The Nick DiPaolo Show - John Rocker | Nick Di Paolo Show #1670

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

In this episode Nick interviews former pitcher John Rocker! Like what you hear?  Watch FULL episodes of The Nick Di Paolo Show on Rumble Premium! Use Promo Code MUGCLUB and get $10 off annually! https://rumble.com/c/TheNickDiPaoloShow/exclusive MERCH - https://shop.nickdip.com/ Tour Dates and more- https://nickdip.com 2/20/2025 -- Bricktown Comedy Club – Tulsa, OK 2/21/2025 – Funnybone – St. Louis, MO 4/25/2025 – Cohoes Music Hall – Cohoes, NY Follow me on Socials! https://bio.site/nickdipaolo  

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Ontario I'm gonna be a good boy. I would tell anybody outside the family what you're thinking again. Welcome folks on a beautiful Thursday. Got a great show. It's a Thursday before Christmas. Got a great show Thursday before Christmas. Aren't we releasing this tomorrow? Oh and we're not coming back. That's right. Got a great show. A guest. You know I don't have many but what I do former Major League pitcher John Rocker the controversial outspoken John Rocker had a great great interview with him and he's just what you'd think I fucking love him just honest and blunt and you don't want to miss that.

Let's check out some of his work right now if you're a guy. Here's the clip. Johnny Rotten. Let's him look up and get it. That was old Johnny boy at Chase Stadium. They weren't a big fan. We get into why that was. So you're going to want to see that. My guest today, a former MLB flame throwing relief pitcher, mostly for the Atlanta Braves, outspoken athlete who I found refreshing even back in the days everybody was getting on his ass. It's one of my favorite athletes I gotta be honest John Rocker. John welcome to the show. Nick good afternoon man how you doing? Very good first of all I love the kiss thing in the background. You're actually by Mike Cortellone is no we had the Mike Mike was the

Drunk with the damn Yankees back in the day has been Skinner's drummer for About he paying that we was 18 years old. I've known Mike for 20 plus years. Anyway, I nagged him for a decade trying to buy that thing So about the kiss pain like yeah trying to buy that thing finally come one day so about the kiss pain like yeah well yeah absolutely so I bought a mic about five six years ago finally after nagging about 15 years he sold to me he you said the damn Yankees now Ted Nugent was in the band. I don't know Mike was Ted's drummer first several years of the damn Yankees. It was so funny because I was gonna bring up Ted Nugent to you later

on in the conversation, just going, I was going to say something told me that you guys probably have met each other many times or whatever. Yeah. And, and kind of what, what are the little claims to fame? I was so impressed by it when I was like 25 or 26, maybe a little more, maybe 28, it doesn't really matter. Uh, Ted wrote a book, God, Guns and Rock and Roll, I think. Yes.

Gave me a mention on the thanks page, John Rogers thanks. I mean, I had a mention on the thanks page. That was a pretty big deal. I had him on the show. I'm about 12 years older than you, so I saw Ted Nugent in 1975. I want to say I was 13 at the Cape Cod Coliseum and to this

day I fucked up my left ear. It was so loud, he literally... Yeah, 50 years later it still will still ring. Absolutely. He damaged my... about three weeks after the concert it was still ringing and then ever since when I get on the phone I have to some time and I wear it like a badge of fucking honor. I, uh, send him a fucking bell. Yeah. We had him on, we had him on this show and I was just thrilled to talk to this guy.

What, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what I mean good god, I can sit and listen, I gotta play all day. And you know what, John, you know what John, you say that and it's definitely fucking true.

And he should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but because he gets treated like you and I and any other guy, outspoken white guy, he's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And there's no doubt. All the political bullshit, you're right. It just amazes me. I thought, you know, in comedy, it's very obvious when you're outspoken.

