Major League Baseball

Rocker would pick 'devil' over Obama

Published Jun. 4, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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Former Braves pitcher John Rocker, whose controversial opinions once got him suspended by commissioner Bud Selig, said he would rather vote for the devil than President Obama.

Declaring that the president possesses a "cancerous ideology," the 37-year-old Georgia native said he supported Newt Gingrich for the GOP nomination but will now vote for Mitt Romney.

"In my strong opinion Barack Obama does not hold a single core value or belief consistent with the principles that created this amazing country we call the United States of America," Rocker told WorldNetDaily.

"I would vote for the devil himself over Barack Obama, which would actually be tough, though, as he seems to already be a supporter," he said.

The lefty reliever last pitched in the majors in 2003, three years after he made headlines for offensive comments about New Yorkers, among other groups. He told Sports Illustrated reporter Jeff Pearlman that he would sooner retire than play in New York, calling Mets fans "degenerates."

Rocker — who now works in real estate and wrote a book last year in which he admitted using steroids — accused Pearlman of ruining his career and called the article a "hatchet job" that was presented out of context.

"Pearlman spent nearly 10 hours with me that day, and we engaged in numerous very long-winded conversations. ... Strategically extracting a sentence fragment here and separate thought there, Pearlman painted the exact picture of me he intended from the very beginning," Rocker told WorldNetDaily.

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