Jimi Hendrix Smoked a Joint in 1968 and Established a Weird Connection to the 2022 World Series
Jimi Hendrix was with us too briefly, but his legacy continues to amaze. For instance, he had two different names before being called Jimi, and he had one of his final concerts saved by a Pink Floyd member. It turns out Hendrix has a connection to the 2022 World Series thanks to a joint he smoked in San Francisco in 1968.
Jimi Hendrix tragically died in 1970
Hendrix’s music career was short but legendary. He died at 27 years old in 1970 after mixing alcohol and sleeping pills. The peak years of his recording career happened in the back half of the 1960s, but he compressed a lot of work into a short amount of time.
He released four seminal albums between 1967 and 1970: Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland, and Band of Gypsys. The 1971 album Cry of Love came out after his death but contains music he wrote while still alive.
In addition to his albums, Hendrix made waves with his live performances. He played with his teeth, set his guitar on fire, earned a nice paycheck playing at Woodstock, and was one of the final performers to take the stage at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
One person who attended the Monterey show gave Hendrix a strange connection to the 2022 World Series, which happened nearly 50 years after his death.
Hendrix and baseball manager Dusty Baker once smoked a joint during Baker’s playing days
Artists such as Hendrix weren’t the only people living in the counterculture of the 1960s. Some premier athletes were, too. (One baseball player claims to have thrown a 1970 no-hitter while on acid).
Dusty Baker was one of those athletes.
Before winning the 2022 World Series as the Houston Astros’ manager, Baker enjoyed a 19-year pro baseball career that began in 1968. But before he appeared in the big leagues, Baker attended the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which took place shortly after he was drafted. That wasn’t the end of the Hendrix-Baker connection.
Hendrix and Baker smoked a joint together when they ran into each other in San Francisco in 1968, according to Sports Illustrated. Baker didn’t partake in any weed at Monterey as a newly-minted major leaguer, but that rule was out the window in 1968.
It seems likely the encounter happened in early October 1968. Hendrix played three nights at Winterland in San Francisco, according to Concert Archives. Baker’s baseball season was over by then. As a northern California native, there’s a good chance he would have been in the city while Hendrix was in town for his concerts. The baseball player and guitarist sparked up, and that’s how Hendrix established his weird connection to the 2022 World Series.
The guitarist grew up a sports fan before smoking weed with Baker
Hendrix made a name for himself as a guitar maestro, but he grew up as a sports fan and translated that passion into a different form of artwork.
The guitarist drew pictures of college football players as a youngster. A few pictures he drew of football players from Cal, USC, and UCLA in February 1958 appeared at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, according to For The Win. The drawings show an impressive understanding of the human form in motion, telegraphing Hendrix’s exquisite hand control as a guitarist.
He pursued guitar instead of art, which allowed Hendrix to establish a weird connection to the 2022 World Series after smoking a joint with the winning manager.
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