Joining the Yankees in 1976, he helped lead the team to the American League pennant, and was named the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award.

[4] He played baseball as an infielder for a local semi-professional team called the Pittsburgh Pirates Rookies, along with future major leaguers Willie Crawford, Bill Rohr, Tom Harrison, Bobby Tolan, Roy White, Ron Woods, Reggie Smith, Don Wilson, Bob Watson and Dave Nelson.

[9] In 1966, Ellis played for the Asheville Tourists of the Class AA Southern League, pitching to a 10–9 win–loss record, a 2.77 earned run average (ERA),[10] and an All-Star Game appearance.

He believed that he was not on the major league club because the Pirates already had a number of African American players; he felt that the team did not want to alienate white fans.

[18] At Columbus, Ellis credited his work with manager Johnny Pesky and pitching coach Harvey Haddix for improving his performance.

[26] After the Pirates had flown to San Diego on Thursday, June 11, Ellis visited a friend in Los Angeles and used LSD "two or three times".

Thinking it was still Thursday, he took a hit of LSD on Friday at noon, and his friend's girlfriend reminded him at 2:00 p.m. that he was scheduled to pitch that night.

Ellis walked eight batters and struck out six, and he was aided by excellent fielding plays by second baseman Bill Mazeroski and centerfielder Matty Alou.

[6] After the story was made public, Ellis said that he regretted taking LSD that day because it "robbed him of his greatest professional memory".

[38] Robin Williams riffed on Ellis and his no-hitter as part of a segment on performance-enhancing drugs in sports, during his 2009 HBO special Weapons of Self-Destruction.

Ellis struggled for the remainder of the 1970 season, and finished the year with a 13–10 win–loss record as he experienced elbow and shoulder pain.

[40] Ellis started Game 1 of the 1970 National League Championship Series (NLCS) to the Cincinnati Reds.

[43] He was rewarded by being named the Pirates' Opening Day starting pitcher; he defeated the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 4–2.

[44] After a strong start to the 1971 season, posting a 13–3 win–loss record,[45] Ellis was named to appear in the 1971 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, held at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

The AL selected Vida Blue of the Oakland Athletics as their starter, and Ellis publicly stated that National League All-Star Team manager Sparky Anderson would "never start two brothers against each other".

[49] The next time the two opposed each other, Ellis beaned Jackson in the face in retaliation for his earlier home run.

[6] Ellis missed most of the last month of the season because of tendinitis in his elbow,[5] and the Pirates lost the division to the New York Mets.

[70] Ellis hit Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen in the top of the first inning, with his first six pitches all aimed at the batters.

With the bases loaded, Ellis attempted to throw strikes to cleanup hitter Tony Pérez but walked him, forcing home a run.

After Ellis aimed two pitches at the head of Johnny Bench, he was removed from the game by manager Danny Murtaugh.

[73] A line drive off the bat of Willie Montañez fractured the fifth metacarpal bone in Ellis' pitching hand on September 10, prematurely ending his season.

[89] Before the 1977 season, Ellis publicly criticized Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for giving him a raise that was inadequate given his 1976 performance and for interfering with manager Billy Martin.

[97] After starting the 1979 season with a 1–5 win–loss record, Ellis was traded to the New York Mets on June 15, 1979, for minor league pitchers Mike Bruhert and Bob Myrick.

The Mets, seeking to upgrade their pitching staff due to poor performances and injuries to Pat Zachry and Skip Lockwood, acquired Andy Hassler from the Boston Red Sox on the same day.

He often asked teammates and members of other teams, including pitchers Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal, for advice on how to pitch opposing batters.

[105] His son with Austine, Dock Phillip Ellis III (Trey), played college basketball at California State University, Bakersfield.

[2] The Yankees hired Ellis in the 1980s to work with their minor league players,[108] including Pascual Perez, whom he counseled for drug problems.

[109] In 1989, Ellis served as player/coach for the St. Petersburg Pelicans of the Senior Professional Baseball Association and went 0–2 with a 1.76 ERA and seven saves as a part of the team's bullpen.

[111] However, Ellis suffered heart damage in his last weeks of life, which made a transplant impossible.

[2] Ellis died on December 19, 2008, at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center due to his liver ailment.