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Famous Like Me > Actor > R > John Rocker

Profile of John Rocker on Famous Like Me

 
Name: John Rocker  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 17th October 1974
   
Place of Birth: Statesboro, Georgia, USA
   
Profession: Actor
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

John Loy Rocker (born October 17, 1974) is an 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.

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 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 he would openly bait and taunt Mets fans.) 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.

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

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.

He was released on June 27, 2005, and 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."

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article John Rocker