Never had a flashback, My attitudes and outlook on a lot of things changed, and having seen people do some incredible things while tripping I'd say that the story is plausible at least and if the man says he did I'd believe it.

totally plausible. and in the interest on privacy, i will not answer the rest of your questions. :)

Bill 'Spaceman' Lee also pitched while dosed, more than once. don't know that he ever got a no-no, but he was very successful with it.

I haven't had any flashbacks of course my children, Rainbow and Starshine, do. Pitch a no-hitter while tripping? Totally plausible. I strongly suspect my attitude was changed, but what experience especially a profound one doesn't change your attitude?

When LSD was still being used by a few psychiatrists in Hollywood, Cary Grant actually underwent treatment, taking it, he claimed, more than a hundred times. (This use was still legal, but hardly socially acceptable since acid had already developed something of an underground reputation.) One afternoon when his agent had to reach him he was told by Cary's service that Grant was at the doctor's. Not knowing what the therapy entailed, and not wanting to wait to talk with his client, the agent went over to the therapist's office. The receptionist was out so he simply walked in, and found Grant, zonked on acid, sitting on the carpet playing with a toy train--a regression exercise.

The doctor froze, but there was nothing to worry about. The agent thought Grant was just being his usual silly self, and carried on a conversation with him, Grant nodding and responding like a six year-old the whole time. With the matter settled, the agent said goodbye, and Grant waved to him and blew him a rasberry. It wasn't until years later that he found out the truth. But to the day he died, Grant claimed that acid had helped him 'break through' many psychological barriers from his childhood, and improved him as an actor. Toy trains and all.

Hallucinogens often lead to deep introspection, focus, and a heightened awareness, all things that could lead a pitcher to a no-hitter. Of course, it could also lead to a pitcher running around the field like a chicken; but I think the fact that Dock Ellis felt comfortable enough doing acid while pitching indicated he had experience with the drug before and knew what he was getting into.

Never had a flashback, but I only did it a couple of times, and I doubt it has had any lasting effect. But I know some people who did a lot and are no longer functional, so like anything in excess it can be detrimental to your mental and physical health

Definitely plausible – I don't think LSD would have any adverse influence on motor control and it might temporarily enhance the relevant powers of perception. But the story is made a bit less plausible by the thought of him doing this on the second day of a trip, when one might have expected him to be just a little bit strung out. Mind you, I'm not speaking from experience, as I have not pitched a major-league baseball game under the influence of anything.

I ate dinner with my parents one time when I was on acid. Don't know if Dock could have pulled that off.

What a wonderfully funky little film.

No flashbacks for me, thanks!

David Wells claims he pitched his perfect game with an extreme hangover. Sometimes stuff like that helps you to focus.

Great video and let us all take a moment to praise the eternal funkiness of Rufus Thomas.

The story is plausible, especially if Ellis had dropped many hours before gametime and attenuated the LSD's effects with benzedrine.

Not sure what a Flashback is but I've had many, many things remind me in a completely straight condition of thoughts, feelings, sights and sounds I experienced while on acid.

The aftereffects of taking LSD are different for everyone -- not sure 'getting over it' is a helpful way of thinking about them -- but I can say for certain you're never quite the same after dropping acid.

Then again, you're never quite the same no matter what you do.

I had a flashback while driving once... suddenly all the cars were attached to puppet strings. Not good.

Entirely plausible. Never had a flashback. Acid was like getting a pre-Internet ping back from the Universe.

"The psychedelic experience is the birthright of every being on the planet" -- T. McKenna

The road to Eleusís. Body surfing on acid = omfg

That video was hilarious. It was like listening to an old Richard Pryor album.

Rated

My understanding is that LSD is stored in your spinal fluid after you've come down, as opposed to, say, THC, which is stored in your fat cells. Flashbacks are usually the result of fat being burned, release said drug back into your bloodstream as unpredictable times. Now, I'm no doctor (though I play one on my blog), but it seems to me that since the vast majority of LSD users also smoke pot, these 'flashbacks' everyone refers to are more likely to be THC going back into your bloodstream, not LSD. Also, from personal experience, I can tell you I have tripped many times in my past and have known many trippers as well. No one I ever met had actually had a flashback.
That said, if someone here has actually had one, I'd love to hear it.

