Good, Old-Fashioned Recreational Drugs

Since the talk of steroids and HGH can be so tiring, I thought it might be fun to get back to the basics... you know, marijuana, LSD, cocaine, that sort of thing. It's not brand new, and I believe it originally appeared in a special sports issue of a magazine called Frank 151, but if you haven't seen the Illustrated History of Recreational Drugs and Sports, it's worth more than a few minutes of your Sunday.

The words are by Nick Strini and Chris Isenberg, and the illustrations by James Blagden, as you can see, are top shelf.

A couple of my favorites...

1970 - Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Dock Ellis throws a no-hitter will tripping on LSD. "The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me."

1993 - Robert Parish, the oldest player in the NBA is arrested when police find marijuana in his home and in a FedEx package addressed to him. Parish and Alaa Abdelna are rumored to be called "Chief and Chong" by teammates.

This is what the Internet is for.

Illustrated History of Recreational Drugs and Sports [No Mas] No Mas x Frank 151 Sports Issue [No Mas] More Recreational Drugs! [Mister Irrelevant]