| Milton Bradley | |
|---|---|
Bradley at the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. |
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| Free agent | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: April 15, 1978 Harbor City, California |
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| Bats: Switch | Throws: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| July 19, 2000 for the Montreal Expos | |
| Career statistics (through 2011) |
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| Batting average | .271 |
| Home runs | 125 |
| Runs batted in | 481 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Milton Obelle Bradley, Jr. (born April 15, 1978) is a Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder who has been a free agent since May 2011. Standing 6 feet (1.8 m) and weighing 215 pounds (98 kg), Bradley is a switch hitter who throws right-handed. Over his 11 year MLB career, Bradley played with the Montreal Expos (2000–2001), Cleveland Indians (2001–2003), Los Angeles Dodgers (2004–2005), Oakland Athletics (2006–2007), San Diego Padres (2007), Texas Rangers (2008), Chicago Cubs (2009), and Seattle Mariners (2010–2011).
Born in Harbor City, California, Bradley attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School before he was drafted by the Expos in the 1996 Major League Baseball Draft. After playing four seasons of minor league baseball for the organization, he made his major league debut on July 19, 2000. In 2001, Bradley was traded to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for pitching prospect Zach Day; he was again traded in 2004 to the Los Angeles Dodgers after a confrontation with Indians manager Eric Wedge. After playing in 216 games for the Dodgers, the most among all teams he has played for, Bradley was traded to the Oakland Athletics for Andre Ethier. After he was traded to the Padres in 2007, Bradley was granted free agency, and signed with the Texas Rangers in 2007. He was voted into the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game with the Rangers, and led the American League with a .436 on-base percentage and a .999 on-base plus slugging percentage. For the year, Bradley finished 17 in American League Most Valuable Player Award voting.
After becoming a free agent, Bradley signed with the Chicago Cubs in January 2009, who traded him in December of that year to the Seattle Mariners after he was suspended for the final two weeks of the season. In Seattle, Bradley batted .205 in 2010 and .218 in 2011 before he was released. He has a career batting average of .271, with 135 home runs and 481 runs batted in (RBI).
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Bradley was born on April 15, 1978, in Harbor City, California. His mother, Charlena Rector, worked as a clerk at a local Safeway supermarket,[1][2] while his father, Milton Bradley Sr., was a veteran of the Vietnam War, and won a Purple Heart for his service.[1] Bradley received the name "Milton Bradley Jr." after Milton Bradley Sr. filled out his son's birth certificate without Rector's permission.[1] According to Bradley Jr.'s mother, Bradley Sr. was addicted to cocaine, physically abused Rector, and was homeless for several years.[3] Growing up, Bradley had four half-siblings from Rector's previous marriage.[3]
Bradley played baseball at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and was a teammate of Chase Utley.[4] After graduating high school with a 3.7 grade point average,[2] Bradley committed to California State University, Long Beach,[5] but instead signed with the Expos after he was drafted by the team in the second round of the 1996 Major League Baseball Draft.
Bradley began his professional baseball career with the GCL Expos of the Gulf Coast League in 1996; over 32 games, Bradley batted .241 with 27 hits.[6] The following season, he played nine games for the GCL Expos, and 50 for the Vermont Expos, a short season affiliate of the Montreal Expos. In 1998, Bradley played for the Cape Fear Crocs and the Jupiter Hammerheads; Bradley tied for the Crocs team lead in doubles, with 21, while hitting .302 for the team and .287 for the Hammerheads.[7][8] While playing for the Harrisburg Senators the next season, Bradley was suspended seven games for starting a fight after he was hit by a pitch.[9]
Finishing 76–66, the Senators played the Norwich Navigators for the Eastern League championship. The series was tied, two games to two, in a best-of-five series. In the final game, Bradley hit a walk-off grand slam with two outs and a full count, in the bottom of the ninth inning, to give the Senators a 12–11 win.[10] During the next season, after Bradley played in 88 games for the Ottawa Lynx, he was promoted to the major-league club, and made his MLB debut on July 19, 2000. In his debut, Bradley hit three straight singles against the New York Mets;[11] for the season, he batted .221 with 15 RBI over 42 games played.
For the 2001 Expos, Bradley played 67 games, including one on April 26 in which Bradley walked to give the Expos the go-ahead run against Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals in the top of the 15th inning.[12] On July 31 of that year, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians to serve as a possible replacement for Kenny Lofton; in exchange, the Expos received right-handed pitcher Zach Day.[13] Referring to the trade, Indians General Manager John Hart stated:
In Milton Bradley we are getting a top-of-the-order, middle-of-the-diamond player we feel will have a major impact at the major-league level in the near future.—John Hart, speaking to the Associated Press[13]
After the deal, Bradley was assigned to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, and reported to the team on August 2.[14] In addition to the 30 games he played for the Bisons, Bradley also played 10 games for the major-league Indians.