No flashback: I went back to the play ground ask the swarthy guy in the trenchcoat for a refund but he just grinned, shook my hand "No" was all he said.

I doubt it's plausible, I never had a bad experience, I believe that the only way it changed my was one trip that winded its way from Quechee, VT to Hanover, NH in a large group to see Blazing Saddles. Since that time, for no other reasons that I can imagine, I can recite the entire screenplay.

1. Quite plausible.
2. One flashback. Pleasant, like a little free sample.
3. Attitude changes? Yes.

Never had a flashback, never looked back after tripping for the last time.
I had a blast, laughing so hard all night long, good friends, good fun, never a bad trip. I shot excellent pool too, because I could see the vectors with my own two eyes.

Like Cary Grant I probably dropped acid 100 times. Maybe more. I was doing it approximately every week from '68 through 1970 at least. I continue to do it if I have the time and something good comes along. The last time was a couple of years ago in New Orleans. I dropped acid, ate some mushrooms and washed it down with a few shots of Patron, a cocktail I would recommend to anyone who doesn't mind swimming the thaumaturgic stream for half a day.

I ended up in a strip club on the Quarter watching a huge, fat black snake work the pole.

I have no doubt that no-hitter could have been pitched while under the influence. And, in fact, because of the influence.

I've never had a flashback. I've always thought that the existence flashbacks was fear-mongering, despite the anecdotal evidence of a couple of the comments here.

I think that a huge spiritual/philosophical shift is possible as a result of ingesting unadulterated d-lysergic acid diethylamide.

But consider the source.

Aric Dante: LSD does NOT accumulate in spinal fluid.

PCP and ketamine do- but that's an entirely different group of chemicals.

And THC does not accumulate in fat cells in an active state- it's stored as an inactive metabolite with a half-life of perhaps 7-10 days.

I hope you didn't get your misinformation from the DARE program.

As long as there's a Zero Tolerance War On Some Drugs, science is bound to get politicized from time to time. Leaving skeptical people caught between Official Misinformation and Street Folklore. It's a toss-up as to which is more inaccurate.

And Dock Ellis did not plan to go to the mound high on acid. He thought he had the day off, and got the call on very short notice. He had actually ingested on the previous night, so he had ridden out the most intense effects.

He was probably in that "more normal than normal" state, where...further, affiant sayeth not.

mjwycha did this months ago... same post essentially.

This story is great. I first heard of Dock Ellis' "adventure" through an incredibly funny Todd Snider song (America's Favorite Pastime). It's definitely one of the stranger tales of baseball glory. I wrote about the incident this past summer. You may enjoy the post:
http://open.salon.com/blog/mjwycha/2009/06/29/the_day_dock_ellis_threw_a_no-hitter_on_lsd

1) Yes, of course. I've shot pool better than I could have ever imagined on acid.
2)Flashback... nope
3)"gotten over the acid"? Huh? Well, yes, although I've bben thinking I need to trip again. It's like doing a mental mind flush. Afterwards you start fresh with a whole new and beautiful perspective. Get ya some!

Thanks for commenting, everyone. Also, Trig, thanks for pointing out MJwycha's post--and thanks to MJwycha for the link. I'm relatively new here...

A couple of follow-up comments:

1. Not lots of flashback experiences, apparently. Sometimes, I feel cheated.
2. Everyone seems to think the story is plausible, but some have pointed out that Dock was "coming down." In the video, however, it seems as if he took more acid.
3. My question about "getting over" acid was perhaps written too quickly. I would say I feel as if I am a substantially different person because of the LSD experiences I had. I don't think I'd say that about alcohol or pot; I think I'd probably more or less the same guy having done them or not. But acid feels like a game changer.

