Dock's drug use has garnered more than its fair share of attention, but he has become one of baseball's good guys with his efforts as a drug counselor over the past 25 years. He also deserves praise for his efforts at prison reform in the early 1970s. He used to regularly visit inmates in the Pennsylvania penitentiary system and talk to them about ways that prison life could be made more humane.

Thoughts and prayers out to the Dock and his family.

Damn.

I didn't know that about cirrhosis making you itch.

One of my wife's friends from her mommy group developed a liver condition during pregnancy that made her itch all over. I don't know what it's called, but it went away after she gave birth.

Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy

I Hope they find a donor for him so he can get a transplant.

Man-o-man, ya play eight years with the Pirates and one for the Yanks and you're known as a "Former Yankee".

I just saw Josh Wilker's post over at Cardboards Gods presented by Baseball Toaster, and I only have one thing to say...

Dock Ellis is black?

Aren't you the same guy who was surprised the other day to learn Jim Rice was black?

Just for the record, Bobby Tolan, Lee May, Tommy McCraw, George Foster, Mudcat Grant, Vida Blue, Dave Cash, Bill Madlock, Vic Harris, George Scott, Bob Veale, Fergie Jenkins, Al Oliver, Jim Ray Hart, Dan Ford, Larry Hisle, and Lee Smith are all black.

Also, Hank Aaron is black, despite the similarity of his name to Hank Hill and Hank Williams.

New rules! It is only interesting to say "I had no idea that guy was the race he is" unless either

A) He is currently an obscure player
or
B) He is new to the major leagues

AND

C) His name would actually lead an impartial observer to draw an incorrect assumption about his race, instead of just being generically ambiguous.

For example, A and C would apply to Steve Jeltz, whereas B and C would apply to Reggie Willits.

I decided some rules like this had to be codified, after I started talking about how I never realized Al Bumbry was black, and then realized that that was a dumb and pointless observation, because his name sounds plenty black, and why would anyone care about my misconceptions of ballplayers from the 70's anyway? I might as well have said "Wow, I never would have guessed Don Sutton had curly hair".

I had no idea Jimmy Wynn and Eric Davis were black for the longest time.

No, it wasn't me who was stunned that Jim Rice was black. I'm just barely old enough to have seen some of his baseball cards. And Dock Ellis is the first black man named Dock or Doc that I've ever heard of. Okay, I just remembered Doc Gooden, so I stand corrected. And I think it's legit to include old players that you've heard plenty about but never got to see as a D) to Crispix's rules. We all form images in our heads (at least I hope I'm not the only one) of people we hear about, so occasionally we're surprised when we're far off base. Usually, in my case, I am surprised when a guy is either fat or not, depending on what my mental picture of him was. Sometimes it's race. Used to be that I'd be bummed out to meet some chick I'd only heard on the phone and thought she sounded hot, only to find out she was a rottweiler. This would usually happen at work when I'd meet someone at the holiday party or something. Pretty soon I realized that they're always dogs in the end so I don't let myself get disappointed anymore.

Once when I had a pizza delivery job for a summer in college, I took an order for this ridiculously hot sounding chick named Candy. I had to deliver this pizza. Such a bummer. She was hideous.

As for Dock Ellis, I think I always pictured him to look just like Bill Lee, if Bill Lee is the one with the pot brownies. The drug association and all. Unless Bill Lee is black too, then I just don't know anymore.

Bill Lee is white. Cecil Cooper, Ben Oglivie, Roger Moret and Luis Tiant are all black.

When I was little, I thought that Hack Wilson was black. I think I saw a picture of him and learned the truth that way before I found out that you weren't allowed to be black back then.

What's confusing is Bud Black is white, and, former Yankee, Roy White is black.

Used to be that I'd be bummed out to meet some chick I'd only heard on the phone and thought she sounded hot, only to find out she was a rottweiler. This would usually happen at work when I'd meet someone at the holiday party or something. Pretty soon I realized that they're always dogs in the end so I don't let myself get disappointed anymore.

Once when I had a pizza delivery job for a summer in college, I took an order for this ridiculously hot sounding chick named Candy. I had to deliver this pizza. Such a bummer. She was hideous.

Stay classy, Justin.

You must be quite the catch.

Are you an ugly chick or something? Why take such offense? My best guess is you got stuck with one. Sorry man, but it's not my fault.

B- flame.

only to find out she was a rottweiler.

So's your mom.

Like they say...beauty is only skin deep. Ugly goes all the way to the bone.

Doc(k)s Ellis and Medich were contemporaries, so I suppose that could contribute to some pigmentary confusion. Plus they were traded for each other, no?

i was watching espn classic today and saw that roy white was still with the yankees when they won the series in 77 and 78. i always thought he was out of baseball by then ... and he was a player i was initially surprised to find out was black.

Thurman Munson was black, eventually.

Dock Ellis is the first black man named Dock or Doc that I've ever heard of.

"Doc" Charlie Drew passes.

I like rottweilers.

As a 9-year-old who cried when Thurman was killed, allow me to thank 23 for making me laugh.

This thread should really help Stephen Colbert.

I had no idea Jimmy Wynn and Eric Davis were black for the longest time.

And now they're white? Day-umn. No one ever tells me anything.