News added June 11
Rocker Earns Save in Richmond's Win
.c The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - John Rocker recorded his second save in two
appearances since being sent to the minors, striking out three in the ninth
inning Sunday as the Richmond Braves beat the Columbus Clippers 4-1.
Rocker was greeted by a mixture of boos and cheers when he came in to pitch,
and again when the game ended.
He faced four batters, giving up a single to Tom Wilson. Of his 20 pitches,
14 were strikes.
Asked after the game what Rocker needed to do to get back to Atlanta, Braves
pitching coach Mike Alvarez said, ``He's doing it right now, being
aggressive, pitching ahead of hitters, going letter-high to finish guys off.
``His intensity has been great. While this is a minor league game, he's
pitching like it's 1-0 in the bigs,'' he said.
Said Richmond manager Randy Ingle: ``In the two games he's taken the ball for
us, I'm really proud of the way he's going about his business. He is pitching
like he's saying, `I don't belong here, I belong in the big leagues.'''
Rocker was not made available to reporters after the game.

News Added June 10
Rocker Pitches in Minors

.c The Associated Press

By JOHN SEEWER

MAUMEE, Ohio (AP) - John Rocker was in complete control during his first
minor league appearance Friday, but he couldn't keep his temper in check
around reporters.

Rocker, making his first appearance for the Triple-A Richmond Braves, struck
out the side in the ninth inning against the Toledo Mud Hens.

Rocker threw 20 pitches, missing one just five. He walked one batter.

Facing the bottom of the order, Rocker struck out right fielder Chris
Wakeland on three straight pitches. After giving up a walk, Rocker came back
to get second baseman Chris Lemonis on three straight pitches.

Shortstop Jesus Azuaje stuck out swinging to give Richmond a 10-5 victory.

Rocker was much better than he had been in Atlanta where he had 10 saves in
11 opportunities and a 3.93 ERA this season, but had walked 25 batters in 18
1-3 innings.

Rocker signed some autographs during the game, setting off a run on souvenir
baseballs at the gift shop. There was no question who the crowd of 7,733 came
to see.

They went wild when he sprinted into the game. He warmed up with ``Wild
Thing'' playing on the Ned Skeldon Stadium speakers.

When Rocker got up to stretch in the sixth inning, fans immediately swarmed
toward a railing along the bullpen. Sheriff's deputies quickly moved them
back.

Before the game, an angry Rocker stalked off into the clubhouse following a
throwing session in which he was agitated with reporters.

Rocker appeared angry as soon as he stepped out of the bullpen.

``Get a good picture of me throwing, that's important,'' he said while
glaring at a half-dozen reporters and photographers.

A few tosses later he again glared into the stands.

``Let me ask you something, is it more exciting to watch a guy throw or paint
dry?'' Rocker said to Richmond pitching coach Mike Alvarez. ``Paint
probably.''

Rocker threw for about 10 minutes, with most of his pitches far from the
strike zone. After four pitches landed in the dirt, Rocker's bullpen catcher
moved up a few feet.

Finally, a frustrated Rocker tossed a ball in the stands and stalked off into
the clubhouse.
Braves assistant general manager Frank Wren said he was not upset by Rocker's
reaction before the game.
``You can understand why he feels like he does,'' he said. ``Bullpen blowups
are not unusual for relief pitchers. That neither bothers me or concerns me.''
Rocker didn't seem bothered by a much larger crowd of reporters who watched
him throw in the bullpen Thursday.
Rocker, who had 38 saves last season with Atlanta, was banished to the minor
leagues Monday for control problems. He also was fined $5,000 for a
confrontation, before Sunday's home game in Atlanta, with Sports Illustrated
reporter Jeff Pearlman. In December, Pearlman had written a story on Rocker's
comments about gays, minorities, and foreigners.
Rocker's outburst Friday came one day after a Toledo television report
claimed the pitcher made an obscene gesture toward a camera crew.
The video shown by WNWO-TV showed someone in a cab making the gesture after
Rocker and the Richmond Braves played the Toledo Mud Hens on Thursday night.
Wren said Rocker was not the person in the video, and that Rocker was on the
team bus.
``It's a joke, Wren said after watching the video. ``They should've checked
with the club.''
Toledo general manager Joe Napoli said he also watched Rocker get on the bus.
``He absolutely, positively, undoubtedly got on the bus,'' Napoli said. ``I
didn't even see a taxi cab.''
A WNWO executive said there were conflicting statements from Braves
management and players about whether Rocker was on the bus.
``All we did is put it out there and give the Braves a chance to make their
position,'' said Tim Livingston, the station's executive producer.