No flashbacks. Saw the Grateful Dead at William and Mary Hall while tripping. Then went and took a History midterm while still tripping. Got an A. Everything was OK except the girl sitting next to was wearing a very thin top and I swear her breast were rippling and turning colors. I miss Jerry.

I really enjoyed the vid. What a great tale of baseball weirdness. As far as the plausibility of Ellis' feat, I quote from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence":
"This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
:-)

Yes, No, Yes. rated.

I meant Yes, No, No.

I meant Yes, Yes, Yes.

Could you repeat the questions?

Is it plausible? Yes.
Ever had a flashback? No.
Have I "gotten over it"? Can't say. Does one ever "get over a profound, life-changing experience?

One night while tripping, I dropped into the local pool hall. At that time I played a game called golf, in which opponents each have one object ball, and must make the six pockets in sequence. I found someone to play with me, and it was like I could see dotted lines on the table, indicating exactly where the object ball and the cue ball would go. Needless to say, I won easily. I made three-rail banks to each of the side pockets. Unfortunately, the other guy would only play for 50 cents a game.

I'm surprised at how many "Merry Pranksters" there are on OS.

I remember a trip where I couldn't manage to take a bath properly. The feeling of water surrounding my skin didn't seem to make any sense. My mind wandered in and out of things too much, I don't think I could have done anything analogous to pitching a baseball game, let alone a no hitter. But I'm sure the effects varied with a person's individual psychology.

I've never had a flashback and aside from some fun and interesting memories, it had no permanent affects that I'm aware of.

Actually it was a horse pill of peyote first time out. Worked all day in construction, didn't eat and took the pill with lots of hot tea one night the summer of 1968. Was scared at first but got myself together when I had to drive someone to the liquor store. Hey it was the sixties. I remember most of it quite vividly. In particular laying on the grass in my friend's back yard holding on to the turf to keep from flying off the earth which was spinning as it always does though usually not so noticeably. Also bringing the moon down real close to the ground to get a better look at it and going to CW Post College at sunrise and sitting in the Alice in Wonderland garden with statues and all that the Post family had built as part of the original estate. Visiting my grandfather the next day and having him explain his impending death to me and how he was ok with it as he had used up his life . Left for California a few days later. No flashbacks. Did acid a few times after that. Always a profound experience that left me exhausted and optimistic. Helped me understand the Hamlet line; "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy...".

Dock also walked 8 batters and hit two others in that game. He didn't think he was scheduled to pitch.

I believe him completely and I am sure it's very possible, just not dependable. I raced bicycles on LSD a few times back in the eighties and also on peyote/shrooms other times. Preferred the peyote/shrooms because they were smoother and since all of them are stimulants, I not only felt like I was flying, I was flying! Luckily, no drug testing at our level at the time. Posted great times and placed in top three of cat2 twice while tripping. The weirdest part was coming to a stop as while I was moving, everything just flowed, like in slow motion. But then, when I finished, it would always seem like the world just stopped and everything/everyone was barely moving and I couldn't understand when people were talking. I just excused myself by saying I was bonking and they'd buy it (made sure I kept the shades on though!) Never had a flashback but did stop after taking some bad acid. Nothing too terrible but it just ruined it for me after that. Continued to race and instead would smoke some pot often just before. Mellower and would get you right in the groove without all the wackier effects (color trails, blurring of scenery, etc...) I still did pretty well for a number of years. Found out that a number of other racers were smoking pot too. Everyone who smoked felt that it helped them focus and would mask the pain well. Never asked about the other stuff though!

It depends on how much acid he took. I think that users' dosage is much, much lower than what we took in the sixties. Never had a flashback that I can recall. Never got over it, in fact this isn't real and I'm still sitting on a floor spaced out in San Francisco in 1967.

No flashbacks. Totally plausible - acid causes wondrous changes in perception of time and space - tripped once at a Frank Zappa concert and avoided getting hit in the head with a beer bottle because I saw it coming toward me in slow motion. Utterly profound and positive life changes as a result of visiting my parents while tripping; was able to see them objectively, disengage from fear and anger, and contact a deep love for them which I have not experienced before or since, though the memory lingers as though it happened yesterday (it happened over 30 years ago).

