John Rocker tells magazine he’s close to publishing memoir
Post career, John Rocker appeared on ESPN's "Pros vs. Joes" show in 2006. (AP photo)
John Rocker: Published author?
Rocker, the Braves’ former pitcher and ticking time bomb, has been referenced frequently in the past couple of weeks. He was an historical reference point for observers after Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell’s verbal altercation with fans in San Francisco, which allegedly included homophobic slurs.
Rocker, who still lives in Atlanta, apparently is self-publishing a memoir. Title: “Scars and Strikes.” It’s due out in June. The current issue of Atlanta Magazine has a profile on Rocker in its May issue. The story, written by Charles Bethea, doesn’t really break new ground, but it has a few amusing comments. Included:
♦ Rocker says the book will be a mixture of baseball and politics, with some of his “philosophy and feelings.” He adds that it will be “how the conversation would have gone had that writer gotten it right.” The reference was to the Sports Illustrated story in 2000, in which he bashed, among other things, homosexuals and “foreigners” (specifying, “Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people.” His punchline in SI: “How the hell did they get in this country?”
Rocker's campaign is on the shelf for now.
♦ Rocker says he rarely speaks with reporters (or they with him) and adds, “I’ve sworn off doing print interviews.” In Rocker’s world, I guess this means a magazine doesn’t qualify as print. Bethea was allowed to read the first chapter of Rocker’s book. His mini-review: “The only disparaging word in its thirteen pages, which earnestly chronicle the day leading up to his World Series debut in New York City against the Yankees, is reserved for the pregame clubhouse reporters. Rocker uses a widely accepted, species-specific slur for them: ‘piranhas.’ Again, progress.” (For the record, I prefer, “vultures.”)
♦ Rocker has backed off his controversial “Speak English” campaign. The link on his website for “Speak English” T-shirts is no longer active. He tells the magazine that the campaign was “misunderstood.” Of course. Quoting here: “People have tried to tie it into the racist overtones that Sports Illustrated created, that Speak English is biased, bigoted. Coming to America, if you want to truly realize why you came here—for a better life, better opportunity for your family— the only way to do that is to speak English.” (Editorial response: The kernel of truth to that last sentence is obliterated by the messenger and his resume. Also, putting “Speak English” on T-shirts falls short in the finesse department.)
♦ He remains close friends with former Braves teammate Otis Nixon, an African American, who battled cocaine addiction during his career. Nixon calls Rocker, “Like a brother or a son. He came to the majors looking like he thought he owned half the locker room; he did and said things I didn’t agree with, but he’s grown. I told him the other day that I’m proud of him. He’s finally getting past that article.”
Others may never get past it. Not sure I’ll buy the book but it should be interesting if he has a book signing in Atlanta. Or in New York.
By Jeff Schultz
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Last post: How they really stand — from Braves (1) to Jacket hoops (10)
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179 comments Add your comment
BillS
May 4th, 2011
12:58 pm
I’m making typos as stupid as Rocker. I intended to quiote Jeff saying “not sure I’ll buy it”. My apologies. But Rocker is still stupid.
Lefty
May 4th, 2011
12:58 pm
“An historic” is correct Dave. Words that begin with h are not always preceded by “A”. It’s a tough rule for anyone who didn’t finish fourth grade, so I’ll spare you the details. Look it up…if you know how.
Roswell Braves Fan
May 4th, 2011
12:58 pm
@Ryan ‘Nothing was more exciting at the Braves game than when “I Wanna Rock” would start blaring over the speakings and Rocker would come charging out of the bullpen like a mad man – especially in October.’
I agree, The ballpark went electric when he was brought into the game. When you stop and think about it, why do we continue to expect ANY athletes or celebs (just to name a few) to act as role models? They’re no different than the rest of us…
Mel
May 4th, 2011
1:00 pm
I don’t in any way, shape or form agree with Mr. Rocker’s views or his previous statements to the press. HOWEVER… if there’s anything positive in all of this (bear with me here), he at the very least is being open and forthcoming about his views. He’s not hiding them. I’d rather know where I stand with someone than not.
Lefty
May 4th, 2011
1:01 pm
Dave, get back to me in “a hour” [sic] if you can’t figure it out.
Mike
May 4th, 2011
1:04 pm
Here is a great game I just found on the interenet, called “Who said it: Kenny Powers or John Rocker.”
1.”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.”
2.How do you like playing in New York?
