John Rocker

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John Loy Rocker (born October 17, 1974) is a former American Major League Baseball relief pitcher, who played the better-known part of his career in 3 1/2 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, before being traded to the Cleveland Indians. He later played with the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He is a native of Macon, Georgia and currently resides in Atlanta.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Controversy 3 Rocker's Return to NYC 4 Post-controversy 5 External links

[edit] Early career

Rocker graduated from First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, Georgia, in 1993, where he starred as a dominating pitcher; he threw three no-hitters during high school. He was soon drafted by the Atlanta Braves. He started showing wild antics similar to those of Mark Fidrych from the beginning of his career. After a rocky minor league career - in his fourth season (1997), he was still at Double-A Greenville - he was converted into a reliever.

This worked well for him. The next year, he was promoted to the major-league club and ended up becoming the closer after an injury to Kerry Ligtenberg. He finished the 1998 season with an earned run average of 2.13 in 38 innings pitched.

1999 proved to be Rocker's best year. After becoming the Braves' full-time closer, he converted 38 saves and had an ERA of 2.49 in 74 games. It was at this point that he was starting to be seen by many sportswriters as one of the next great closers in baseball.

[edit] Controversy

While at his peak as Atlanta's closer, the former Mercer University star and Georgia native was heavily criticized for making statements that were considered racist, anti-homosexual and sexist. Speaking of New York City, Rocker told Sports Illustrated in January 2000: "It's the most hectic, nerve-racking city. Imagine having to take the 7 Train to the ballpark, looking like you're riding through Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing." (Rocker's feud with New York City began in earnest during the 1999 National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, during which Mets fans allegedly threw batteries at him.) Also during the interview (conducted while driving to a speaking engagement in Atlanta), he spat on a Georgia 400 toll machine and mocked Asian women. Additionally, he referred to then-teammate Randall Simon as being a "fat monkey."

Although Rocker later apologized after speaking with Hank Aaron and Andrew Young, he later made additional controversial comments.^{[citation needed]} For his comments, he was suspended without pay for the remainder of spring training and the first 28 games of the 2001 season, which on appeal was reduced to 14 games (without a spring-training suspension).

During the debacle, on The Tonight Show, Jay Leno had guests take baseball bats and whack a John Rocker dummy. Saturday Night Live lampooned the affair by having a skit about Rocker, much to the delight of the New York City crowd that it was filmed before. SNL's Weekend Update anchor Colin Quinn added, "I don't like the guy either, but he has been riding the 7 train." In Sports Night (Aaron Sorkin's acclaimed yet short-lived TV series), Sorkin takes a shot at Rocker when fictional sportscasters Casey McCall (Peter Krause) and Dan Rydell (Josh Charles) agree on-air that, "John Rocker is a big honking dufus."

In June 2006, Rocker inserted himself into the Ozzie Guillen–Jay Mariotti controversy by defending his former teammate's right to say offensive things. "This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term," Rocker told the Chicago Tribune. "Can't you use a lewd term in America if you want?" [1]. Referring to sensitivity training he is quoted as saying "It was a farce, a way for the scared little man, Bud Selig, to get people off his [backside],". He claimed that when he attended mandatory sensitivity training, that he only stayed for 15 minutes. He also claimed he never paid the $500 fine that was levied against him.

[edit] Rocker's Return to NYC

On June 27, 2000, Rocker appeared in front of 46,987 fans at Shea Stadium for the first time since making the remarks. Over 700 police officers were summoned for the game (usually 60 are summoned) and 300 press passes were given out. A limit on beer sales was imposed. A special protective cover was erected over the Braves' bullpen in left field. During batting practice, fans were barred from sitting in the first four rows behind the Braves' dugout. A videotaped apology from Rocker was shown on Shea Stadium's 26-foot-tall screen in left-center field before the start of the game between the Mets and the Braves. The video was loudly booed. Signs stating NYC Says No to RocKKKer and Rocker's a Bigot could be seen throughout Shea.

In the 8th inning, Rocker came in to replace Jason Marquis on the mound. He was loudly booed and some objects were thrown, a large chant of "ASSHOLE, ASSHOLE!" began too, but nothing got out of hand. Rocker struck out Robin Ventura, retired Todd Zeile on a grounder to short, and got Jay Payton to ground out to third. The Braves went on to win, 6-4. Rocker left the stadium a half-hour after the rest of the team in a black van trailed by three security vehicles.

[edit] Post-controversy

At first, Atlanta Braves fans were willing to support him. However, Rocker received intense taunting from opposing teams' fans, and continued to receive abuse from New York Mets fans. His pitching performance declined. Rocker was traded to the Cleveland Indians, and later to the Texas Rangers. In 2003, he played two games for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before being released.

Rocker made his screen-acting debut in the 2002 horror comedy The Greenskeeper as a murderous golf-club groundskeeper.[2]

He took the 2004 season off to recover from surgery on his left shoulder. In 2005, he signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League in an attempt to revive his career. In April 2005, he asked New Yorkers to "bury the hatchet", claiming his willingness to play in Long Island proved he had matured since his controversial comments.

However, after going 0-2 with a 6.50 ERA in 23 games, he was released on June 27, 2005. Through a statement released by the team said, "After pitching for two months with the Long Island Ducks, the consistency required to pitch at the major league level, and the consistency I demand from myself, are not where they should be... I have elected to take a step back and re-evaluate the options available to me."

In 2006, Rocker appeared on the Spike TV network's Pros vs. Joes, a program that pits retired professional athletes against amateurs. In March 2006, Rocker made tabloid headlines by being seen around town with African American sports writer and fitness model Alicia Marie who covered a Pros vs. Joes event where she interviewed Rocker for WideWebofSports.com. Alicia's Interview with Rocker

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Original Sports Illustrated article
• Official John Rocker web site
• Rocker rankles fans, retires Mets ESPN.com 1-27-00
• Greenskeeper movie review (Warning: Not safe for work)
• March 2006 interview
• John Rocker's Major and Minor League Statistics: The Baseball Cube