In an homage of sorts to Dock Ellis’ infamous 1970 no-hitter, which was reportedly achieved under the influence of LSD, Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio decided to drop acid for the first time in his life and try to throw a no-hitter on MLB2K11 — using a custom-generated version of the 1970 Ellis.
The pixelated field was so lush and vibrant, ground zero for some damn good video-game baseball, courtesy of me, the shaggy dude with a head full of low-grade lysergide. I was putting on an absolute clinic for these imaginary spectators, not to mention (editor Tommy Craggs and video editor Matt Toder). “You’re cruising right along,” one of them said, or maybe it was the hydrangea. They marveled at how quickly I’d mastered Dock’s palm ball. [Ed. note: This may have been the point where Craggs wrote to tell the office that A.J. was saying “Palm ball!” to himself, over and over, like an incantation.]
Then Nick Hundley busted it up with a lazy single and my brain screamed “NOOOOOO!” in a high-pitched roller-coaster whistle. That was cruel. Life was cruel. It’s Tuesday. Is my leg on fire? Then I took another dose.
Every time an opposing player got a hit, Daulerio would start over. He did this 48 times. Started over, that is. He didn’t drop acid 48 times (we think). Alas, he was unsuccessful in his quest.
Nevertheless he took acid during a work day, with the full knowledge of his boss, and he taped himself playing a video game. That has to be a milestone in itself.