Baseball lost one of it's all-time great characters last night as former All Star pitcher Dock Ellis passed away at the age 63 due to a liver ailment. Ellis spent 12 years in the majors with Pittsburgh, the New York Yankees, Oakland, Texas and the New York Mets. He retired in 1979 with a record of 138-119, but was best known for several colorful incidents on and off the field, the most notable being the time he supposedly pitched a no-hitter on acid.

According to accounts he gave the press on April 1984, Ellis had spent the morning of June 12th, 1970 relaxing in his home town of Los Angeles, under the mistaken belief that the Pirates had the day off. Ellis said he ingested LSD around noon, but at 1pm his girlfriend picked up a newspaper and discovered that not only were the Pirates scheduled to play a double-header in San Diego that evening, but Ellis was slated to start the first game for the Pirates. Ellis managed to get to the airport on time and get down to San Diego, where he threw a no hitter. Any questions about whether or not he was on acid are pretty much answered by the fact that he walked eight guys during the game and beaned a dude too.

That wasn't all Ellis was known for though. In May 1974, in an effort to inspire a lifeless Pittsburgh team, Ellis drilled Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Dan Driessen in the top of the first inning. After walking Tony Perez (who managed to dodge four balls thrown at him), Ellis threw a pitch near Johnny Bench's head and was lifted from the game by manager Danny Murtaugh.

Ellis also gave up Reggie Jackson's memorable home run off the Tiger Stadium light tower in the 1971 All-Star Game in Detroit.

Ellis spoke freely about racial issues, once telling reporters that he wouldn't start against Oakland's Vida Blue in the All-Star Game because Major League Baseball would never start "two soul brothers'' against each other.

But as fiery a personality as Ellis had, he was also quite charitable. Ellis helped start the Black Athletes Foundation for Sickle Cell Research and he served as the coordinator of an anti-drug program in Los Angeles.