In this Aug. 5, 1986, file photo, Boston Red Sox pitcher Dennis "Oil Can'" Boyd pitches against the Chicago White Sox during a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston. Boyd said during an interview with Jon Miller of WBZ radio in Boston, he probably pitched under the influence of cocaine "at every ballpark" during his 10-year career. (AP Photo/Peter Southwick, File)
Former Red Sox pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd pitched in Major League Baseball for 10 years posting a 78-77 record and 4.04 ERA in 214 games, including 207 starts.
He told WBZ’s Jon Miller on Wednesday that he was under the influence of cocaine two-thirds of the time he pitched.
“Oh yeah, at every ballpark,” Boyd told Miller. “There wasn’t one ballpark that I probably didn’t stay up all night, until 4 or 5 in the morning, and the same thing is still in your system. It’s not like you have time to go do it while in the game, which I had done that.
“Some of the best games I’ve ever, ever pitched in the major leagues I stayed up all night. … If I had went to bed, I would have won 150 ball games in the time span that I played. I feel like my career was cut short for a lot of reasons, but I wasn’t doing anything that hundreds of ball players weren’t doing at the time because that’s how I learned it.”
Boyd’s autobiography “They Call Me Oil Can: My Life in Baseball,” is scheduled to be released in June.
