| John Rocker | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Rocker in 2014 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: (1974-10-17)October 17, 1974 (age 51) Statesboro, Georgia, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| May 5, 1998, for the Atlanta Braves | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 14, 2003, for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 13–22 |
| Earned run average | 3.42 |
| Strikeouts | 332 |
| Saves | 88 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
John Loy Rocker (born October 17, 1974) is anAmerican former professionalbaseballrelief pitcher who played six seasons inMajor League Baseball (MLB), primarily with theAtlanta Braves. Rocker made his major league debut in 1998 with the Braves, where he spent four seasons and was later a member of theCleveland Indians,Texas Rangers andTampa Bay Devil Rays. He last played professionally for theLong Island Ducks of theAtlantic League of Professional Baseball in 2005.
Rocker received notoriety during his career for making controversial statements, which began with a 1999Sports Illustrated interview and continued after his retirement. Following the conclusion of his baseball career, Rocker competed onSurvivor: San Juan del Sur with girlfriend Julie McGee, placing 16th.
In high school, Rocker was a pitcher forFirst Presbyterian Day School inMacon,Georgia.[1] He threw threeno-hitters during his high-school career.[citation needed] He initially committed to playcollege baseball for theGeorgia Bulldogs.[2] TheAtlanta Braves selected Rocker in the 18th round (516th overall) of the1993 Major League Baseball draft.
In 1998, the Braves promoted Rocker to the major leagues. In his first season in the major leagues, he was 1–3 with a 2.13 ERA in 38 innings pitched. The following year, an injury put Atlanta closerKerry Ligtenberg on thedisabled list, moving Rocker into the role ofcloser, where he was 4–5 with 38 saves and a 2.49 ERA. In 2000, he was 1–2 with 24 saves, posting a 2.89 ERA but in June 2000, Rocker was demoted after threatening a reporter.[3]
Rocker started to receive intense taunting from opposing teams' fans due to his negative behavior and his pitching performance began to decline. On June 22, 2001, Rocker, along with minor-league infielder Troy Cameron (Atlanta's first-round draft pick in 1997), was traded to theCleveland Indians for right-handed relieversSteve Karsay andSteve Reed along with cash.[4][5][6][7] In Cleveland, his record that year was 3–7 with a 5.45 ERA and four saves. Rocker pitched in the ALDS against theSeattle Mariners. After the season, the Indians traded him to theTexas Rangers for pitcherDavid Elder.[8] In Texas, he refused designation to the minor leagues. In 2002, he again struggled at 2–3 with a 6.66 ERA and was released.[9] In 2003, Rocker signed with theTampa Bay Devil Rays but was released after two appearances and an ERA of 9.00.[10]
Rocker took the 2004 season off to recover from surgery on his left shoulder. In 2005, he signed with theLong Island Ducks of the independentAtlantic League.[11] In April 2005, he asked New Yorkers to "bury the hatchet."[12][13] After going 0–2 with a 6.50 ERA in 23 games, he was released on June 27, 2005.[11]
In a story published in the December 27, 1999, issue ofSports Illustrated, Rocker made a number of allegations stemming from his experiences inNew York City and answering a question about whether he would ever play for theNew York Yankees or theNew York Mets:
I'd retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-wracking city. Imagine having to take the7 Train to the ballpark looking like you're riding throughBeirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to somequeer withAIDS, 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... The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners. You can walk an entire block inTimes Square and not hear anybody speaking English.Asians andKoreans andVietnamese andIndians andRussians andSpanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?[14]
During the interview, he also spoke of his opinion of theNew York Mets and their 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.
The interview was conducted while driving to a speaking engagement inAtlanta. The reporter,Jeff Pearlman, wrote that during the interview session, Rocker spat on aGeorgia State Route 400 toll machine and mocked Asian women. Also, Rocker referred toCuraçaoan teammateRandall Simon as a "fatmonkey".[14]
Although Rocker later apologized after speaking with Braves legend andHall of FamerHank Aaron and formerAtlanta mayor andcongressmanAndrew Young, he continued to make controversial remarks.[15] For his comments, Commissioner Bud Selig suspended Rocker without pay for the remainder of spring training and the first 28 games of the 2000 season,[16] which on appeal was reduced to 14 games (without a spring-training suspension).
