Big in Japan

Big in Japan in New York City. Sell out crowds and T-Shirt sales. Today I think it’s safe to say that Ichiro is familiar with Inoki, and Matsuzaka and Matsui surely pay their respects to Nomo. From Soriano to Shinjo, the influence and marketability of Japanese players has only grown. In fact, even the flops are good business.

Remember Me?
I’m 6 foot 4 inches. I weigh 240lb strong.

My nickname is Japan was Kurage – Japanese for ‘Jellyfish’

In 1997 I signed for 4 years, $12.8 Million to play in MLB

I have something up my sleeve…literally. I request 30 tiny magnets be attached to my right arm while I pitch - for blood circulation of course.

I carry around Nike bags in spring training, despite the $95 Million deal I signed with Adidas before throwing 1 major league pitch.

I sold out every seat in Yankee Stadium in my MLB debut; that’s 51,901 fans. In retrospect, the hype was only comparable to Mickey Mantle’s debut in 1951.

With my first start, I generated about $1M increase in revenue in one night.

My 1st game was broadcast to 35 million homes, 38 outdoor screens in urban areas of Japan.

My name used to be ‘ERA-boo’ in Japan – but it quickly became ‘ir-RAH-boo’ in the states. Typhoon Irabu – as the T-Shirts said.

He is now fondly known in baseball circles as simply ‘The Toad’

 

“We gonna do the do!”

 
“We gonna do the do!”

Dock Ellis and the Wide World of Fastballs, Drugs, Racism, and Wins

 

Dock Ellis

Pittsburgh Pirates Pitcher 1968-1979

 

World Series Champion

 

19-game winner

 

Dock woke up late on June 12, 1970.  He was in California and as far as he knew, the team had an off day.  He was with a lady friend.  Three hits of LSD were in the refrigerator.   Around noon, he and his friend dropped acid.  Dock put on a record, while his friend read the paper. 

 

“Dock, it says here that you’re pitching today!” – said his friend

 

“Whaaaaaa…?” said Dock

 

Pitched a No Hitter High on LSD

 

May 1, 1974 – ‘We gonna get down. We gonna do the do!” – announced Dock Ellis to his team prior to a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Big Red Machine. Feeling that his teammates were getting soft and bullied by the Reds, Ellis opened the game by drilling a baseball at all-time hit leader (4,256), 17-time All Star, Pete Rose, square in the ribs.  He then proceeded to hit the next batter, Hall of Fame second baseman, Joe Morgan, in the side.  Then he plunked 22-year old Dan Driessen in the back to load the bases. Tony Perez, the cleanup hitter, ducked and dodged pitches well enough to draw a walk.

Then Dock aimed his next 2 pitches at legendary catcher Johnny Bench’s head. “I tried to deck him twice,” Ellis recalled. “I threw at his jaw, and he moved. I threw at the back of his head, and he moved.”  Ellis was removed by his manager after his 2nd pitch to Bench.

 

After losing three straight division titles from 1970 to 1972, some say Dock Ellis saved the ’74 season for the Pirates. His team won a division title in 1974, while the ‘NL team of the decade’, the Reds, failed to win their division for the first time in the 70s.

 

Footnote: In the 1974 World Series, the Oakland A’s beat the LA Dodgers in 5 games. It was the 1^st ever All California World Series. 

 

 

In 1973, after his many hairstyles were profiled by Ebony Magazine (August 1973 - Special Issue: The Black Middle Class) - Dock Ellis wore curlers during warm ups.  He was told by commissioner Bowie Kuhn to stop wearing the hair curlers in pregame warmup.  “They didn’t put out any orders about Joe Pepitone when he wore a hairpiece down to his shoulders.”