NEW NEWS ADDED JUNE 7

Okay, there are just a few things I want to clear up. First off, while I was on the road last month I ran into some -- (satire cut due to racist remarks -- The Editors)

(content cut due to racist remarks -- The Editors)

Later we went back to the room and I put on some music, the kind of stuff women like. Then she kissed me, and we started making out, and she pulled off her top.
"Wow, you don't have any tan lines," I said.
That's when she told me she was a frekin' -- (content edited due to racist views -- The Editors)
(satire edited due to racist views -- The Editors)
And that's how you assemble a dining room table. Which we wouldn't have to do in the first place if all our jobs weren't shipped overseas to people who can make furniture which doesn’t have to be put together. I mean come on, really, have you ever seen some of these -- (content edited due to racist views -- The Editors)

And he says to me, "it's none of your damn business what I name my children."
And then I say, "Oh yeah, well let me tell you something, Pico De Puke-o, you and all of your little street gang children" -- (satire cut due to racist remarks -- The Editors)

(content cut due to racist remarks -- The Editors)

(satire cut due to racist remarks -- The Editors)

Then, the spacecraft circled around and landed. We all pulled over to the side of the road to look. A bright light shined on us and it was if time and space stood still. A hatch opened, and we feared for our lives. Then several aliens stepped out and … speaking of aliens, when is our government going wake up and do something about this illegal alien situation we have. The other day I ran into one of these -- (satire cut due to racist views -- The Editors)

(content cut due to racist remarks -- The Editors)

Anyway, it sure is nice to have a forum to vent and air my views, my way. I want to thank The Newz.com for this opportunity, and I look forward to a long relationship.
John Rocker

By Jeff Pearlman
You are a disgrace to the game of baseball. Maybe you should think before you shoot off your big fat mouth. You are an immature punk who is lucky to be in the majors. Get some class!"
—A posting by "Metsfan4Life" on www.rockersucks.com

A MINIVAN is rolling slowly down Atlanta's Route 400, and John Rocker, driving directly behind it in his blue Chevy Tahoe, is pissed. "Stupid bitch! Learn to f---ing drive!" he yells. Rocker honks his horn. Once. Twice. He swerves a lane to the left. There is a toll booth with a tariff of 50 cents. Rocker tosses in two quarters. The gate doesn't rise. He tosses in another quarter. The gate still doesn't rise. From behind, a horn blasts. "F--- you!" Rocker yells, flashing his left middle finger out the window. Finally, after Rocker has thrown in two dimes and a nickel, the gate rises. Rocker brings up a thick wad of phlegm. Puuuh! He spits at the machine. "Hate this damn toll."
With one hand on the wheel, the other gripping a cell phone, Rocker tears down the highway, weaving through traffic. In 10 minutes he is due to speak at Lockhart Academy, a school for learning-disabled children. Does Rocker enjoy speaking to children? "No," he says, "not really." But of all things big and small he hates -- New York Mets fans, sore arms, jock itch -- the thing he hates most is traffic. "I have no patience," he says. The speedometer reads 72. Rocker, in blue-tinted sunglasses and a backward baseball cap, is seething. "So many dumb asses don't know how to drive in this town," he says, Billy Joel's New York State of Mind humming softly from the radio. "They turn from the wrong lane. They go 20 miles per hour. It makes me want -- Look! Look at this idiot! I guarantee you she's a Japanese woman." A beige Toyota is jerking from lane to lane. The woman at the wheel is white. "How bad are Asian women at driving?"

