#135---CLE @ ATL, 4/3/1999

This was one of those exhibition games played in a MLB stadium just before the start of the season, that seem like they used to be more common (at least in cold weather cities--the Indians used to occasionally play these at home, but now they are almost always on the road. Of course, the start of the season has drifted earlier and earlier in the calendar over time as well). As such, there’s nothing particularly interesting about Atlanta’s 4-2 win.

What drew my attention to this scoresheet, though, was John Rocker working a 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts. As you can see, Rocker was pitching in the eighth and Mark Wohlers still had the ninth for Atlanta, although Rocker would quickly supplant Wohlers as the closer and record 38 saves this season after breaking out in the second half of 1998. Rocker would be traded to Cleveland in a bizarre move in 2001, after the infamous SI article and the associated fallout, completing a strange obsession that the Indians brass seemed to have with Rocker. Could this be the moment that it all started?