Robert: thanks for the info. My data was entirely anectodal. Rumors spread by fellow trippers who also knew nothing on the subject. I always wondered if it was true, and partly put it up here so someone could set me straight (or confirm it). Thanks for doing so.

"Bill 'Spaceman' Lee also pitched while dosed, more than once. don't know that he ever got a no-no, but he was very successful with it."

I know Bill, have interviewed him extensively, have exchanged Christmas cards with him, have eaten at Dairy Queen with him, and have sold a screenplay based on his life. He's never mentioned pitching on acid to me, and never even mentioned dropping it, although it's a safe bet that he has. (Maybe he's written about it somewhere and I haven't read it?) Outside of that, anything he says needs to be taken with about a pound of salt. Pitching on pot is another story, though.

won an ultimate frisbee championship game in the 70's while my whole team was tripping. we got smoked in the first half of the game, laughing hysterically and running into each other. focused like crazy in the second half and became, like, one multiperson disc hucking organism to win at the end. no flashbacks. probably a little crunchy as a result of my experiences, but wouldn't change a thing.

I felt gypped: never had a flashback.
LSD changes everyone, for the better. A much greater sense of what's valuable. It's about time research into its utility resumed. It should never be seen as a "ha-ha" drug, it's a serious substance, as Leary said, set and setting are very important. It can be a real boon for humankind.

When I was at Berkeley in the late 1980s, I had a friend who was on the University of California at Berkeley's baseball team. He was a pitcher - and a damn good one. I am aware of at least one and possibly several games he pitched on LSD. His team won in every instance. I do not believe, however, that he pitched and no-hitters.

I wouldn't say no! Actually there're lots of sexy big&tall men and woman on __Tallconnect.com__; and they are actually dating beautiful big&tall people there! now I start believing no weight&height gap is too wide in fron of true love!

1. Yes, it's an entirely plausible story. In fact, I'm surprised that more pitchers besides Dock Ellis haven't told it.

2. No, I've never had a flashback. 300 LSD trips and no flashbacks. I'm still waiting.

3. I believe that once you "see" things under the influence of LSD, you can't "un-see" them. In other words, Yes: Acid changes you permanently.

The only time I ever trip is when I try to walk.

I've heard the Doc Ellis story many times; it seems widely accepted as true. I also dropped a horrendous amount of acid in my younger days, so here are my answers:

1. Yes, I believe it's possible. Some people are able to focus to an unusual degree on acid. I played a game of catch once, while sky high on shrooms, during which it seemed like it was impossible to drop the ball no matter where it was thrown. My hand-eye coordination has never been as good before or after.

2. For a little while I had flashbacks every time I looked at grass. Like, lawns. I decided to cut down at that point.

3. No, I don't think there's been any permanent effect whatsoever. I never flash back anymore and I'm, y'know, like a contributing member of society and stuff. As others have mentioned, I do feel that it influenced me as far as getting me more in touch with myself; not all the deep thoughts I had while tripping were ridiculous "we're all connected, man!" crap. Only like 80%. The other 20% were totally interesting, man, seriously.

@Con Chapman - oh God, I had to have dinner with my family once while tripping too. I'd forgotten that we had a family dinner planned. That was a looooong dinner, man. My meat kept trying to sneak off my plate.

ps: hilarious how in agreement all the commenters are here. We Salon readers are a bunch of freakin' druggies.

