The BASEBALL RELIQUARY Inc.
DOCK ELLIS HAIR CURLERS
A 1999 electee to the Baseball
Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals, Dock Ellis
was often called the Muhammad Ali of baseball.
During his 12-year Major League career
(1968-1979), most of which was spent as a
right-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates,
Ellis was outspoken and controversial. He was a
passionate critic of what he perceived as racial
prejudice in baseball, particularly of bigotry
by ownership and management. Ellis was also
flamboyant and outrageous. In 1973 after
Ebony magazine ran a feature on his
“Superfly” hairstyle, Ellis became the darling
of America’s hairdressers. When he walked onto
the field in hair curlers during pregame
workouts, it made the hair on Commissioner Bowie
Kuhn’s head stand on end. Kuhn sent a letter to
the pitcher, ordering him to cease and desist
wearing curlers onto the field of play. Ellis
reluctantly shelved the curlers, after
declaring, “They didn’t put any orders about
[Yankees star] Joe Pepitone when he wore a
hairpiece down to his shoulders.”
Photo of hair curlers courtesy of Larry Goren |