-”You mean Jew York? It’s f-ing great…”
3.“I thought the blacks in Baltimore were bad,sh*t, they’re nothing compared to these f*gs you got here in San Francisco”
4.”I’m not a very big fan of foreigners … How the hell did they get in this country?”
5.”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.”
6. “The biggest thing I don’t like about New York are the foreigners. I’m not a very big fan of foreigners.”
7. “Sure I’ve been called a xenophobe, but the truth is I’m not. I honestly just feel that America is the best country and all the other countries aren’t as good. That used to be called patriotism.”
BO U
May 4th, 2011
1:05 pm
Enter your comments here
BO U
May 4th, 2011
1:05 pm
LOL!!!!
Todd
May 4th, 2011
1:09 pm
I was enjoying the article until the comments started.
Rockerbabe
May 4th, 2011
1:09 pm
I liked John Rocker and his folibles. I think he just was not mature enough to hand those rotten NYer’s and their throwing rocks, batteries and other items at him. In fact, I’m not sure I would even be able to shrug that off. It seems there were a lot of hurtful words surrounding John and NY, but John shouldn’t be penalized any more than he already has been, given that Michael Vick has been elevated to the vaulted QB position. I mean really.. .he harmed a lot of dogs and cats in his greedy quest for money and thrills. What John Rocker did nor did not say and do, seems aweful benign by comparison.
Fire Frank Wren
May 4th, 2011
1:12 pm
Is it going to be a pop-up book?
Bill
May 4th, 2011
1:12 pm
Whats the big difference in what McDowell did and what Rocker has done? Why show RM the love and Rocker the hate? Don’t blame Rocker for not trusting Media…they all out for big story no matter who they kill getting it. Except Jeff, Mark and DOB who sometimes lean to the left. The last I heard this is still the USA and everyone has right to their opinions. I will buy book to see his side of it. Live and let live. GO Braves!!!!!!!
Worm
May 4th, 2011
1:19 pm
Last time I ran into John was at a UGA tailgate and he had his Black girlfriend with him..
Bill
May 4th, 2011
1:20 pm
not kill but destroy .
claymanbob
May 4th, 2011
1:25 pm
Honestly, who cares?
Jimmy
May 4th, 2011
1:25 pm
Bill – The only real difference is that RM was having direct contact with fans and Rocker was asked if would ever play for either New York team. He said he wouldn’t and gave the reasons why.
Again, nothing Rocker said is/was inaccurate, but the truth “offended” some.
Sensitivity Training = you will have the same values and thoughts that we have, or you can’t say anything without being grilled.
Bill
May 4th, 2011
1:27 pm
Thanks Jimmy. Go Braves!
Jimmy
May 4th, 2011
1:31 pm
Less than three hours to game one.
Hanson will dominate AGAIN!
slowroller
May 4th, 2011
1:38 pm
“He might be a Redneck”….but on steroids, he couldn’t control his anger, so he let slip a few slurs to let off steam. If the title of the book were “Steroids and Strikes”….then people would buy the book.
From that standpoint, I would like to know if Rocker addresses his steroid use, and that of many others on the Braves back then. There is no other way that “Big Cat” could have come back from cancer treatment. And I’m still a little ticked about Gallaraga playing through Cancer when he probably knew he was sick. What was he 1 for 16 in the playoffs that year?
Mitchell
May 4th, 2011
1:40 pm
I saw him in the Atlanta magazine piece. Yes, I actually bought a copy of Atlanta magazine.
I’d read his book. I mean, like at Borders. Not saying I would pay for it but it’s probably worth a skim.
The only thing I can say is he’s one of the few guys to ever play for the Braves who actually had a personality. He was the closest we ever came to having a player that resembled the then owner.
He was Ted Turner in cleats, only slightly more racist. His most redeemable quality is I think he kind of knew he was an idiot, as opposed to not knowing. It’s better to know generally.
Luke Scott of the Orioles, for example, who spent the majority of the baseball winter meetings last year in Orlando explaining to reporters that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and had evidence that his Hawaiian birth certificate is fake is an A-Hole.
There is a difference. Rocker himself may hold the same view but I’m sure he would have a more entertaining and less douchey way of communicating it.
jw
May 4th, 2011
1:42 pm
Rocker-mania was a big deal back when. By forgetting for just a fleeting moment that there is a time and place for things – it all came crashing down.
He was good – destined to be the best Atlanta has had in the reliever corps. My only concern about the whole deal – 10+ years later is his Pete Rose attitude about it.
