half-empty bottle of wine. Ellis denied that he had intended to punch the guard or was holding a bottle of wine and claimed he was denied entrance (and maced) despite showing his World Series ring as proof of identity.
Ellis went on to play for the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, and Texas Rangers, then ended his career back in Pittsburgh. He finished with a lifetime record of 138-119 and an ERA of 3.46.
Ellis collaborated with future U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall on a book, Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, which was published in 1976. Although Hall knew of the LSD incident, it was not included in the first edition of the book; Ellis was playing for the Yankees when the book was published, and Hall worried that George Steinbrenner would react negatively to such an admission.
Dock Ellis retired to Victorville, California and a career as a drug counselor.[6] He was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in 2007 and currently sits on the list for a transplant.[7]

If Tomorrow Never Comes

Not that anyone asked but I want it to be known that I do believe in something. I suppose I'm an agnostic. Thomas Paine died penniless for professing his beliefs in the book, 'Age of Reason' . Here is an except from Wikipedia on his death.....At the time of his death, most American newspapers reprinted the obituary notice from the New York Citizen, which read in part: "He had lived long, did some good and much harm." Only six mourners came to his funeral, two of whom were black, most likely freedmen. The great orator and writer Robert G. Ingersoll wrote:
"Thomas Paine had passed the legendary limit of life. One by one most of his old friends and acquaintances had deserted him. Maligned on every side, execrated, shunned and abhorred -- his virtues denounced as vices -- his services forgotten -- his character blackened, he preserved the poise and balance of his soul. He was a victim of the people, but his convictions remained unshaken. He was still a soldier in the army of freedom, and still tried to enlighten and civilize those who were impatiently waiting for his death, Even those who loved their enemies hated him, their friend -- the friend of the whole world -- with all their hearts. On the 8th of June, 1809, death came -- Death, almost his only friend. At his funeral no pomp, no pageantry, no civic procession, no military display. In a carriage, a woman and her son who had lived on the bounty of the dead -- on horseback, a Quaker, the humanity of whose heart dominated the creed of his head -- and, following on foot, two negroes filled with gratitude -- constituted the funeral cortege of Thomas Paine

Thankfully we have progressed at least an inch since then. I do not believe in heaven and hell and think its the cruelest idea ever invented. That's as far as I'm going with this. Todd Snider sums up everything for me in this song.

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If Tomorrow Never Comes


if tomorrow never comes
i wont give a damn
if tomorrow never comes
i will not be afraid to meet my maker
just the way that i am
you cant prove anything but one thing is true
if you can steal from me I can steal from you
any kind of heaven everybody doesn't get in
wont seem like a heaven to me
they tell you that the garden of eden was perfect
but you couldnt even eat off the apple tree
and for heavens sakes look out for that snake
lying to your woman constantly adam must have scratched his head
looked up and said lord this just isnt doing it for me
if tomorrow never comes
i wont give a damn
if tomorrow never comes i dont want to be afraid to come and meet you just the way that i am
i cant do anything im dying too
if tomorrow never comes
tonight will have to do
i say i dont ever claim to know whats going on around here
i dont even know where im from
i know where im going when i get to where im going
what im doing when i get done
you tell me im forgiven if i need to be
i say permission ought to come that easily
im piling cores up underneath this apple tree
singing oh lord have mercy on me
if tomorrow never comes
and tonight is all i got
if tomorrow never comes i dont want to be afraid
to come and meet you just the way that im not
cant do anything and then you die
judge the judgemental and what am i?
aaahhhhhhh
either way im every guy i ever tried not to be
i want everything as good as it gets
ive learned nothing but that there is another sun rise coming
all but one of the times it sets
and if tomorrow never comes tomorrow never comes
if tomorrow never comes
tomorrow never comes
if we were all good people
we could work in perfect rythmn
if worms had daggers
birds wouldnt fahq with them

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Another snippet from the song, 'Happy New Year'

i dont know what we're doing here

you don't "KNOW" what were doing here

now christians dont walk out on me just yet

you know whose name im yelling as im clutching my chest

the one my dad told me to and his told him to and i probably pray as much or more than you do

believe? shit, every word i sing

but believing and knowing, those are two different things

and if your trying to change the way a strangers life will have to go

i believe this is where i wanna stick to what i know

which is nothing you know, nothing for sure so

just chill til the next episode

now back to the lecture at hand

seems like my neighbor wants to kill what he cant understand

i say we cant just kill what we dont understand but i turn on my tv and see that oh yes we can

we can and we have since then dawn of man

for countless gods whose only real seeming plan

was to see to it that clinging to life was our fate

and you gotta admit that lifes pretty great

but can we deny that its killing us?

Todd Snider - Ascuagas Nugget Feb 23rd

We saw Todd Snider both Fri/Sat night at Ascuagas Nugget in Sparks. Both good shows with each having a unique feel. As you can see we had front row seats on this night. I've been a fan for a handful of years and seen him 1/2 dozen times. Saturday night he played a song called, 'Missing You'. I'd never heard it before and it immediately brought me to tears for the people and things I miss in my life. I am thankful to musicians who are able to pour out the good and bad as they feel it without shame and touch me. Since I can't return the favor in that I'm not an artist in any way shape or form I would just like to say thanks! This is part of the song Tension that was played on Friday night. 2nd link is Worst Case Scenearo which I didn't take.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_WwmQfPGHTk

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xmVt4cIMJq4