There were times in my misbegotten your when I dropped a lot of Acid. I had some weird but never a bad trip, not a flashback. My main problem with LST was the time it took to do the drug properly, usually all weekend. You would drop on Saturday and trip for 24-hours, then you needed another 24-hours before the residual fog lifted from your brain. Pot was my drug of choice. Once you came down you were ready to go to work. I had one firm rule, never do drugs before going to or during work. (I was a TV photojournalist). however a few times I was called out at home while tripping. On one occasion I was covering a fire. That station also had a radio outlet and we had to do life reports for them. I don’t remember what I said, however the next morning the Radio Station manager complimented me on the vivid, engrossing description I provided of the flames leaping into the air in a Brownian movement towards madness. *I don’t know how much of this was true, however that’s what he said)

The most intense trip I ever had wad during a penny ante Poker game with friends. We had been smoking and snorting when a friend arrived with a film can filled with what we called “Kool Aid” Acid, purple pills that had crumbled into dust. I though he had said there was only a couple of hits in the container. Another friend licked his finger, stuck it into the can and licked what seemed more than half of the dust. I figured there could not be much left, so I just tossed the rest back, like a shot of Scotch. I realized my error when a cloud of dust hit the back of my mouth. Rather than spitting it out, which I felt would be a terrible waste, I drank some water and swallowed it. It was then I learned I had misunderstood how much was in the can, not two or three hits, but twelve. OOOOPs

Shortly after I was sitting in another friends front yard looking at a tree and seeing a “Bliczknap” at least that is what I though I was seeing. I existed in an alternative universe, reminiscent of Superman’s “Bazarroland”. It was then a friend had a “Profound Revelation:” and took me to the premier of the original Star Wars. Sitting on the front row I thought the iconic opening shot of the “Imperial Destroyer” would never end.

I did not have any bad repercussions from this strangest trip I ever experiences. Boy it was a lot of fun.

instead of everyone wondering if the story is true or not, why not just check the records? wherever they are. they must be somewhere out here on the internets or maybe even in a book.

great story either way.

I had a trip that was so bad one time, I thought I would never be normal again! Hmmmmm????? That could explain a lot of things.... :0

Yes, no, and most definitely.
I did acid one time, in 1969. I was 20 years old, in the Marines, going through Staging Battalion at Camp Pendleton, about a week before I was to deploy to Vietnam. Maybe my circumstance had something to do with my experience:
Sometime in the early-morning hours, after I had been tripping for maybe seven or eight hours, I was lying on a sofa in a friend's living room. To that point, my trip had been pretty much what had been described to me by friends who had had prior experiences, except way better. I was awe-struck.
But now I was alone, lying on the sofa, peeking through a small opening in the blanket that covered me. I realized that I was not in my friend's living room on a sofa, but in a freshly-cut hayfield, with haystacks all around me. I was in one of the haystacks, and I didn't know why. Then, through the early-morning mist, I could see the soldiers approaching. They were walking ahead of a 6 x 6 truck, through the field, stabbing into the haystacks with their bayonets. I could hear the soldiers shouting to one another, but I could not understand the language they spoke. Occasionally, one would thrust his bayonet into a haystack and an American soldier screamed, jumped out of the haystack, and ran, trying to escape. But there was no escape; he was immediately shot by several of the soldiers in the search party, who then picked up his lifeless body and threw it in the back of the six-by, on top of many more bodies. The party advanced toward my haystack. I was terrified when the soldiers came to my hiding place. One stabbed me with his bayonet, another shot me as I tried to get up and run. They threw me in the back of the truck with the others, some of whom were still alive.
Yeah, I'd say the experience changed me. I can still smell the fresh-cut hay and see that crystal-clear vision of that early morning scene; the soldiers with their bayonets fixed, and the truck emerging from the mist.
I believe that the experience was instrumental in my decision to return to school after I came home from Vietnam. I had always had trouble focusing prior to my escapade, but that did not seem to be a problem later.

