Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker wound up and threw his best verbal pitch at Sports Illustrated last December. Worse than giving up a home run, Rocker demonstrated an amazing case of athlete’s foot-in-mouth. Recently, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig tossed Rocker out of the game until the first of May. John Rocker’s tirade against homosexuals, minority ethnic groups and foreigners all but destroyed his promising, rising career with the team of the 90s and maybe the new Millennium.

Not a Diplomatic Libra

At first glance, Rocker’s (October 17, 1974; Statesboro, Georgia) five planets in Libra belie his less-than-diplomatic outpouring of social slurs. Libra usually bends to social graces, appropriate behavior and deferring opinions in consideration of the feelings of others. But look at Rocker’s Libra lineup. Behind him on the infield of his chart stand powerfully passionate Pluto, delicately balancing Venus, combustible Mars, the blazing Sun and rocky Uranus. This combination is no genteel tea party, even though it’s in the sign of Libra.

Mars, the Sun and Uranus hold the closest bond of the five planets. Edgy planets Mars and Uranus visit the Sun during frequent mound visits. Somehow, late last year they decided to hard-pitch the premiere sports magazine. Mars adds an edge to what it touches—an impatience or irritation—waiting for the slightest provocation to fan its fires. Then, poof, everything in sight gets scorched. Uranus often possesses a know-it-all righteous tone. Whether the viewpoint is liberal or conservative doesn’t matter to this radically-tilted planet, as long as the position sits on the edge like the fringe of a National League flag.

Jupiter Puts His Foot In His Mouth

Jupiter, the exaggerator, the embellishing, tell-it-like-you-see-it planet turned direct about the time the interview came out and squeezed this planetary trio. Jupiter, from its position of self importance and exalted knowing (though not understanding the basics of the game), persisted in telling Rocker what verbal pitch to throw. The words flew out of Rocker’s mouth faster than one of his blazing fastballs. The result was that Rocker was kicked out of the game until May, a punishment which, according to most experts in the field, seemed excessive for the offense. Rocker became an example of overstated retribution. Justice, a Jupiterian commodity, swung and missed the ball, looking foolish in the twisted wake of Rocker’s suspension.

Will the Punishment Fix the Crime?

Though the league talks about sensitivity training to straighten out the suspended hurler’s thinking, the odds of success in this venture parallel that of a rookie batter coming against the big guy for the first time. John Rocker possesses the inflexible, passionate about everything in life, Scorpio Moon.

Mercury, the fast planet of communication, is also in Scorpio in Rocker’s chart, and confirms the deep feelings of the Moon. The retrograde placement of the messenger complicates the natural tendency to just blurt out the words. Certainly, one of the messages for Rocker is "think before you speak," or "maybe don’t speak what you think." Mercury from Scorpio slyly smiles as it reports, "You can tell me what to say, but I don’t have to mean it. And you certainly cannot tell me how to feel."

Editor's note: Rocker's suspension was cut in half on March 1 by an independent arbitrator. Rocker, now in spring training, must sit out the first 14 days of the regular season and his $20,000 fine was cut to $500.

What Does Rocker’s Punishment Mean for the Rest of Us?

Whenever a "personality" hits the news in a big way, the Universe underscores the playbook with a Cosmic Message. When Rocker let it rip back in December, Pluto and Chiron aligned in the highly principled Sagittarius taking a stand on Rocker’s creed. Like it or not, his outburst surfaced important philosophical and political considerations, regardless of our opinions of Rocker or his opinions.

Free speech and the right to render all opinions prevail as guaranteed assurances in this country. Rocker’s words fortunately started no riots, but he proved what kind of venom an unthinking, biased person can direct. And it was his right to do so. Rocker, in his own backward way, shows us that we must recall the very principles upon which this country began. How ironic that he works so hard at playing the national pastime.

As spring training begins, something’s missing. John Rocker is missing. Maybe he realizes he’s opened eyes to our need to reclaim our personal rights and to restore our opinions as our own. Then again, maybe he doesn’t. His position of baseball fame led to an unwitting notoriety that undoubtedly fulfills a part of his destiny in this life. And as is true with most of us, we’re not even aware of what is happening at the time.

What’s Next for Rocker

Don’t worry about the boy. Rocker does have Saturn trine the Moon in his horoscope. This aspect of well-greased success shows that the real world comes to bat for him. Like a sports agent with a silver tongue, Rocker surely will get his cleats back on the mound, pitching in land of free speech and the home of the Atlanta Braves.

He has left his mark with his opinions—as we all do. We’ll never be able to watch him hurl again without considering what he said. And we’ll think about our own secret thoughts. Will we have the baseballs to say them out loud?