No No: A Dockumentary Page #3

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of everybody, you know.

He took care of that family,

you know.

He helped kept them together.

You know, junior had to

be home at ten o'clock.

You know, junior had to

be home at ten o'clock.

Okay?

And at ten o'clock,

junior was home.

My Uncle would be in the

audience, and when dock

would strike somebody out,

he'd jump up,

and he'd just start hollering,

and he jumps up.

Then he has to take...

He has asthma,

so he has to take

these inhalers.

And as dock would do something

good on the field,

he'd take and start

inhaling himself.

(Breathes heavily) Because,

you know, he's wheezing.

And dock would tell me, "see,

he shouldn't even be here

and dock would tell me, "see,

he shouldn't even be here

at this baseball game."

Marsha Hoffman:
That sounded

just like him!

"He's gonna die sitting out here

at this baseball game

cheering for me."

Everybody in our neighborhood...

Most of all the best players,

you always wanted to play

on Chet brewer's team.

Chet was an ex-negro league

player, but he had an

affiliation with Pittsburgh.

And so all of us tried to play

on his team because he had the

best players, and a lot of

scouts would come watch

best players, and a lot of

scouts would come watch

his team play.

If you talk to people

about Chet brewer,

he's in the same breath

as satchel Paige.

Chet could throw sinkers.

He could throw curveballs.

He could throw fastballs.

He could spot the ball.

And some of the pitches

that he had,

dock picked up.

That's where dock

got his stuff from.

At that time, dock was

a youngster, but he was

always a little bit above

and more knowledgeable

than most of the other guys

around the neighborhood.

He asked a lot of questions.

He asked a lot of questions.

"Well, why you do this?"

"Well, how you make

that ball do this?"

When he was on the ball field,

he was in command.

He was our number one starter.

Dock:
I used to always

tell my first wife,

"I'm gonna be in

the big leagues.

I ain't gonna be home."

(Music)

Dock didn't really get hooked up

with girls until he met Paula.

I was George Washington's

first black homecoming queen.

Dock was my escort, because

we were going together

at that time.

She was a swimmer.

She was an athlete.

She was in drum and bugle.

She was in every club

that there was on campus.

The thing about Paula that was

so impressive is that their

entire family were always these

people who stood up for the

right thing and who had

a say-so, who had a

voice of activism.

My father stressed and my

parents stressed

my father stressed and my

parents stressed

good moral behavior,

good conduct.

Profanity was never used

or allowed in our house.

My parents didn't

drink or smoke.

Dock would come to pick

Paula up at school,

and we would be in awe that

this guy with this loud car

that would rev would come

and pick up our star.

And she was our star.

She was a person that we all

looked up to and held great

promise of what was

her future going to be.

I don't know what it was that

attracted me to him at first.

I don't really know.

I don't really know.

But he could be funny.

He could be funny.

Everyone in the neighborhood

spoke very well of him.

And I guess to a certain extent,

he had a certain bad boy image

that for my family and my

upbringing was unique,

was novel.

So I guess when you

put it all together,

it turned into love.

Ray Jones:
Now, you're married.

Okay?

Okay?

I say, "dock, you got to do

something better than this."

Because he was up there with

the... that wrong influence.

He said, "son, I'm going

to do something."

I said, "well, you got to

just do it for yourself."

And then when his daddy died,

you really got to do

something now.

Now what you gonna do now?

And then that's when he decided

that he would go ahead

and concentrate on one thing and

concentrate on that baseball.

And concentrate on one thing and

concentrate on that baseball.

And that's what he put...

He went full steam ahead.

Peter golenbock:
Where'd they

send you that first year?

Dock:
Batavia, New York.

Peter:
What was that like?

Dock Ellis:
It wasn't that bad.

I got into drinking

then, though.

Peter:
Oh, so where did they

send you the next year?

Dock:
Kinston,

north Carolina.

Peter:
M-hmm.

Dock:
You know the first

night in town I cussed

the police out.

They said, "boy, where

you from?"

I said, "California."

And they said, "oh, lord.

You one of them ball players?"

You one of them ball players?"

I said, "you're damn right."

A lot of people didn't

realize things that we

had to go through in

the minor leagues.

You know, when I first came

into baseball in '66,

I went to Salem, Virginia,

and we were separated,

the black players from

the white players.

I mean, we couldn't

stay in the same hotel.

My first, first full year

in professional baseball,

I spent in Raleigh,

north Carolina,

the capital of the ku klux klan.

And we stayed at a hotel,

eight of us altogether.

Blacks and Latin.

And somebody had went by my room

and put three 'k's' on my door.

And somebody had went by my room

and put three 'k's' on my door.

Now, I'm scared to death to even

go in this room and for about

four or five nights, I never

even slept in that room.

I went to the other room

with the other players.

There was a lot of things that

when you look at a baseball game

you didn't see.

And it was maybe more blatant

in the carolinas and Columbus.

And my first reaction

and dock's first reaction was

now you want to fight somebody.

And it's just, you know,

it's not gonna work here.

We talking '60's and say this

and say that.

We talking '60's and say this

and say that.

You can't say all that,

'cause you have a career.

Because you... the next thing

they gonna do is blackball you.

I could always talk to dock.

There's probably two players

I know of, maybe three,

that could have talked to dock

and calmed him down,

and that would have been

clemente, stargell, and myself.

And that was because of the

respect that he had for us.

Paula Johnson:
His first

roommate was Roberto clemente,

and Roberto clemente was

way ahead of his time.

And Roberto clemente was

way ahead of his time.

Just a different approach.

But he was just as vocal,

just as innovative as dock.

Not as flamboyant.

Not as outrageous.

Roberto clemente:

I am puerto rican.

I am black.

So anything that I do first,

it will be reflected on me

because I am black.

And second, it will be reflected

on me because I am puerto rican.

Dock:
What happened was uh...

Johnny pesky was the

manager at Columbus, and he had

asked me to be his dog for

30 days, and I would get

to the big leagues.

30 days, and I would get

to the big leagues.

So I said, "what do you mean?"

He said, "be ready to

pitch every f***ing day."

And so I did, and I

was in the big leagues.

(Music)

(Music)

When you get to the

major leagues,

it's easier coming

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