Two Days in Toledo on the Rocker Beat

June 7, Toledo

It was a done deal before three o'clock, when I pointed my car south on the freeway; John Rocker wasn't coming--at least not tonight. Still, the parking lot was already half full with media trucks at five, two hours before game time. And as Richmond manager Bruce Ingle hit fungoes to the infielders, reporters congregated behind the first base dugout. Later, they moved out behind the stands, just talking.

With or without Rocker, there would be a baseball game tonight, between Toledo and Richmond, a pair of last place teams in the International League. But the small press box could not hold all the media people who came to town. The team set aside four rows behind home plate for the overflow.

As for the game, Richmond scored five against Detroit Tiger retread Mark Johnson in the first inning and led 7-1 after two, and won 10-1. Of course only two writers, the Toledo and Richmond beat guys, cared at all. All the postgame questions were about Rocker, the erstwhile stockbroker.

"We still haven't had any confirmation," Braves assistant General Manager Frank Wren told a throng of reporters gathered in the indoor batting cages after the game. "I talked with [Braves GM] John Schuerholtz (SIC!!!) earlier, and neither one of us has been contacted. But I have no reason to believe he isn't coming tomorrow."

The Mud Hens have been in Toledo since 1896, and tonight's crowd was two thousand more than the season average of 2,600. The team is introduced as "The World Famous Toledo Mud Hens." Some of the names on the Toledo lineup sheet are familiar--guys who come to Detroit to play for a while and leave again. Guys who are mentioned on the radio or on television when the baseball guys talk about the Tigers' future, a subject more pleasant than their present.

Whether Rocker will be welcomed is another story. One Toledo player said his arrival will just be ordinary. "I think he's just like any other young player who struggled in the big leagues and got sent down," Toledo third baseman Gabe Alvarez said.

"He's going to come down here, and get his work in and be back up in the big leagues and continue to be a good pitcher."

No matter what happens, if he shows up, John Rocker will seem out of place here, when and if he reports. He'll have to fit his persona, his baggage into the small red cap with blue "R" on it. And into a stadium that seats just 10,000. Triple-A is not for major league egos. Rocker came through Richmond on the way up, and unless he proves himself again, he'll be going through it on the way down.

June 8 Toledo, Ohio

There were more cheers than boos and a few standing ovations as John Rocker walked from the clubhouse to the third base dugout and bullpen. Along the way he stopped to sign autographs for the Braves fans seated along the left field line.

Rocker arrived in the early afternoon and was met at the airport by some media and Wren. "I think the guys were glad to see him," Richmond manager Randy Ingle said after the game. "He just went around to the guys and they spoke to him." Ingle declined to comment on Rocker's side session before the game, but said he would throw tomorrow in what will be the rubber match of the series.

Third baseman Wes Helms said Rocker was just how he remembered him, "He acted like he did when I was here with in him in '98 and when I was in Atlanta with him in '98. He gave everyone a warm 'hello' and they gave him a warm 'hello,"' Helms said.

Everyone thought Rocker would not take the field until game time, but around 5:20 p.m., while Richmond took batting practice, he began throwing in the Braves bullpen for an audience of reporters, photographers, television cameramen, and Richmond pitching coach Mike Alvarez. Richmond will use him in late inning relief, hopefully as a closer, but there have not been many save opportunities for a team that is now 15-44 coming into the game.

Wearing number 43, Rocker threw hard for about fifteen minutes breaking a sweat in the hot Toledo afternoon, occasionally screaming into his Mizuno mitt in frustration. After other pitches he stopped, asked Alvarez a question, and looked at him intently as the coach answered him. The gathered reporters stood silently and tried to pick up a bit of dialog.

His power is obvious from the pops the catcher glove made. Even in this warm-up Rocker throws hard, and some of his mound ticks. When he takes the ball out of his glove he taps it against the mitt. While he listens to Alvarez, he taps the ball off his cup. From listening to him talk his pitching coach, Rocker's problem becomes clear. He has movement on his fastball that he did not have last year and balls that flew past hitters for strikes last year are coming across wide of the plate.

Wren told the media that Rocker would probably not pitch today, but also said that the bitterness in his voice on Atlanta radio disappeared when Rocker got to the stadium today. Wren also predicted that the media would thin out with Rocker's arrival.

"This whole thing is stressful. He's just been trying to get through it," Wren said. "Once he got his uniform on and got ready to go and got out on the field, I saw his whole demeanor change. He was ready to pitch."

It looked even more unlikely as the Mud Hens jumped out to 9-0 lead after two innings, eventually winning 10-4. Rocker did not pitch, though the Toledo crowd chanted for him off-and-on from the fourth inning on.

But Rocker's warm reception in Toledo surprised his teammates. "That's one thing our team is up-and-down about, how the different stadiums are going to react, and I was really shocked at how the fans loved him. There were a lot of positive comments behind the stands," Helms said.

After the game about 100 people, some in Braves caps, gathered around the door to the Braves clubhouse, chanting "Rocker, Rocker" every time the door opened. But Rocker was not going to come out. Lucas Country deputies cleared the way for the team bus to pull directly up to the door. When it was obvious he was not going to come out, some kids turned on him, yelling, "You're a traitor Rocker!"

Last time he was in Richmond, he threw only 19 innings before being called up. And he will be in New York when the Braves meet the Mets at Shea at the end of the month. But whether he goes to Queens or Syracuse will depend on whether or not he figures out how to throw strikes.