In 2002, on April 15, he was placed on the disabled list following an appendectomy a day earlier at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.[15] He went on the disabled list again on May 2 with a broken orbital bone[16] and a scratched iris[17] after a ball bounced off the outfield wall and hit him below his left eye while he tried to make a catch; up to that point, Bradley was hitting .266 in 23 games.[18] After a rehabilitation stint of six games with the Bisons, Bradley was activated by the Indians on June 4,[17] and finished the season with a .249 batting average, 38 RBIs, and nine home runs.
Bradley spent the entire 2003 campaign with the MLB Indians. Despite being placed on the 15-day DL with a strained right hamstring, and missing the final six weeks of the season with a lower back injury, Bradley led the team in stolen bases, with 17.[19][20] On August 30, while on the DL with a back injury, Bradley was given a ticket for speeding in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. When the officer stopped him, Bradley refused the ticket, and sped away.[21] He plead innocent to speeding and fleeing charges on September 12, but was sentenced to a three-day jail term. The ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court of Ohio in December 2004.[22]
On November 19, 2003, he signed a one year, $1.73 million dollar contract with the Indians, in order for the Indians to avoided salary arbitration with Bradley.[20] During spring training, he was banned from the Indian's training camp after not running out a pop up a game earlier.[23] On April 3, 2004, Bradley was traded to the Dodgers for Franklin Gutiérrez and a player to named later (Andrew Brown); the Akron Beacon Journal later reported that manager Eric Wedge insisted that Bradley be traded.[24]
"When we traded for Milton, I think we knew everything that came along with it. We knew the past, we don't necessarily think that everything's going to be completely different because he came to a different place. That's fine. I would take nine Milton Bradleys if I could get them."
In his first game with the Dodgers, playing center field, Bradley went 2-for-3, with two singles and two walks.[26] On June 1, Bradley was ejected from a game by home plate umpire Terry Craft for arguing over balls and strikes. After being restrained by manager Jim Tracy, Bradley returned to the dugout, and threw a ball bag onto the field.[27] Bradley was suspended for four games, while Tracy was suspended one.[25] Bradley was suspended for the rest of the 2004 regular season on September 29. In the field, Bradley committed an error fielding a line drive; after a fan threw a bottle at him, Bradley left his position in right field, picked up the bottle and threw it into the stands, yelling at the fan.[28] In postseason play, Bradley hit .273 with a home run while the Dodgers lost the National League Division Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, three games to one.[29] He finished the 2004 season batting .267 with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs. Bradley was caught stealing 11 times, tying him for eighth most in MLB.[30]
After hitting .290 with 38 RBIs in 75 games, on August 25, 2005, Bradley was put on the 15-day DL with a torn patellar tendon and issues with his anterior cruciate ligament, which kept him from playing baseball for the remainder of the season.[31] On December 13, 2005, the Dodgers traded Bradley to the Athletics, along with infielder Antonio Pérez for outfielder prospect Andre Ethier.[32]
In his first season with the Oakland Athletics, Bradley posted a .276 batting average with 14 home runs and 52 runs batted in a part-time role. He went on the 15-day DL on May 11 of the 2006 season due to a strained oblique muscle and a sprained right knee.[33] On July 30, Bradley hit a three-run walk-off home run to beat the Toronto Blue Jays with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.[34] During game four of the 2006 American League Championship Series versus the Detroit Tigers, Bradley became the third player in MLB history to hit home runs from each side of the plate in a postseason game, joining Bernie Williams and Chipper Jones.[35] For the series, Bradley went nine-for-eighteen, with two home runs and five RBIs.[36]
On June 21, 2007, Bradley was designated for assignment by the Athletics.[37] A trade completed the next day, which would have sent Bradley to the Kansas City Royals for Leo Núñez, was voided because Bradley suffered an oblique injury in his last game as an Athletic.[38] However, Bradley was later traded to the Padres on June 29, with cash, in exchange for Andrew Brown; it was the second time the players had been traded for each other.
Bradley started his tenure with the Padres on the 15-day disabled list, but came off it right before the All-Star break. After the break, he was a continual starter in left field and one of the most consistent hitters for the Padres throughout the rest of the season.