I started, you know, speaking out. I've been doing comedy for 37 years, so I've been taking a lot of flack and there was gigs where I did really well on the road. I'd come home and my agent would go, yeah they don't want you back and I go, I fucking ripped the tits off the crowd the whole weekend and they go, yeah they, I never got a straight answer, I didn't figure it out two years later. You said one crime liberal bartender and threatened to quit if anybody came back or you know some shit like that, you know the club manager you know got a fucking heart on her some gay joke you told her some shit yeah. That's exactly right that's all it takes I try to tell my wife there's a lot of

times she's like I don't understand why the bank is doing this to us I don't understand why the cable guy is not showing up I go honey I'm not world famous but when we lived up in New York the west of North of New York City. I said these people up here know me. I'm the fucking redneck of West Chester County I'm on TV enough, so I would always blame the dentist I can kind of hear your accent you got that sort of northern kind of country accent sort of blended. It's really it's really odd It's very odd. So it's it's a hybrid. You're right. It's a hybrid of New York and Boston. When I get drunk I sound like a Kennedy. It's really ridiculous.

But let me ask you, before we get into the politics, I just want to talk a little baseball and stuff because I really did. I was living in New York City when all that shit went down with the Sports Illustrated article. First of all, what are you doing right now? Are you coaching, teaching? I don't even... I do some. My mentor when I was playing, if you're a baseball enthusiast, you know the name Tom House. Yes. Tom was my mentor the last like probably four years I played. He's got an organization called National Pitching Association. I travel

around to some camps with Tom or with with some local kids this past year. An old teammate of mine, Damien Moss, Damien played a couple years in the big leagues. We came up with the minors together. He's got a college wood bat league that he runs out of the Braves, New Spring Transfer School that was gonna score us. We got there about six weeks, eight weeks with him,

working with a bunch of college pitchers. Do some real estate developing. I've got a couple deals going right now, building a town home deal, um, in Tuscaloosa about 50 yards from the stadium in Tuscaloosa. It's just one of the betters I've ever done. Uh, and a couple of dirt deals, um, and, uh, trying to kind of just be sort of semi retired too, so good for you. Here's how I know Tom house, because did he not catch Hank Aaron's home?

He did. Did he not? He did. I was what time of death is such a character. Wasn't a good picture to it. I remember. I remember him catching it for Boston. Yes, he did.

Yes, he did. Also Atlanta played, played four or five teams. You played for obviously the Braves. I remember you, you, you, you Tampa Bay, the Rangers, right? Yeah. Uh, Cleveland, yeah. Yeah. Once, once I left Atlanta, well, there's once I left Cleveland, got

in Texas a couple of years, I was, I was hurt pretty much the whole time. And like a dumb ass will never, never put myself on the DL. It was, you know, that was back in the, if you, if you can't beat them out in milligram days, um, So we're just stick more shit my ass, you know, swallow more pills and get me back out there. And it didn't didn't didn't go so well when you're pitching your pitching half broke the whole time. So I should have shut down and in a little fight another day, but it was not my

mentality. So now you're a bulldog. We're talking to John rocker and let me ask about today's pitchers I mean Jesus they they're so first. Let me they seem to be pampered I mean these guys these start as a gross understatement Money got invested them, you know who can blame it, you know when you're you're you're paying a pitcher a million dollars every time you state Toe touches rubber, yeah, I don't want to break my guy either, you know? And they're all feeble as shit. I mean, hell, half of them in Atlanta's spent,

I've got to hurt this year. I don't understand why. You know, you make a blame on the travel ball, you know, back in our day or certainly my day. I mean, I went from sport to sport to sport to sport. I played, you know, back, you know, back in our day or certainly my day. I mean, I went from sport to sport to sport to sport. I played, you know, three, if not four sports a year and you took your baseball spikes off and you picked your football helmet up, put your football helmet down, you pick your basketball up.