Ahh, what a pleasant, memory filled topic.
I'll state the following in caps:
I LIVED IN THE HAIGHT FROM '67-'69.
I lived at 730 N Flimore and a few other places which were either my actual residence or a crash pad.
The Haight then was the PERFECT place to live and trip.
I believe he could do that while 'coming down".
I feel riped of in never having a flashback.
I DO believe that I am changed~~for the better~~fdue to tripping.
I did acid wayyyy over 100 times in those years.
Had a lot of fun and, NEVER had a "bad trip".
I remember quite a few things I/we did while tripping which did involve being coordinated.
I remember playing football and being able to catch the ball and doing other similar things.
The acid we were dropping then was Owsley white lightning, purple haze, blue dots, orange sunshine and some othe shit which WAS shit.
I often mixed it with other fun stuff however, never with alcohol.
Do any of you remember a multiday one called STP?
This was a little different in that, while it was similar to acid, it wasn't as fun causing and lasted a couple of days.
One of the funnest experiences I had was flying from SFO to LAX.
Didn't have the nazi TSA then.
I had dropped some acid about 20 mins before takeoff and, as the plane was leaving the groun, I was getting off.
THAT was a really great trip.
All the neat experiences of living there then was enhanced by acid.
Sex was another better sexperience(like my pun?).
I used to get together with one hippie chick and, we'd drop and smoke whatever we had around and, having sex while looking into each others' eyes and hallucinating is something I still remember.
Now, THAT is a flashback that I'd welcum.

Hey, imsurly,
I don't think that was a flashback. I think you were actually in a walmart parking lot.lol

I've been C&S for 26+ years and have no regrets.
My life is very different from then yet, I have pleasant memories.
I no longer smoke anything or do any drugs other than for my asthma.
I have chronic back pain and have been thinking about toking up to see if it would alleviate the pain butt, I'm not sure whether I trust myself.
Hey, this was one of the funnest blogs of all time here.
Thanks, Kennywell.

1) No. It is not even REMOTELY plausible ... not if it was real LSD.

2) No one with a lick of sense would take LSD at an airport "knowing" where he would be when it hit.

3) No one with a lick of sense would take LSD at an airport, period.

4) Yeah, I have had flashbacks. What does that have to do with the price of rice?

5) Eating unknown (and unknowable) fauna in a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco affected me and my life more than taking LSD. So did finally getting the structure and nature of Indian classical music after 20 years of trying. So did learning how to play the pennywhistle.

6) Really great video, though!

Okay, I'm flabbergasted. The war on drugs is over. We won.

Having spent 25 years running drug and alcohol treatment programs - left that out of my resume, didn't I? - I can say with absolute certainty that the vast majority of the people involved in the war on drugs - cops, prosecutors, defenses attorneys, judges and people like me - know it's absolute bullshit, never worked, never will, never could.

At the same time, after some forty years, I find myself wondering if there's anyway I can get another hit of Orange Sunshine....but then I remember that thinking is the best way to travel.

I've done my share of LSD- and a few other peoples as well. Never had a flashback. I was under the impression that the whole thing was pure drug war myth, but when fact checking before I posted I found that it does happen, but is EXTREMELY rare.

LSD does not get stored in your- that part is a myth. Flashbacks are purely psychological. Interesting fact- LSD is completely metabolized by your body before the effects have even started to be felt.

Depending on what stage of the trip, its sure possible. Probably less so while peaking. The big problem is perception. How do you
determine the strike zone when the plate's breathing?

My psychedelic experiences have profoundly shaped my world view. For one, I read Darwin and became an atheist when I was 8 or 9. Then in highschool, I took a couple of hits of acid, put on a Ravi Shankar album, and heard the voice of god. Now I'm a devout agnostic.

Had flashbacks for years. It is completely believable that he could do this. The strangest things happen when you're on acid and that Zen-archery thing of being one with the target can really be magnified. I've made astonishing pool shots (and I can't play for sh#t), absolutely synced with waves while surfing. The problem is it's unpredictable and under pressure you're more likely to choke.

I taught three successive classes of college history; took bankruptcy final and came first in class; attended my grandfather's 80th birthday dinner/weekend at Grossingers

one flashback that morphed into an inconvenient phobia: Driving round the triboro on acid, profoundly convinced car would take off into the air. Subequently had a flashback while at same part of Triboro, and hi-jinks have ensued on bridges ever since.

Took my last trip three weeks ago. (I only take it when I can find it.)

Acid saved my life; before taking acid I was a monstrous asshole.

Other than that, not much impact to point to...

1) I believe it's possible.