"The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners. I'm not a very big fan of foreigners."
John Rocker Atlanta Braves pitcher

Two months have passed since the madness of John Rocker was introduced to the world. In the ninth inning of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox called for his closer -- Rocker, a hard-throwing 6'4", 225-pound lefthander who would turn 25 two days later and who had 38 regular-season saves, a 95-mph fastball and an unhittable slider -- to seal a 1-0 win over the Mets. The Shea Stadium bullpen gate opened. A smattering of boos. Louder. Louder. Then, on the fourth or fifth stride of Rocker's dash toward the mound, it started: "A--hole! A--hole! A--hole!" Fifty-five thousand nine hundred eleven fans -- black, white, brown, whatever -- united by a common bond: hatred of John Rocker.

"You are a low-class, ignorant piece of scum who doesn't care about anything or anybody. You are the Neanderthal. Maybe this upcoming season Mike Piazza or any other Mets player will hit you in the head with a line drive."
—A posting by "Ed" on www.rockersucks.com
JOHN ROCKER has opinions, and there's no way to sugarcoat them. They are politically incorrect, to say the least, and he likes to express them.
On ever playing for a New York team: "I would retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-racking city. Imagine having to take the [Number] 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."
On New York City itself: "The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners. I'm not a very big fan of foreigners. You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?"
But Rocker reserves a special place in his heart for Mets fans, whom he began bad-mouthing during the regular season when the Braves were battling the Mets for the National League East title eventually won by Atlanta. Although the Braves beat the Mets in a grueling six-game Championship Series (and thus reached the World Series, in which they were swept by the other New York team, the Yankees), Rocker has not allowed himself to let go of the bitterness. You try to find different topics -- hunting, women, family -- but it always comes back to three cold nights at Shea, when bottles whizzed past his head, beer was dumped on his girlfriend and 2,007 sexual positions involving him and a sheep were suggested.

"I talked about what degenerates they [Mets fans] were, and they proved me right. Just by saying something, I could make them mad enough to go home and slap their moms."
John Rocker Atlanta Braves pitcher

LIKE MANY Americans nowadays, Rocker is not one to look on the bright side. He likes to bitch and moan and shred things, and his voice -- deep, intimidating -- is naturally suited for the task. So are the thick eyebrows, the killing-spree scowl. Want to know how Atlanta will play in 2000? Ask later. Want to know why he has Manson-like feelings toward the Mets and everything remotely blue and orange? Heeeeere's Johnny....
On Mets manager Bobby Valentine: "The guy is not professional. Could you see [Yankees manager] Joe Torre or Bobby Cox getting thrown out of a game and then putting on a Groucho Marx disguise and sneaking back into the dugout? If a player got kicked out of a game and did that, Joe Torre would probably suspend him for a week. Bobby Cox would probably demand that the player be traded and tell him not to come back to the team. The Mets' manager did it! That, and his college rah-rah s---? I don't like it."
On Mets fans: "Nowhere else in the country do people spit at you, throw bottles at you, throw quarters at you, throw batteries at you and say, 'Hey, I did your mother last night -- she's a whore.' I talked about what degenerates they were, and they proved me right. Just by saying something, I could make them mad enough to go home and slap their moms."
Much of Rocker's rancor traces to Game 4 of the NLCS, when the fans were especially harsh, the night especially frigid and the Braves one win from reaching the World Series. Rocker entered in the eighth inning to protect a 2-1 lead, with two outs and runners on first and second. After a double steal, John Olerud, the Mets' dangerous-but-struggling first baseman who was 0 for 7 lifetime against Rocker, rapped a bouncer up the middle, slightly to the left of second base. Atlanta reserve shortstop Ozzie Guillen, who had just replaced starter Walt Weiss as part of the double switch that brought Rocker into the game, lunged awkwardly for the ball. It hit his glove, then dribbled into the outfield. Two runs scored, and the Mets won. Afterward an angry Rocker called Olerud's single "one of the more cheaper hits I've given up my entire life." In retrospect he doesn't even allow that much credit. "If Walt is playing shortstop instead of Ozzie, that's not a hit, and we win," says Rocker. "But we had a 38-year-old guy [actually 35] playing shortstop, and he can't make that kind of play."
That's not all. At Shea, Rocker was a one-man psycho circus. He spit at Mets fans. He gave them the finger. During batting practice he would shag a ball in the outfield, fake a toss to a throng of waving spectators, then throw it back to the pitcher, smiling wickedly. Once he took a ball and chucked it as hard as he could at a net that separated fans from the field. "If there wasn't a net there, it would have smoked 'em right in the face," he says. "But they're so stupid, they jumped back like the ball would hit 'em."
Cox, who was routinely asked about Rocker's behavior, told the media before Game 3 against the Mets that he had spoken with the pitcher, requesting that he tone down the act. "That never happened," Rocker says now. "Bobby never talked to me about it, and I never talked to him. Why would he? We were winning."