And so I never pitched more than, I don't know, 30 or 40 innings, maybe 50 innings for an entire season. Right. I mean, I'm working with some kids now, one kid in particular was probably going to be a top three round draft, he's a f**king stud. He just got done playing, I kept telling him, sit your fat ass down, take some time off, rest is underrated, would not listen to me. Of course their high school season starts mid-January, obviously the weather's better here in Florida. He just got done playing first week in November

Like I damn son. Well, you're playing Ten and a half months out of a year. Wow, you're 17 year old body can't take that shit Yeah, by the time these guys get to the big leagues You know, they probably got four or four or five hundred more innings on their arms than I did when I got the big leagues I thought that's gotta be the call. Well that has to be but see I then I did this other theory where they start babying these kids in little league now they up that they can only throw 30 40 pitchers or whatever. That's good though. That's good. Is that good? They have shit deliveries. So they do because you'll have these dumbass coaches and you

know in quests for a fucking plastic ring they'll run their stud out there three straight days and just just just wear them out right that's that's that's almost to protect the kids from some idiot coach which I like that shit I do like it um well that's interesting I wanted to hear it from somebody who knew and because it was two theories I heard a pro ballplayer in an interview going well they they starting to bathe these kids too early and they don't develop, but you don't develop strength throwing. Um, like you said, you, you, you mechanics, you're not, you're not most of it. I see some kids now and I don't want too many young kids, but I

get some and I see some kids now like just watching you throw physically hurts my body to watch you throw like your delivery is so bad. We got to fix this shit guy. You know, head going this way, front side flying open, little arm dragging behind just screaming for dear life. And yeah, you feel like that for a long period of time. I mean, that's that is a shoulder and definitely an elbow just waiting to happen. Especially little young immature bodies that don't just have no maturity whatsoever to them. You can't do that. You can't do that.

You can't do that. But yeah, that's the theory that these guys get to the league with a lot more wear and tear on them than we did. We played more on the court. But again, they also have a lot better training. Some of the shit that I come across now, as far as arm care, some of the stuff Tom House has come up with is just genius. Really?

And I had nothing. When I was in high school I had nothing. No pitching coach, no arm care program. I was fortunate enough my junior high school to tear my labrum swinging a bat and so I had to get orthoscopic surgery and that's what taught me how the little bit of rudimentary arm care I learned was from rehabbing that shoulder surgery. Prior to that, I mean like I don't need to be working out, I just got no clue what to do. But nowadays, I mean you got these kids that got hitting coaches, pitching coaches, and

street coaches, and nutritionists, and you know little Johnny's hitting fucking 220 for the 13U team. And he's got all this team, you this team around him so he can hit 220. But yeah, they take it seriously. They spend a ton of money too. I mean, they'll spend 3, 4, 5 grand a year for Timmy to travel around and play travel ball. Timmy's going to be the next Derek Jeter so we've got to keep that in mind. It's all going to pay off. Yeah, they all are. It's all going to pay off one of these days. Next Jeter. I can relate to the shoulder problems because look I was in high school in the late 70s

and you know lift and weight nobody warmed up nobody stretched and shit I was benching with the linemen I was a running back and little did I know I was still growing, the doctor explained it to me after I dislocated both of the, both shoulders by the way, over 10, 15 times each. And not only dislocated, I separated them, and then the doctor explained to me after I had surgery when I was out of high school that when you lift in that young and lifting that heavy your muscles are stronger than your joints and that and somebody would come up to me literally and slap me and my shoulder would get eventually I'm on the football field and my shoulders kept popping out

and shit and yeah let's start telling judge for a loop. Not quite yet but I went on to I had surgery by a great fucking doctor and I was told not quite yet but I went on to I had surgery by a great fucking doctor and I was told not to play but I went on the University of Maine and I walked on and earned a scholarship and that's the thing I'm most proud of today but they stayed intact this fucking doctor I still remember his name Lyle McKaylee he was the expert on it I brought his name up four years ago to a doctor in New York. He goes, I want to see him speak at Harvard a couple of months ago. He's like in his eighties. He got some in the battlefield. Yeah. Did you get both of them? Yeah. He fixed both of them. He did my first. You walked around like this for

