Rocker in Trouble Again

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/09/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

The Atlanta Braves had to deal with another outburst from John Rocker. On Sunday the controversial pitcher confronted and threatened Jeff Pearlman, the Sports Illustrated reporter who in an article last December had quoted Rocker attacking people with AIDS, welfare mothers, minorities, people who speak foreign languages in the U.S. and urban life in general. "This isn't over between us," Pearlman said Rocker told him, along with, "Do you know what I can do to you?" Pearlman also told reporters, "I was scared." The two met by coincidence in a service tunnel under Atlanta's Turner Field about two hours before Sunday's game (against the New York Yankees). "We are aware that there was an incident," Braves general manager John Schuerholz said in a statement. "We will do everything in our power to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future."