"You are the most hideous man I have ever laid eyes on. Hope your baseball career is short ... just like your intelligence."
—A posting by "Michelle" on www.rockersucks.com
ROCKER BEMOANS the fact that he is not more intelligent, and though his father says John graduated with a 3.5 GPA from Presbyterian Day High in Macon, Ga., in 1993, sometimes it's hard to argue. In passing, he calls an overweight black teammate "a fat monkey." Asked if he feels any bond with New York Knicks guard Latrell Sprewell, notorious for choking coach P.J. Carlesimo two years ago, Rocker lets out a snarl of disgust. "That guy should've been arrested, and instead he's playing basketball," he says. "Why do you think that is? Do you think if he was Keith Van Horn -- if he was white -- they'd let him back? No way." Rocker is rarely tongue-tied when it comes to bashing those of a race or sexual orientation different from his. "I'm not a racist or prejudiced person," he says with apparent conviction. "But certain people bother me."
Rocker was into sports from the get-go; if it wasn't baseball, football or basketball, it was hunting and fishing. (He has gone hunting more than 40 times during this off-season.) His passion, though, was baseball. By his senior year at Presbyterian in 1993, Rocker -- who threw three high school no-hitters and a pair of 16-strikeout games -- was reaching 91 mph on the radar gun, drawing as many as 15 scouts per game.
Rocker was the Braves' 18th-round selection in the June '93 amateur draft, lasting that long because many clubs thought he'd enroll at Georgia. A starter who threw hard but was wild, Rocker was also nervous and sometimes eccentric. At Class A Danville in '94 he earned a mutant Fidrychian reputation for biting baseballs and letting throws from the catcher nail him in the chest. "He can get crazy," says Atlanta reliever Kerry Ligtenberg, who missed last season with a torn right elbow ligament. "I've played with John since '96. He's got a real short fuse. When it goes off, it's probably better not to be around."

"Some of the more stoic guys on the team probably get annoyed by me, but the younger, fiery guys -- we get annoyed at their stoicism"
John Rocker Atlanta Braves pitcher

When he signed with the Braves, Rocker and his parents, Jake, an executive at Georgia Farm Bureau Insurance, and Judy, who runs an ad agency out of her home, agreed on a five-year plan. If things weren't looking good, he would use the education clause in his contract and finish college. (Rocker has completed two semesters at Mercer.) By the end of the '97 season things weren't looking good -- 5-6, 4.86 ERA at Double A Greenville -- and the Braves mentioned turning him into a reliever. "It didn't sound too great to me," Rocker recalls. "I was a starter my whole life." The Braves sent Rocker to the Arizona Fall League to pitch exclusively from the pen. There, "I learned that everything's about attitude," says Rocker. "I used to worry over every pitch, every batter. The coaches in Arizona talked to me about just going out and throwing. Don't worry, throw."
The following season Rocker stuck with the big club and appeared in 47 games, mostly as a long reliever. During spring training last year, after Ligtenberg got hurt, Cox named Rocker the closer, and he amassed those 38 saves (in 45 opportunities) with a 2.49 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 72 1/3 innings. Still it is his mouth, not his arm, that has won him Rodmanesque notoriety. "Some of the more stoic guys on the team probably get annoyed by me," he says. "But the younger, fiery guys -- we get annoyed at their stoicism. There needs to be more atmosphere in our clubhouse. I don't mean loud music and hooting and hollering. But I don't think having the atmosphere of a doctor's office helps."
In the locker room at Shea following Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, as Rocker ranted and raved, fumed and fussed, Mike Remlinger, a 33-year-old lefthanded reliever with six years of major league experience, was asked whether Rocker had gone too far. Remlinger -- quiet, thoughtful -- paused. "The thing is," he said, "baseball is a game of humility. You can be on top one minute, as low as possible the next. When you're young, you don't realize it. But sooner or later you learn -- we all do. Be humble."

