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Catching Up With . . .
Rob Deer, Free-swinging Slugger
April 27, 1987
Posted: Tue September 8, 1998
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(John Iacono)
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One
off-season, when he was an outfielder for the San Diego Padres, Rob
Deer ignored the clause in his contract that prohibited him
from riding a motorcycle. He drove his Harley Heritage
Softtail all over the place in the fall and winter of
1995-96, usually extremely
fast. Then, about three weeks before spring training, he
crashed. Deer had to have stitches in his forehead. His
arms were bruised and swollen. Worst of all, he could
barely toss a baseball. Bruce Bochy, the Padres' manager,
demanded to know what had
happened. "I told him I crashed on an ATV," says
Deer. "I tried to be honest and go by the rules, but
sometimes I just had to cheat a little. Speed was my
thrill."
The 37-year-old Deer has built a second career around that
passion. After retiring from baseball two years ago, he and
his father, Bob, formed Deer Racing. With the backing of
eight sponsors, they drive their two drag racers in
some
75 events a year, mostly on the National Hot Rod Association
circuit. "When I was growing up, my dad was always
racing things," says Rob, who lives in Mesa, Ariz.
"I was
there with him,
waterskiing behind a
speedboat at 100 mph or in a fast car. I took off a lot of years
to play baseball, but I never got that rush out of my
system."
Not that he didn't enjoy his 11-year, five-team run in the
big leagues. Deer, who took one of the biggest cuts ever
seen, batted only .220 for his career and whiffed a
whopping 1,409 times, including an American League
single-season record 186 with the
Milwaukee Brewers in 1987. No matter. When he hit the ball,
it traveled. Deer's 230 home runs—including a career-high
33 in '86—made him one of the best pure power hitters of
the 1980s: a poor man's Dave Kingman. In '87 he was part of
a Milwaukee club
that started 13-0, a streak
highlighted by an Easter Sunday win against the Texas Rangers.
The Brewers trailed 4-1 with two men on in the bottom of
the ninth when Deer smacked a Greg Harris fastball 445
feet. Right fist raised, Deer graced SI's cover. "I
have that homer on video," he says. "Every time I
watch it, I get goose
bumps."
One day Deer—whose daughters, Brenna, 8, and twins Ellery
and Karly, 6, live with his ex-wife in San Diego—hopes to
run one of the country's top racing outfits. If that
doesn't happen, he has another sport to fall back on.
"I've started enjoying
softball," he says, "because even with my swing, it's
really hard to miss the
ball."
Issue date: September 14, 1998
Past Editions of Catching Up With...
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