No No: A Dockumentary Page #8

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respond at the time.

He was so wrapped

up in the game.

And then about a couple innings

later, he came back, he said,

"Dave, I still got

a no-no going."

Dock:
I could also feel

the pressure from other players

wanting to tell him to shut up,

because you're not supposed

to say nothing if somebody's

throwing a no-hitter,

because it's bad luck.

Commentator:
Bouncer down

to first base.

Oliver, brilliant play.

Underhand's to Ellis, two down.

I hit a couple guys.

It was an ugly no-hitter,

I got letters about it.

But it was a no-no.

Commentator:
Everybody in that

bullpen is standing

and walking around nervous.

Strike one.

Now, the pitch.

Strike two.

Dock Ellis, looking out

at the scoreboard,

dock Ellis, looking out

at the scoreboard,

he can see zero, zero, zero

where it says, San Diego.

And dock Ellis checks

his sign and comes down.

Strike three!

They're going after him.

He got it!

(Crowd clapping, cheering)

Commentator:
They're mobbing

dock Ellis on a no-hitter!

I remember the phone

started ringing.

Them calling Paula, the news

media, and we're like,

"what? What, what?"

I told him, "hey dock,

you did a hell a job!"

He said, "what the hell I did?"

I said, "what you mean,

what you did?

"You know what you did.

You pitched a no-hitter,"

and he says to me, "no sh*t!"

Dock:
I was gone.

I was in the wind...

To party all night.

(Music)

(Music)

Commentator:
With the reds

against the pirates,

the pirates start dock Ellis.

The pirates start dock Ellis.

One night, we're playing at

the stadium and he comes in

the trainer's room and I reach

for the vida oil,

and he says, "oh, what

am I doing here?"

He says, "I'm not going to

be out there too long."

Dock:
Cincinnati, to me, had

been intimidating the pirates.

When we were sitting there,

I said, "look at them,

here they come."

I said, "just look at

them shaking hands."

"Just look at them over there!

"And they're going to

kick our ass

and then talk sh*t

about us."

And I reminded them, I said,

"if you shake hands,

I'm going to hit you."

So I thought of throwing

at my own teammates,

so I thought of throwing

at my own teammates,

hitting them with the ball.

Get away from them!

And they said,

"oh, he's gone nuts."

So they stopped talking to them.

But that was my thing, trying

to let my teammates know,

that these guys are going to

come in here and kiss your ass

and kick your ass,

and laugh at you.

Our players were getting

knocked down,

getting hit and everything,

but the other starting pitchers

from our team wasn't doing

nothing from retaliation.

Dock walked out and stopped

at batting practice and said,

"every one of you coming

to the plate tomorrow,

"every one of you coming

to the plate tomorrow,

I'm hitting you."

Dock:
I told the team, it's no

need of us having a meeting,

going over the hitters,

because it's on.

I'm going to do the do today.

(Music, crowd cheering)

He said to me, "Manny,

there's no sign today."

He said, "just you step behind

home plate, I throw the ball."

When the game started, you know,

that was Pete rose.

I threw at him a couple times,

I said, the only thing

I threw at him a couple times,

I said, the only thing

I can hit on him

is his big butt.

First batter,

dock hit him.

When I hit him, he ran down

to first base,

and he had the ball and

flipped it to me.

I said, "I want to kill him!"

Because he was telling me,

it don't hurt.

Second batter,

dock hit him.

Joe Morgan was up next,

and Joe told Pete rose,

"he won't hit me because

I'm a brother."

And I popped his butt.

Third batter,

dock hit him.

Dock:
It was all

about intimidation,

and the next hitter

was Dan dries sen.

By this time, the fans

are mumbling.

They have no idea

what's going on.

Dock:
And then after him,

was Tony Perez.

And I couldn't hit Tony.

You can't hit anyone

if they know

you're throwing at them.

Threw at Johnny bench

and they took me out.

Then I was gone.

I mean, it was unbelievable.

We could not imagine

what was going on.

Murtaugh came out angry,

because he knew that this

murtaugh came out angry,

because he knew that this

was not a lapse of control.

He knew that dock was

being dock and he yanked

him out of the game.

It was a pretty bizarre

and eventful day.

There was a lot of friction

up there at that batter's box.

You think of stories of dock,

and it's not all praise

because he could piss you off

in a minute, too.

But we're in Montreal and the

starters are all pitching bad.

Murtaugh called a meeting, and

he says, "I don't know what's

murtaugh called a meeting, and

he says, "I don't know what's

"going on with you guys,

but somebody's going

to have to go to the bullpen."

Dock stood right up and said,

"well, who am the one

what am going to the bullpen?"

With an exaggerated

black accent.

And he says, "blass ain't

going to the bullpen,

"moose ain't going to the

bullpen, and you know the

docktor ain't going

to the bullpen!"

And murtaugh...

I don't know what got resolved.

Hopefully, we started

pitching better.

I got to go to the bullpen.

You got to go...

You were the one that

got to go to the bullpen?

If they start moving you now

from a starting pitcher

if they start moving you now

from a starting pitcher

to the bullpen, you really

start thinking, uh,

are they going to move me

off the team?

I'm not going to get as

many opportunities now.

Do they think that I'm sort

of losing it a little bit?

Dock wasn't having a good year.

From spring training to

maybe June or July,

dock had not won a game.

Everybody eventually gets

put out to pasture.

I mean, it happens.

I mean, it happens.

You don't play, you don't

pitch forever.

And it's a tough call,

sometimes, for a manager

or a pitching coach to make

that determination.

Bob smizik:
I think they used

him once in the bullpen,

and then the second time,

he refused to go into the game.

This was like on a Thursday

that

he refused to go into the game,

and that Saturday, dock was

going to speak to the team

and apologize to murtaugh

for not going in to pitch.

Dock apparently

got up to speak,

and as he's slowly talking,

people are starting to realize,

and as he's slowly talking,

people are starting to realize,

he's not apologizing,

he's just reinforcing

his belief that they were wrong

in putting him in the bullpen.

By 8:
00, the pirates

made an announcement

that dock Ellis had

been suspended.

Commentator:
Ellis was

suspended, you know, for awhile.

Tom reich:
When you're a

dock Ellis, confrontation

becomes unavoidable.

Becomes unavoidable.

Dock:
Maury wills was

doing a telecast,

and made mention that dock Ellis

was being showcased.

He will be somewhere next year.

Commentator:
Ellis is just 30

years of age, so he is

by no means an old timer.

Well, it was time for him

at that time, for a change,

like a trade.

Steinbrenner, who I knew

very well, I said to him,

"when he is on the mound, he's

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