#1 Most Disliked Atlanta Braves Player – John Rocker
If you were making a list of the most disliked baseball players of all time, John Rocker would probably find a place on it near the top. Again, it has nothing to do with on-field performance; Rocker was a pretty darn good pitcher for most of his time in Atlanta. He was drafted out of high school by the organization, and throughout his 4 seasons with the Braves, he posted a 2.63 ERA in nearly 200 innings pitched to go along with 83 saves. The numbers were undoubtedly inflated, though, due to steroid use, Rocker himself said in an excerpt from his book, “Yeah, of course I was [taking steroids]. I mean, who wasn’t? Let’s be honest here, who wasn’t?” Fair enough, I guess.
Rocker’s outspoken nature and antics ended up with him falling out of good graces with fans not just of the Braves but all of baseball. It all started with the infamous Sports Illustrated interview with Jeff Pearlman. In the interview, Rocker goes on a tirade against New York and makes many disparaging remarks about people of the LGBTQ community and different ethnicities and nationalities.
He hasn’t done much to rehabilitate his public image in the years since. For a while, it seemed like he was saying something derogatory about someone every time he gave an interview. In his appearance in 2014 on the 29th season of Survivor, Rocker proved how much of a roided-up meathead he still was by challenging the opposing tribe to fight him after a challenge and telling a female contestant that “If you were a man, I’d knock your teeth out.”
There you have it—the most disliked Braves players of the last 30 years. I hope it didn’t bring back too many bad memories. Are there any other players you think should have been on here? Sound off in the comments!
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