when Pittsburg Pirate pitcher Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter while
tripping on acid. To me, it is the greatest sports feat of all time.
I heard him talk about that game, and he said that sometimes when the catcher threw the ball back to him, it looked like a beach ball. Other times it looked like a pea.
He said at some point late in the game, his teammates started whispering around him about "the no-no" and he thought they were all saying that it was a "no-no" to pitch on acid! He thought they were on to him.
Seriously, how did he deal with the sizzling green grass or the demon-faced batters without falling completely apart?
The greatest game ever pitched was on June 12, 1970 . . . when Pittsburg Pirate pitcher Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter while tripping on acid. To me, it is the greatest sports feat of all time.
I'll see and raise: 9 September 1965---Sandy Koufax's perfect game.
Because, on the flip side of that game, while Koufax was finishing with the flourish of striking out the final six batters he faced (including the same man whom he got out to end his 1963 no-no against the Giants, Harvey Kuenn), Chicago Cub starter Bob Hendley damn near had a no-hitter of his own. Hendley surrendered only one hit all game long, a bloop double to Lou Johnson in the seventh inning, after which Hendley got three more outs to strand Johnson. The Dodgers got the game's only run two innings earlier, when Johnson drew a walk, was bunted over to second, stole third, and came home on a throwing error by young Cub catcher Chris Krug.
Years later, Koufax would be surprised to receive in his mail a photograph of Hendley (long since a college baseball coach) with a note from Hendley's son. Koufax replied with a pleasant note ending with, "Say hello to your father for me." A short while later, on the thirtieth anniversary of the perfecto, Bob Hendley received a small package---a 1965 National League ball inscribed on the meat, WHAT A GAME!, and a small handwritten note: WE HAD A MOMENT, A NIGHT, A CAREER. I HOPE LIFE HAS BEEN GOOD TO YOU. SANDY.
That is why, to this day, whenever he's asked how it felt to be on the losing side of that game, Bob Hendley invariably replies, "It's no disgrace to be beaten by class."
LOL