John – if you’re reading – come clean, quit turning over the dirt and show folks how you’ve changed. We all know it killed your baseball career, but it doesn’t have to kill the rest of your life – right now, you are a hard hearted, Pete Rose minded son of a gun. It’s OK to admit you are wrong – and to admit you messed up – it would be bigger for your Atlanta legacy to see you do something about it – other than tell everyone you didn’t do it. Your big mouth ran – the reporter wrote it down – and you suffered dearly – hard to misquote any of that.
Help yourself and make it right – rather than just publishing babble that someone else can “take out of context” – you gonna unload on the ghost writer when it gets blasted in the press?
seabass
May 4th, 2011
1:48 pm
Screw John Rocker!
Mike Lum
May 4th, 2011
1:53 pm
He was too stupid to even work in one of my old restaurants.
JB
May 4th, 2011
1:55 pm
Hey seabass…………..screw you…….Let us examine your entire life, mistakes and things you wish you hadn’t said.
Brave Fan
May 4th, 2011
2:00 pm
I absolutely agree on one thing – you come here for a better life then learn the language of this Country. I have a neighbor who has been here 12 years illegally and she had the nerve to send her two boys to my house and tell me she said that I needed to learn Spanish to communicate with her – I sent the boys back with the message – she needs to learn English to communicate with me. The two boys speak very good English and in fact were born here.
Rashard Mendenhall
May 4th, 2011
2:06 pm
ME and Otis Nixon are big buddies.
katherine
May 4th, 2011
2:07 pm
I liked Rocker…love him or hate him when he ran out of that bullpen in the 9th inning it was electric…I still have my rocker jersey!
Wisdom-Moderation-Justice
May 4th, 2011
2:09 pm
Screw John Rocker and Rashard Mendenhall both !
idot
May 4th, 2011
2:12 pm
Who in the heLL cares about this? And, why should anyone care about this?
Dawg in Malta
May 4th, 2011
2:15 pm
@crash
So you’re saying this will be the cliff notes of John Rocker’s memoirs??
I hate it but he was a talent wasted!!
katherine
May 4th, 2011
2:15 pm
I think its funny…people will give lots of athletes a second chance after, say, being involved in a murder, beating up their wife/girlfriend, killing tons of dogs, killing someone in a dui accident, raping or groping more than one girl…just to name a few….but they won’t give the same opportunity to rocker. just saying…….
Cynthia McKinney Parkway ?
May 4th, 2011
2:15 pm
Who cares about ex-con and former Mayor Bill Campbell.
snickers
May 4th, 2011
2:26 pm
The sad thing about people like Rocker is that more often than not his attitude (or former attitude if he’s to be believed now) is/was the product of his upbringing. Racists and bigots are not born they are made, by either their father, mother, or both. That doesn’t excuse the behavior, but it does in most cases make it a little more explainable. Hopefully he truly has awakened and now realizes that the way he was thinking all those years ago was ignorant, childish, and simply dumb.
Phil Clark
May 4th, 2011
2:31 pm
Hilton, you say Rocker’s parents ”never taught him any different’. Got any idea who Andruw Jones lived with when he played in Macon? Jake and Judy Rocker!
Unbelievable
May 4th, 2011
2:32 pm
Why should they learn the language?? We cater to ther every need because their business means we make money. You can’t pull over a car full of mexicans because that’s called “racial profiling” and it hurts the hispanic’s feelings. MOst of the immigrants shouldn’t even be here yet they cry about their rights being violated. Why would the liberals clean house, those are potential voters in the next election.
You can’t say the N- word or “fag” or even say things like “those shoes are gay” because it will offend someone. HOwever, you can say the word “redneck” and nobody bats an eye. You can say “cracker” and nobody cares.
YOu have the right to free speech as long as nobody’s feelings are hurt because apparently nowadays hurting someone’s feelings or being insensitive is illegal.
Ryder
May 4th, 2011
2:36 pm
This country was built from immigration. Immigration is what fueled the constant pride and energy that makes this country different from all others. To hate immigration is to hate what makes America, America. To close the door to immigration is closing the door on what makes us different from all other nations. Know your history.
Unbelievable
May 4th, 2011
2:36 pm
ONly middle to upperclass white people are allowed to be called names. What’s funny is the majority of those people don’t care if some A hole they don’t calls them a “redneck” or a “honky” or a “cracker”. Why should they?? Use the N-word or use a gay slur however and you will find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit and the unemployment line.