On September 23, 2007, Bradley tore his right ACL while being restrained by Padres manager Bud Black during an altercation with first base umpire Mike Winters. Home plate umpire Brian Runge reportedly told Bradley that Winters said that Bradley had tossed his bat in Runge's direction in a previous at-bat. After Bradley reached first base, he questioned Winters about the alleged bat throwing and subsequent communication with Runge. According to Bradley and Padres first base coach Bobby Meacham, Winters used a profanity towards Bradley. Bradley then moved towards Winters. While restrained by Black, Bradley fell to the ground resulting in the injury. He missed the last week of the regular season in 2007, during which the Padres relinquished their wild card lead, ultimately losing to the eventual N.L. Champion Colorado Rockies in a one game playoff.
Winters was suspended for the remainder of the season and disqualified from the postseason for the incident, after MLB determined that he indeed directed obscene language toward Bradley. Bradley was not suspended, the MLB reasoning that there was no need since he did not make physical contact with Winters.[39]
After the 2007 season, Bradley agreed to a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers. He announced in early January 2008 that he expected to be healthy and ready to play in the season opener.[40]
As the Rangers designated hitter, Bradley led the AL in on base plus slugging with a 1.036 mark. He was third in batting average (.321) and also led the AL in on-base percentage (.443). On making the All-Star game, Bradley stated "if I somehow miraculously made it to the All-Star Game, I would be floored. I'd really be totally humbled by that. I'm just happy right now to play, to produce and to be with a good group of guys."[41] Bradley was selected to play in his first All-Star Game in 2008 as a designated hitter (DH). He was officially selected as a DH reserve but due to an injury to David Ortiz, Bradley started as DH in the 2008 MLB All-Star Game.[42]
According to The Dallas Morning News Bradley attempted to confront Kansas City Royals television announcer Ryan Lefebvre in the press box following a June 2008 game due to what he believed were unfair comments made on the air. As the Rangers' designated hitter, Bradley watched the broadcast when he was not batting and took offense to a comparison Lefebvre made between him and Josh Hamilton.[43] Manager Ron Washington and general manager Jon Daniels chased after him and stopped Bradley before he got to Lefebvre, at which point Bradley returned to the clubhouse in tears and said:
All I want to do is play baseball and make a better life for my kid than I had, that's it. I love all you guys. ... I'm strong, but I'm not that strong."—Milton Bradley, speaking to the Rangers clubhouse[43]
Bradley was quoted by Rangers radio broadcasters as saying that he never intended to physically harm Lefebvre but did want to speak to him; Daniels said that Bradley was upset that someone that he did not know was passing judgments about him.[43]
On January 8, 2009, Bradley signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Chicago Cubs.[44] He was issued a two-game suspension for supposedly making contact with umpire Larry Vanover while arguing a strike call April 16. After appealing the sentence, the suspension was reduced to one game.[45] During an inter-league game against the Minnesota Twins on June 12, Bradley caught a routine fly-out in right field and threw it into the stands, believing it was the third out in the inning, when there were only two outs.[46] The umpire allowed each of the Twins base runners to advance two bases.[46]
Later that month, Cubs manager Lou Piniella told Bradley to leave the dugout and go home after Bradley "went after" a Gatorade cooler, after flying out in a game against the Chicago White Sox. Piniella and Bradley later confronted each other in the locker room, and exchanged words.[47] Piniella later apologized to Bradley, and reinserted him back into the line-up during the team's next start.[48]
On September 20, 2009, the Cubs announced that Bradley would be suspended for the remainder of the season after an interview in which Bradley talked about "negativity" with the organization and said "you understand why they [Cubs] haven't won in 100 years here." He also said he was uncomfortable with his presence with the Chicago Cubs.[49] General Manager Jim Hendry felt the comments were disrespectful.[50] Bradley later apologized to the Cubs organization for his remarks.[51] For the Cubs, Bradley hit .257 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs[52] before he was traded to the Mariners for Carlos Silva and cash on December 18, 2009.[53]
He was part of a flurry of offseason moves by the Seattle Mariners in hopes of returning to the playoffs, having not reached the postseason since 2001.[54]
On May 4, 2010, Bradley removed himself from a game and left the stadium, he asked the Mariners for help with a personal problem and the organization stepped in to help him out. He returned to the team May 18 after undergoing an undisclosed treatment.[55]
On May 9, 2011, the Mariners designated Bradley for assignment after beginning the 2011 season hitting .218 with two home runs and 13 RBI in 28 games.[56] Unable to trade Bradley, the Mariners released him on May 16.[56]
In 2005, Bradley was the Dodger's nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award for working with the Dodgers Dream Foundation, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and the Long Beach Boys & Girls Clubs, among other charities. Bradley has also opened two baseball academies, one in Long Beach and another in Baldwin Hills.[57]
On January 18, 2011, Bradley was arrested at his home in Encino, California and charged with making criminal threats to his wife, Monique. In return for participating in an out-of-court hearing process, no charges were filed against Bradley. His wife has since filed for divorce.[56][58]
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