Thanks to the magic that is Facebook, I have met a handful of Jeff Pearlmans, all of whom seem dashingly handsome and wicked smart. My favorite Jeff Pearlman may well be the one who lives in Edgewater , N.J. and owns his own event ticket company, Sitting-Pretty.
Upon exchanging messages early on in our blooming Facebook relationship, Jeff told me he had a really good story concerning John Rocker and the night before my SI article broke back in the final week of 1999. Indeed, it’s fantastic. And here’s what he wrote:
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I ask who is calling.
‘IS THIS JEFF PEARLMAN?!?!?!” They reply.
You called me, who is calling???
“THIS IS JOHN ROCKER. R U JEFF PEARLMAN???”
I say yes, believing now it is a friend looking to play some sort of joke on me as a Mets fan, which I was just not getting.
“ARE YOU THE JEFF PEARLMAN WRITING FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED???” Rocker says.
I say no, he hangs up. I am scratching my head. It makes no sense. I star 69 the number and it is some out of state #.
The next morning now the story breaks. I put two and two together, realize it was the pitcher calling me and I now have his phone #, as I check and see it IS a Georgia area code.
So I proceed about 1-2 weeks later to go to a Mets game with a friend and we printed up about 1000 flyers with Rocker’s name and phone number and the suggestions that us New Yorkers call him and give him a piece of our mind Then proceeded to hand them out in the Shea Stadium parking lot. Within 3 days his number was changed.
TRUE STORY.
‘IS THIS JEFF PEARLMAN?!?!?!” They reply.
You called me, who is calling???
“THIS IS JOHN ROCKER. R U JEFF PEARLMAN???”
I say yes, believing now it is a friend looking to play some sort of joke on me as a Mets fan, which I was just not getting.
“ARE YOU THE JEFF PEARLMAN WRITING FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED???” Rocker says.
I say no, he hangs up. I am scratching my head. It makes no sense. I star 69 the number and it is some out of state #.
The next morning now the story breaks. I put two and two together, realize it was the pitcher calling me and I now have his phone #, as I check and see it IS a Georgia area code.
So I proceed about 1-2 weeks later to go to a Mets game with a friend and we printed up about 1000 flyers with Rocker’s name and phone number and the suggestions that us New Yorkers call him and give him a piece of our mind Then proceeded to hand them out in the Shea Stadium parking lot. Within 3 days his number was changed.
TRUE STORY.
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