2) Never a flashback. I had an experience start to go bad on me once, but a good friend was there and helped me to see that it was just a ridiculous line of thought that I was following. I felt immediately better.

3) I experienced a great many insights into my self and my life's situation. Whether it changed me or not is hard to say. I would say that if it did, it was for the better.

I believe that LSD is a dangerous drug and should be treated as such. Skydiving is dangerous too and both, with the proper precautions can be managed to the point where it's pretty unlikely (but never impossible) for something to go tragically wrong.

The statute of limitations as long since run out on these experiences. :)

Yes, it's possible and very cool, altho I have no idea who Mr. Ellis is nor what his powers of concentration might enable him to do. I've been waiting for the promised flashbacks for 40 years, alas. LSD gave us insights, that may have taken 50 years of intensive study to realize, in only a few hours. I have no regrets -- only material for a Great American Novel.

>My understanding is that LSD is stored
>in your spinal fluid after you've come
>down

Nope. Pure myth. Lsd is water-soluble and is excreted by the body long before the effects quit...whatever LSD does to the body, it is quickly broken down and the psychoactive effect remains even after there is NO LSD in the body.

I've never had a flashback...I don't believe they exist...they only happen to people that fixate on them...ie if you believe in flashbacks you may experience one. I never have.

As far as long-term effects...I am a more open-minded person and I've learned that for every situation, there can be many points-of-view and all of them can be equally 'correct'..ie there is more than one way to see everything/anything.

I used to be an atheist and psychedelics have certainly made me more aware of God, and my own spiritual potential.

They have helped me to get past barriers in my own mind and I feel free.

Plus, tripping can be a lot of fun and the experience of having sex with a significant-other is enough to make a person cry at the sheer beauty and intensity of the act.

AlexR - hilarious comment about that sneaky meat!

Could he, well perhaps. I know I couldn't have, but then I never played baseball! :-)

The only flashbacks I have ever had, were a weird smell or taste that I always experienced on acid. Occasionally I notice that strange smell.

I think, it changed my perceptions of people and life in general. Had some hilarious experiences, which need not be told here. Now if the FDLE just does not read this post. No laughing matter, here in Florida!

Thanks for this, Ken.
RE 1, flashbacks, the short answer is "No". Perhaps disappointing, but perhaps also comforting. The long answer is that I have not had any non-chemically-induced and otherwise-unintended (a) recurrence of (i) basic experiential perspective or (ii) extraordinary full instances or fields of phenomena, or (b) aftereffects similar to these within the usual and ordinary fields of thought, feeling and perception. I.e., I have not "re-experienced" it, nor have I experienced a contained excerpt of it. Meditation practice, has, though, given openness and access to something like that basic experiential perspective, but less conditional, perhaps more basic, and less... well, less chemical!
RE 2, I believe that a well-trained and talented pitcher could indeed pitch a no-hitter on acid. I couldn't! I did drive a car through the city and on the freeway during my first full-on trip, and, on some level, everything seemed the same (on the level at which most people not on acid are accustomed to regarding things as the same or not the same). I also rode a motorcycle on acid ("We ride like the wind," my riding buddy said while starting up, the first time), and walked several blocks down a steep hill in orange ostrich skin cowboy boots with big heels (with a feeling that I was tipping 60º to the right). I have also driven friends home from a Grateful Dead show (however, I seemed to be the only one able to drive - or to find the car); the toll plaza seemed challenging at first, but we got through it. I think it's just a matter of paying attention while keeping a sense of the bigger space.
RE 3, permanent change, I would say that for me it was a change of having several times experienced a much bigger perspective, and knowing afterwards that it really is there, that there's a level of truth or reality to it (or whatever you want to call it at that level). I do have a few close friends who have confided that they really did not come back, at least really not with the same, usual and ordinary modes of experience of themselves and the world. And they seem to be doing quite well, those friends!
Question 4 might be: do you know anyone who got totally burnt out on acid, or at least significantly damaged by their use of it? Sadly, roughly, yes - but there seem to have been other conditions involved, too.