Unbelievable
May 4th, 2011
2:39 pm
Ryder, that was 100 years ago and more. The country then was still growing and their were jobs and space for everyone. This country is maxed out and their aren’t enough jobs. There’s more people than are needed. Trying to compare where this country is now to where it was 100 years ago just can’t be done.
Joycee Banicheck
May 4th, 2011
2:40 pm
Well let’s see here, I log in, go to the sports page and there’s a tabloid story along with a photo. It must be the biggest story in Atlanta sports right now even though it’s tabloid material. Let’s see who wrote this thing… Ahhhhh ok, as if I needed to check the author to know it’s Jeffy with his routine tabloid trash article. How you stay employed I’ll never know. If I sucked at my job as bad as you do at yours I’d have been given the pink slip long ago.
I’m actually surprised you haven’t been writing a daily blog calling for Roger McDowell to be fired and blah blah blah I used to live in SF and blah blah blah. Uh oh, did I ruin your tabloid blog set for tomorrow’s sports page?
Here’s what we’d like from you, the 2011 Braves, 2011 Falcons, 2011 Hawks, 2011 Dawgs, 2011 Jackets. Can you handle that? Can you think outside the box and give the readers of this sports page something with substance for once in your life? And not like the Limbaugh blog you failed on so miserably the one time you ever tried to look outside the box.
Do you ever say to yourself “I wonder why I’ve never been invited to be on Around the Horn?” or any other nationally syndicated sports show? It’s because you bring very little to the table Jeffy.
1eyedJack
May 4th, 2011
2:45 pm
As soon as Obama and his gang of goons get their way you won’t even be able to think those thoughts. Big Brother you know. Take your soma and shut up.
jw
May 4th, 2011
3:01 pm
Joycee –
2011 Braves – covered
2011 Falcons – covered
2011 Hawks – covered
2011 Dawgs – covered
2011 Jackets – covered
This mess about Mr. Rocker is a direct reflection of reporting about the 2011 Braves – almost TOO good. An incident with a 2011 Brave (that McDowell dude – remember) is digging up them old bones. A sports reporter has to do their job! Jeffy, as you like to refer, is doing his job – he GOTCHA – you commented – right? The man did his job!
Who would want to be on Around the Horn with Woody Paige anyway – especially since being in the same room with Michelle Beadle and Sportsnation would be so much more fun!!!!!! One of the Around the Horn regulars got called out by Ozzie Guillen – remember – so why go on that show? And that was before the new hair took root!
Dawg and Jacket season are in speculation mode – nothing much to report right now anyway
Falcon season is on hold unless we find out someone tied their shoes on the property and got arrested.
Poor Kennesaw and Georgia State – the busiest “other” sports news in the last 2 months and you totally forgot to include them in your rant Joycee – besides that, have a great day.
Reverie
May 4th, 2011
3:10 pm
Hilton got it wrong. Jake Rocker taught his boy a lot better than his boy acts. I am inclined to just let this story die and hope he has grown up. As for the press portrayal of John, he never understood that the first thing you do when you have dug yourself into a hole is to quit digging.
kevin
May 4th, 2011
3:22 pm
Interesting. I did not think he could read. What a complete loser.
Stinger2
May 4th, 2011
3:23 pm
Jeff: By writing this article relating to Rocker`s publication of his book, you are obviously helping promote and enhance its sales. If this is your objective, you are doing Rocker a great favor.
bbqdawg
May 4th, 2011
3:36 pm
What an amazing talent he was!
Rawdog
May 4th, 2011
3:36 pm
My buddy wears his Rocker shirt to Braves’ games. He is ready to fight all the blacks/losers/gaywads who ride MARTA there and back from the game. Furthermore, I’ve met Rocker in person and he is just a normal guy who voices the unpopular opinion that everyone is too afraid to say out loud, but deep down are really thinking.
Hillbilly Deluxe
May 4th, 2011
3:36 pm
This is America; he can write a book if he chooses. Everybody else can choose to buy/read it, or not. Simple as that.
Joycee Banicheck
May 4th, 2011
3:38 pm
Wow, absolutely riveting. maybe the ajc should hire you instead…
StingerSplash
May 4th, 2011
3:40 pm
John Rocker’s 15 minutes elapsed a long time ago. Tell him to go sit next to Balloon Boy and William Hung and the rest of the “hey, weren’t you, um, yeah, that guy” crowd.
space monkey
May 4th, 2011
3:44 pm
He was never that good. Fastball had very little movement and rarely broke 96. All mouth and theatrics and no poise.