like two months? Not at the same time. Not at the same time. Not at the same time. But he did my first one and he said to me, I remember my dad was in the room, he goes, I've been doing about 25, 25 of these a year for the last 30 years. He goes, that was the worst that I've ever seen. And then when he did my second one, he goes, I did the second one, he did the second one, he goes, that was worse than your first one. He goes, there was fucking bone chips floating around you know you know you're like Abram was torn you're fucking and I know because my buddy would literally come up to me and slap me and I it would click and I'd go you know I was like gonna get this fixed and what ended it was me jumping off a me and my buddies fucking idiots

jumped off a 75 foot click into the quarries and I went in like this John and this one this one came out and I remember telling the doctor and he goes he goes what if both of them can't you go right to the bottom? Seriously right at the bottom, I don't know what the fuck I do now. The shoulder is such a shitty joint. It's just a horribly designed, horribly put together part of our body. It's a shitty joint. It's just horribly designed, horribly put together point of our body is a shitty joint. It doesn't work for shit. Well it doesn't. Is it the joint John or is it the motion pitching which is unnatural? Well it is unnatural. It's the joint. I mean it's not a ball and socket. It's literally bone just stuck to another bone and it's wrapped up with connective tissue and muscle and stuff.

Let's just tape this thing in there and hope it sticks. It's not going to I don't know anyone Well, I don't know anyone. I know a lot of people that their sports careers ended in, you know Freshman year high school that had cuffs done. I was reaching up to get a coffee cup. Holy shit I got my right cuff is busted right now, but I have my left cuff done. It was such a miserable surgery. It doesn't have to stay broke. I'm not getting it fixed.

I'd rather deal with this pain in a scale of one to one for the rest of my life than deal with a 10 for three or four months. That's not gonna happen. So yeah, what I did, nothing I can ever point to it's just just a gradual thing his shoulders just it's just a just a joint that's just Evil designed you you didn't have but you didn't have shoulder or elbow problems, right when you were pitching or did you? Oh, yeah, that's what I put into the career

13 years minors and big leagues without I played 13 years, minors and big leagues without going on the table list a single time, 13 years of complete health. And remember when Peyton Manning had the pinched nerve in his neck, C5 pinched nerve, he shut himself down for a year? I had the same thing. And that nerve when it gets impinged, that's what causes the rotator cuff muscles to fire. And that cuff muscle slows that arm down and when you have no nerve telling those muscles to fire, arm just starts up and nothing to slow it down. So I had, we got five cuff muscles, two of them were 85% torn. I mean, almost

torn things through. My label was torn off the bone. My humerus was about hanging about two inches below my scapula. And I could literally take three fingers and shove it right there under my scapula. It just looked disgusting. But it was just, it was painkillers and anti-inflammatories. Juiced me up. Let's keep going. I was still throwing 95. I'd been hurt like shit.

But I was still throwing 95 and it really affected command. But yeah, it just kept going, kept going. And then finally, it just kept getting, you going. And then finally, it just kept getting hurt worse and worse and worse. And at the end, when I'm finally like, yeah, I got to see Dr. Andrews. I mean, it was trying to get loose for 25 or 30 minutes to throw 86, 87 miles an hour.

And I'm like, what the hell is wrong with me? And when I got there to see Jimmy, he's like, John, I liken your shoulder to this if you're riding down the interstate going 80 miles an hour you blew your tire out and he kept driving the three miles the way your shoulder looked is how your tire would look if that's what you did. That's a good doctor. I had a surgery and tried to come back but it just just too much damage and by the time he fixed it too

much scar tissue and just couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. We're talking to the great John Rocker one more baseball question before we move on. Well actually too quick. First of all why are Dominicans so good at baseball? Because they really seem to. First of all they just got raw talent but second of all I can say. First of all, they just got raw towel. But second of all, the weather down there, they play probably 300 days a year. You know, they'll they'll they'll literally because they're all poor shit. It's like a rock ball.

