No No: A Dockumentary Page #9

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as serious as a heart attack."

What a terrible trade.

What a terrible trade.

One of the worst trades

I have ever seen.

Period.

(Music)

(Music)

(Music)

I remember when he went

to the Yankees.

I was thinking a little bit,

dock Ellis and the Yankees,

I don't know!

(Laughs)

(Music and crowd cheering)

Dock:
It was a hard spring

training for me,

because I was trying

to fool the players.

Because I was trying

to fool the players.

They partied together.

I told them I didn't

do those things.

They were all new to me,

and I had to have my time

to check 'em out, but what they

were telling me is, "we're cool.

"We're all cool.

"We know you're cool.

"We've found out about you.

Come on!"

I'm saying, "no!"

Peter golenbock:
How long did

it take you to check them out?

Dock:
First night,

of the season.

We all got high together.

We all got high together.

That team drank,

smoked dope, cocai...

Everything, together.

But it was kick-ass

and take names.

Boy 1:
I know plenty of guys

who do drugs

and still put out their best.

Boy 2:
Yeah, now what

about that, mister?

I can remember him hitting

Reggie Jackson one time.

Dock:
A lot of people talk

about that home run Reggie

hit off of me in the

all-star game.

Dan Epstein:
1971 all-star

game, Reggie Jackson hits

this mega-lific home run

off of dock Ellis.

Commentator:
There's a

long drive...

Commentator:
There's a

long drive...

That one is going up, it is...

Off the roof.

Dan Epstein:
And that's

pretty much the last time

they faced each other

until 1976.

They say that's the reason

why I hit him when

he was with Baltimore,

but that wasn't the case.

It was something else.

He had stood up on the

top of the dugout steps

and challenged me.

So, dock's pitching against

the orioles.

He's facing mark belanger, who's

the orioles' like great field,

no-hit shortstop.

No-hit shortstop.

Dock:
While I was

exchanging baseballs,

mark had his head down,

and when I threw the ball back,

belanger almost got hit because

he hadn't come out of the box.

He had his head down.

And they tell me Reggie was

coming up the steps

and he thought I had

thrown at belanger.

And he screamed, "why don't you

hit a big so-and-so like me?"

And I just glanced back.

I said, ooooh, you know.

Again, I was high as a Georgia

pine, and so when he got

to the plate, thurman came out

to the mound and asked me,

to the plate, thurman came out

to the mound and asked me,

he said, "did you hear what

your brother man said?"

I said, "yeah, I heard him.

"Get your little fat butt back

behind the plate

and don't say nothing,

don't give me no signals."

So Reggie comes up and I just,

you know, different pitches

in and out and caught him

leaning, and hit him.

Peter golenbock:
Did he say

anything afterwards?

Dock:
Yeah.

He says I should have called.

He had the paper, I should

have called to see how he was.

He had the paper, I should

have called to see how he was.

But I was embarrassed I

didn't really hurt him.

I go back in the locker room and

i got three one hundred

dollar bills over my locker,

and I never had to buy

another drink the rest of

the year from them guys.

I remember the incident.

You know, Reggie probably popped

off, said something to him,

and he says, okay, take this.

But there's a way you do it

and there's a time you do it.

Never a ball in the head area.

If you hit somebody and hurt

them or there's a fight

because you're hitting him

and both teams are hurt.

Because you're hitting him

and both teams are hurt.

Ownership is really set back

with a lot of money

sitting on the side,

and for that reason,

during owner's meetings

and gm's meetings,

it was stressed that we

clean the game up.

All the players are

protected now.

They've got shin guards

on their elbows,

they've got pads everywhere.

You can't knock a

hitter down anymore.

They don't pitch inside.

That's why you see so

many home runs hit.

The game has changed.

The game has changed.

Dan Epstein:
He had a really

strong year for the Yankees

that year.

I think that was maybe the

second best year of his career.

It seemed like he was

really revitalized.

(Music)

Donald hall:
He came up to

look over the manuscript,

and we sat at the table,

at the dining room,

going over it, page by page.

Donald hall is a very good

writer, and I had a lot of

Donald hall is a very good

writer, and I had a lot of

respect for him, but there were

certain things that would've

been extremely damaging to dock.

Donald hall:
And he said,

"you can't put that in there."

And I said, "why?"

He said, "I am working

for Mr. steinbrenner."

Tom reich:
This was

a very serious issue.

Some of this material could have

been very fatal to his career.

You know, and with a public

figure, and particularly

you know, and with a public

figure, and particularly

at that time, the players

had no leverage.

There were no long-term

deals yet.

Dock:
You had to read

between the lines with me,

because in my book it talks

about going back to the hotel,

drinking the orange juice, gin

and smoking "super kools,"

which was...

Super kool was cocaine,

but nobody really knew

what that was back then.

But read through the lines

and you know I was going back

to the hotel to get high.

To the hotel to get high.

I just hate that I was not sober

when I played for the Yankees.

See, I can only vaguely

remember some of that.

I saw greenies, marijuana

and cocaine,

but I never saw meth or heroine

or anything like that.

It was in Pittsburgh.

That's where we met.

Dock was at the

bar having a drink.

He comes up to me and

asks me for my autograph.

He comes up to me and

asks me for my autograph.

I had no idea who he was.

When he was around me, we were

just ordinary people.

I didn't feel like he was a

Reggie Jackson or this big star.

He was dock to me, you know?

Just because he played ball,

that was his job.

He was very low key, but he

just made me feel special.

I don't know what he did on the

road, but he never made me

feel like there was

somebody else, ever.

Feel like there was

somebody else, ever.

I don't remember, you know,

any bad times at that time.

Dock loved being in New York.

Commentator:
The Yankees would

like to see themselves get

back into this series, and

they're hoping that, that man,

dock Ellis, a 17-game winner

and a former national leaguer,

can help them stem the red tide.

(Music and crowd cheering)

(Music and crowd cheering)

17 and 8, he went

for the yanks.

He went 17 games

for the Yankees.

They went to the

world series.

Commentator:
Pete rose is ready

to start the action.

He gets it going in a hurry.

(Music)

(Music)

(Music)

Dan Epstein:
I remember him

pitching in the world series

and, you know, not doing well,

but then the Yankees

got completely steamrolled

by the reds in that series.

(Music)

Commentator:
Cincinnati scores

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