John Rocker
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John Loy Rocker, (born October 17 1974), is an American Major League Baseball relief pitcher, who played 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.
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Early career
Rocker graduated from Presbyterian Day High School in Macon, Georgia, in 1993; 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.
Controversy
While at his peak as Atlanta's closer, the former Mercer College star and Georgia native was heavily criticized for making statements that were considered insensitive and/or racist. Speaking of New York City, Rocker told Sports Illustrated, "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." Also during the interview (conducted while driving to a game in Atlanta), he also spat on a Georgia 400 toll machine and mocked Asian women. Although Rocker later apologized after speaking with Hank Aaron and Andrew Young, he later made additional controversial comments. For his comments, he was suspended without pay for 14 games.
Post-controversy
At first Atlanta Braves fans were willing to support him. However, Rocker suffered intense taunting from opposing teams' fans, especially those of the New York Mets (whose city was a special target of Rocker's ire). This began to affect his performance. Rocker was traded to the Indians, and later to the Rangers. In 2003, he played two games for the Devil Rays before being released.
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.
External links
- Template:Baseball-reference
- Original Sports Illustrated article (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/1999/12/22/rocker/)