In 2002, while with the Rangers, Rocker again made national headlines for his views after directing slurs towards patrons of a Dallas restaurant at which he was dining, located in the predominantly gay neighborhood ofOak Lawn.[17][18]
In June 2006, Rocker defended former teammateOzzie Guillén, at the time the manager of theChicago White Sox, for referring toChicago Sun-Times sports columnistJay Mariotti as a "fag". Guillen, a native ofVenezuela, claimed it was not a derogatory term and that, in Venezuela, the term only questions another man's courage rather than his sexual orientation.
"This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term," Rocker told theChicago Tribune. "Can't you use a lewd term in America if you want?" Referring tosensitivity training, he was quoted as saying: "It was a farce, a way for the scared little man,Bud Selig, to get people off his ass." Rocker stated that when he attended mandatory sensitivity training he would seldom remain longer than 15 minutes. He also claimed he never paid the $500 fine that was levied against him.[19]
In late 2006, Rocker was interviewed by the sports blogDeadspin, along with fitness model and then-girlfriend Alicia Marie. In the interview, Rocker discussed his "Speak English" campaign, as well as his upcoming book,Rocker: Scars & Strikes. Rocker stated that the book would not be used to try to repair his reputation, but would rather be "moreconservativeRepublican rantings". Also during the interview, Rocker lambastedJohn Schuerholz, his former general manager with the Braves, calling him "a piece of shit".[20]
OnSurvivor, during an argument with fellow castmateNatalie Anderson, Rocker told her, "If you were a man, I'd knock your teeth out."[21]
Following the outbreak of theRussian invasion of Ukraine, Rocker began voicing a number ofUkrainophobic statements.[22][23] In February 2025 he celebrated the US halting the restoration of Ukraine's energy grid following Russian airstrikes.[24][25] In March he said "We were trained to believe that China and Russia are the mortal enemies –Europe and Ukraine are the real mortal enemies."[26]
In March 2007, Rocker was implicated in a steroid ring that included Applied Pharmacy ofMobile, Alabama.[27] Rocker initially denied the reports that he had usedsomatropin but a spokesperson later claimed that Rocker had been prescribedhuman growth hormone following a shoulder surgery.[28] In December 2011, he admitted to using steroids, saying, "Yeah, of course I was [using steroids]. I mean who wasn't? Let’s be honest here, who wasn't?"[29]
The comments made by Rocker about New York City would be lampooned by theMTV animated seriesCelebrity Deathmatch in their episode "Celebrity Deathmatch: North vs. South"; befitting the theme, his opponent wasNew York Yankees iconDerek Jeter, though he would not portray himself in the episode, being impersonated by a worker on the show, Sean Lynch.
Rocker made his screen-acting debut in the 2002 horror comedyThe Greenskeeper as a murderous golf-club groundskeeper.
In 2006, Rocker appeared on theSpike TV network'sPros vs. Joes, a program that pits retired professional athletes against amateurs.
In August 2014 it was announced that Rocker would appear on the29th season of the competitive reality seriesSurvivor alongside his girlfriend Julie McGee.[30] He was the third person voted out, finishing in 16th place after he became the center of negative attention. He was immediately recognized by some of the other players who were aware of his controversial statements. He was voted out of the game with an immunity idol in his pocket on Day 8. McGee made it to the merge phase of the game, but quit in 12th place after suffering an emotional breakdown, citing the negativity surrounding Rocker earlier in the game as one of the multiple reasons that she decided to withdraw from the competition.
Though not directly based on Rocker,Danny McBride said of character Kenny Powers, the main protagonist of the HBO seriesEastbound and Down, that the "sort of attitude" exemplified by Rocker was "more or less an inspiration" for the character.[31]
In December 2011, Rocker released hisautobiography,Scars and Strikes. From 2012 to 2015, he wrote forWorldNetDaily, aconservative political site.[32] In November 2025, he appeared on an episode of "TheSam Hyde Show."