"My mouth is watering for that day when Rocker steps foot in Shea once again. (This time I'm bringing D batteries.)"
—A posting by "Metswin" on www.rockersucks.com
Issue date: December 27, 1999

John got in trouble again heres the story

The embattled Braves reliever had a confrontation Sunday with the Sports Illustrated reporter who wrote the story in which Rocker made offensive comments about gays, minorities, immigrants and his own teammates.
The reporter, Jeff Pearlman, said Rocker threatened him, though there was no physical contact between the two. The Braves said they were investigating and teammate Brian Jordan called him a "cancer."
"I'm amazed he hasn't handled himself the right way," said Jordan, one of the leaders in the clubhouse. "Geez, if the guy has nine lives, he's using them up pretty good."
"You've got one guy being a cancer time and time again," the outfielder said. "Eventually, it's going to have an effect on the team. Hopefully, he'll change."
Pearlman, in Atlanta to do a story on the Braves meeting the New York Yankees in a rematch of last year's World Series, had a chance meeting with Rocker in a service tunnel beneath Turner Field about two hours before the final game of the series.
According to Pearlman, Rocker made threatening comments such as, "This isn't over between us," and, "Do you know what I can do to you?"
The confrontation lasted about two minutes and became so heated that Rocker flipped around the bill of his cap so he could get face-to-face with the reporter.
"I was scared," Pearlman said. "But he didn't do anything."
Rocker attempted to get Pearlman banned from the clubhouse. The Braves stressed that he was allowed the same access as any other reporter.
"We are aware that there was an incident," general manager John Schuerholz said in a statement. "We immediately began to address the matter internally and are continuing to do so. We respect the rights of Jeff, as a legitimate member of the media, to cover the Braves in general and this series against the New York Yankees in particular. We will do everything in our power to insure that similar incidents do not occur in the future."
Apparently, no other Braves players saw the confrontation.
"Obviously, there are some situations where John feels he has to stand up for himself," Chipper Jones said. "I've heard him say time and time again that he feels like he was misrepresented in that article. Obviously, he still has issues with the guy who wrote the article.
"Sure, the right thing to do would have been to walk away. But I haven't seen John back down from a conflict yet."
Rocker, who has struggled this season after 38 saves a year ago, pitched a scoreless ninth inning against the Yankees. The first two hitters singled and moved up a base when Rocker was called for a balk. But he escaped trouble by getting Chuck Knoblauch on a popup and Derek Jeter on a flyout.
The Yankees won 7-6.
When Rocker came back to the dugout, he received a hug from starting pitcher Terry Mulholland. But it was clear that some players were getting tired of his antics.
Even Tom Glavine, one of the team's most personable players, got short with reporters who brought up Rocker.
"I'm not going to answer any more questions about him in any shape or form," Glavine said.
Rocker declined comment when making a brief stop at his locker after the game. He grabbed his clothes and muttered a sarcastic comment at reporters before heading back to the training room.
After Rocker's comments in a December issue of SI, the team called together about a half-dozen players to discuss what action should be taken with Rocker. The consensus was to give him another chance.
Jordan said he expects management to call another meeting soon to discuss Rocker's conduct.
"He made his bed, now he's got to sleep in it," Jordan said. "If he feels (confronting a reporter) is the best way to handle it, he's going to get burned. You have to grow up sooner or later. He's not only hurting the team, he's hurting himself."
Pearlman said it was the first time he has spoken with Rocker since the December article, in which the pitcher said he would never play for a New York team because he didn't want to ride a subway train "next to some queer with AIDS."
He also said, "I'm not a very big fan of foreigners. ... How the hell did they get in this country?" In addition, Rocker called a black teammate a "fat monkey."
Commissioner Bud Selig suspended Rocker for the first month of the regular season and fined him $20,000, but an arbitrator reduced the suspension to two weeks and the fine to $500. The pitcher also was ordered to undergo sensitivity training.
Rocker has 10 saves since rejoining the team May 18 but also has struggled with his control, issuing 25 walks in 18 1-3 innings. His ERA is 3.85.
"I think his anger is misdirected," Pearlman said. "I really do feel bad for the guy. I feel bad for his family. It was not my intent to do that kind of story."