They'll they'll they'll have a stick and a rock. And that's that's that's that's their equipment. You know, a lot of Dominican friends, and I can think of two or three right now, that literally told me they did not own a pair of shoes and they were like 12 years old. Were barefooted from birth to 12 years old. Never wore a pair of shoes. Shoeless Jose Jackson. Shoeless Jose Jackson. Yeah, yeah one guy was a passable motto, another guy was getting my Odell Perez who actually just passed away last year. Yeah so they did not own a pair of shoes.

They're almost teenagers, but, uh, yeah, they're resilient, you know? And, and, and yeah, they just, the, the game is tough for them to try to try to learn how to hit a rock and hit the baseball. That just got a lot easier. I was like, baseball, I can hit a volleyball now. You should be really easy. Yeah. So they, they, they just, They just genetically gifted to you.

I know, I was gonna say. It seems like every team fucking brings in a closer or a setup guy is a giant Dominican. Just fucking bringing it to you. Bringing it. 100 and 102. It's like what the fuck? Well, let me tell you about the guns too though. Ah, I knew it.

Of course, back in the day, you know, I was in the steroid era and that'll give you a couple miles an hour, it'll give you a little life. Roger Clement. And you see everybody, they're gonna jump in a bullpen that's throwing under 98. I'm like, bullshit. You play as long as I play, you watch as much baseball as I watch, you can tell the hitter's reaction. And first of all, you can't make a ball going 101, 102 miles an hour sink like some of these balls. These balls are falling off the table.

The ball just cannot spin fast enough against that type of velocity to sink, you know, 11 inches this way and, you know, six inches that way. It just, it just, it just is physically impossible it's physics impossible. I saw a YouTube video a few months ago six months ago some questioning the velocity today like rare or gun shows and here's the clodger for the Mets. Can't call us down top of the head. Anyway you know got got those goodies you know supposedly 99 101 they took a 101 mile-hour fastball of his and compare it to a 97 mile hour fastball, Pedro Martinez. Pedro's fastball was in the mitt, the close of

the mitt, his fastball didn't cross the plate yet. So Pedro's got to the mitt about six to seven feet quicker than the ball that was supposedly 101. No, I think the guns now is out of the hand. supposedly 101. No, I think I think the guns now is out of the hand. When we played gun was was at the dish. The hitters saw and it's crossing the plate was 97. And it's coming out of the hand 101. But a ball loses, you know, four or five miles an hour, right? You know, on the 60 foot trip. So that's that's that's that's what's going on. So we do it all. You won't let guys take steroids anymore, so you gotta trick-fuck everybody with camera tricks and juice guns and all that kind of stuff. Still get the ooze and the odds. See, this is great. No pun intended. Inside baseball. This is the shit I wanted to hear.

Real quick, tour dates dates There you see him February 20th office this 2025 Brooktown Comedy Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma The very next night the funny bone in st. Louis haven't been there and years one of the better clubs in the country Excited about that also also April 25th the beautiful coho's music theater in coho's New York Can't wait to do it shot a special there a few years ago hey if you guys want to support the show and get some snazzy merch we have a whole new store with tons of new stuff so grab a hat hoodie mug t-shirt baseball shirt whatever also we are now shipping internationally so you people in Vietnam in the Congo can put on a winter Nick

DePolo hat so check it out if you guys want to in the Congo can put on a winter Nick the pillow So check it out If you guys want to see the rest of my show and lauda with crowded and all the content available on Rumble premium click on the link in the description if you haven't converted from locals yet There's a second link showing you how to do that. You can subscribe for $9.99 a month or $89 annually It's the best money you love to spend. Use my promo code, Mug Club. One word, Mug Club. And that's it.

Hi, good night everybody. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man

I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man I'm gonna be a man, I'm gonna be a man Thanks for watching!