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Milton Obelle Bradley, Jr. (born April 15, 1978 in Harbor City, California) is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Chicago Cubs. Bradley is named after his father, Milton Bradley, Sr., who filled out the birth certificate form without his wife's permission. As Milton's mother says of his father, "He wanted a Junior, and made damn sure he got one."[1] Junior, who shares a name with a popular board game pioneer, has always been teased about his name, but has never changed it because the memories it evokes "only drive him harder".[1]
[edit] Major League Baseball career[edit] Early careerBradley was drafted out of Long Beach Polytechnic High School in the second round of the 1996 draft by the Montréal Expos. In the Expos' farm system, he hit a Game 5 walk-off grand slam home run to win the 1999 Double-A Eastern League Championship for the Harrisburg Senators.[2]. Bradley's Major League Baseball debut was on July 19, 2000, for the Montreal Expos. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians on July 31, 2001, for Zach Day. Days before the start of the 2004 season, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for prospects Franklin Gutierrez and Andrew Brown, following an altercation with Indians manager Eric Wedge. He was a regular member of the lineup for the Dodgers in 2004, where he posted a batting average of .267. On December 13, 2005, Bradley was traded to the Oakland Athletics along with infielder Antonio Pérez for outfielder Andre Ethier, who at the time was a minor league prospect. Bradley has a tendency to not stay with any one team for very long, switching teams about every two years. Since beginning in the majors in 2000, he has been with 7 teams. [edit] 2006 seasonIn 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. In game 4 of the 2006 American League Championship Series versus the Detroit Tigers, Bradley became the third player in Major League History to hit home runs from each side of the plate in a playoff game, joining Bernie Williams and Chipper Jones. [edit] 2007 seasonOn June 21, 2007, the Athletics designated Bradley for assignment. Eight days later, the San Diego Padres acquired Bradley and cash considerations from the Oakland A's in exchange for minor league pitcher Andrew Brown, marking the second time the two had been traded for each other. The Padres did not require Bradley to pass a physical examination before signing him, as he would have failed it and gone elsewhere. 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. After the 2007 season, Bradley agreed to a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers.[3] He announced in early January 2008, that he expected to be ready to play in the 2008 season opener against the division team, the Seattle Mariners.[4] [edit] 2008 seasonBradley shined during the 2008 season, as the Rangers DH, he led the American League in OPS (on base plus slugging) with a 1.036. He was third in batting average (.321) and excelled in on-base percentage (.443). He was somewhat humbled with his success "I really haven't even thought about it," he said. "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."[5] Bradley was selected to play in his first All-Star Game in 2008 as a DH. He was officially in as a DH reserve but due to the injury of David Ortiz, Bradley started as a DH in the 2008 MLB All-Star Game. In July 2008, it was announced that Milton Bradley would occasionally blog for the New York Times, but he contributed only one entry.[6] [edit] 2009 season On January 8, 2009, Bradley signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Chicago Cubs.[7] Bradley was assigned uniform number 21, and play right field, reminiscent of former Cub Sammy Sosa.[8] Bradley was issued a two-game suspension for supposedly making contact with umpire Larry Vanover while arguing a strike call April 16.[9] After appealing the sentence, the suspension was reduced to one game.[10] During an inter-league against the Minnesota Twins on June 13, Bradley caught a routine fly-out in left field, and mistakenly threw it to a fan, believing it was the third out in the inning, when there were only two outs in reality.[11] The umpire allowed each of the Twins base runners to advance two bases.[11] Later that month, Cubs manager Lou Piniella told Bradley to leave the dugout and go home after Bradley threw a tirade 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 again.[12] Piniella addressed the incident after the game, telling the media, "This has been a common occurrence and I’ve looked the other way a lot and I’m tired... I’m not into discipline, I’m really not. I’m going to put his name in the lineup tomorrow and that’s it."[12] Piniella later apologized to Bradley, and reinserted him back into the line-up during the team's next start.[13] On September 20, 2009, the Cubs announced that Bradley would be suspended for the remainder of the season after an interview with the media that General Manager Jim Hendry felt was disrespectful.[14] Bradley eventually apologized to the Cubs organization for his remarks.[15] According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Bradley will be paid for the final two weeks of the season, but the Cubs will attempt to trade him in the offseason.[16] [edit] Controversies[edit] 2007 seasonOn 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 division 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.[17] [edit] 2008 seasonAccording to the The Dallas Morning News Bradley attempted to confront Kansas City Royals television announcer Ryan Lefebvre in the press box following a game due to what he believed were unfair comments made on the air. As the Rangers' designated hitter, Bradley was able to watch the broadcast when he was not on the field and took offense to a comparison Lefebrve made between him and Josh Hamilton. 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
Daniels said that Bradley was upset that someone that did not know him was passing judgments about him.[18] [edit] 2009 seasonMilton Bradley was suspended by the Chicago Cubs for conduct in which the Chicago Cubs manager Hendry viewed as detrimental to the organization after he was quoted as saying there is "negativity" with the organization and the city environment and "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[19]. [edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: 1978 births | Living people | American League All-Stars | Major League Baseball outfielders | Major League Baseball players from California | Montreal Expos players | Cleveland Indians players | Los Angeles Dodgers players | Oakland Athletics players | San Diego Padres players | Texas Rangers players | Chicago Cubs players | Vermont Expos players | People from Los Angeles, California | African American baseball players | Jupiter Hammerheads players | Harrisburg Senators players | Ottawa Lynx players | Akron Aeros players | Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players | Las Vegas 51s players | Stockton Ports players | Sacramento River Cats players | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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