Derek Anderson: On Notice
September 22, 2008Judge Selig Has Spoken
September 23, 2008I don’t remember there being a lot of criticism for the Cleveland Indians when they traded Milton Bradley following an altercation with manager Eric Wedge in 2004. Maybe it is just a lack of knowledge on my part, but I don’t remember reading any critical words and I don’t remember any of my friends who follow the Tribe batting an eye when the Indians ran him out of town.
I think the common attitude concerning Milton Bradley was that he was unstable and had a bad attitude. The dude plays with a scowl and what appears to be an intense anger toward everything. Maybe that isn’t necessarily fair or 100% true, but as they say, perception is reality.
Since Milton was traded to the Dodgers for Franklin Gutierrez and Andrew Brown in the lead up to the 2004 season. Then in 2005 after wearing out his welcome in Los Angeles, Bradley was traded to Oakland. Included in his stay in Los Angeles was a charge of racism for then-teammate Jeff Kent.
“The problem is, he doesn’t know how to deal with African-American people,” Bradley said. “I think that’s what’s causing everything. It’s a pattern of things that have been said — things said off the cuff that I don’t interpret as funny. It may be funny to him, but it’s not funny to Milton Bradley. But I don’t take offense to that because we all joke about race in here. Race is an issue with everything we do in here.”
Then Bradley was designated for assignment by the Athletics and Bradley was picked up by the Padres in exchange for Andrew Brown again. Maybe this should really be a story on Andrew Brown and how he got traded for Milton Bradley twice by two different teams.
Finally, Bradley tore his ACL in an infamous incident involving him yelling at an umpire. As manager Bud Black was trying to hold Bradley back, Bradley tore his ACL. This occurred in September of 2007. Roughly seven months later, Bradley was making his first start for the Texas Rangers. As a guy who has had both ACL’s replaced, let me tell you that returning from that surgery in six months is no small feat.
And then, Bradley had a pretty stellar season to boot. To date, Bradley is batting over .300, an on-base percentage over .430, 22 homers and 74 RBI. And still, the dude can’t seem to get himself a long-term deal. Now, all those years after getting himself run out of Cleveland after an altercation with manager Eric Wedge, Bradley says he might be done with the game of baseball. After all this time and without any fan amazement, Milton Bradley still scowls his way around the game of baseball and everyone gives him a chance along the way and then comes to the same conclusion that the Indians came up with in 2004. We are talking about solid baseball organizations too. Cleveland, San Diego, Oakland and Los Angeles aren’t exactly dysfunctional places to play baseball, are they? Is perception reality, or is Milton Bradley just really a bad guy?
After a while the only piece left in the equation is Milton. Makes you feel kind of lucky that the Indians got Milton out of their system when the stakes were relatively low in 2004.
14 Comments
Such a talent too.
My personal favorite was when he was on the Dodgers and brought out a bag of balls (can’t remember why?) and started firing them in left field from near his dugout.
sigh…
he’s a phenomenal player.
Can’t blame him for being a hothead. Johnny Cash taught me that giving your kid a funny name is the key to raising a street fighter.
Lesser known fact:
He’s an adopted son of the Gramatica family.
Mainly due to his ability to get hurt during the eccentric activities only athletes get to live.
I think the guy has admitted that he has mental problems. Like real mental problems. I also read an article that told the story of an unbelievably messed up childhood. But yes, he is a talented player with a horrible attitude.
Here’s a quick rip from Wikipedia about that incident with the broadcaster earlier this year:
According to 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 wasn’t 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
“All I want to do is play baseball and make a better life for my kid than I had, that’s it,” Bradley said to a quiet clubhouse. “I love all you guys. … I’m strong, but I’m not that strong.”
Yeah this guy does have real issues and it’s sad. It is easy for us sitting here not making as much money wondering how anyone making millions can have problems with depression or anxiety. I think I would be loving life. But it still happens, and I feel for the guy.
I remember being shocked by the news of MB’s removal from the Tribe; but when I heard the likely reason for it, I tipped my hat to the Indians’ management. In years past, the Tribe put up with all manner of personality disorders in order to assure good offensive numbers. The decision to yank MB seemed at the time to be the best one for the team as a whole and, despite MB’s baseball success in other uniforms, it’s hard to look back on it with any regret. It’s hard to imagine that MB would have lasted much longer, anyway.
Terry Pluto talks in pretty good length regarding Bradley in Dealing. The guy was an amazing talent – as seen by his numbers when on the field – but simply a head case. He always felt that someone was out to get him. His lack of trust never really allowed for him to mesh anywhere for a long period of time, and the second he felt that he was being embraced, he would lash out… sometimes involving six dozen baseballs on to the field.
A bit off topic, but how does Carmona get a 6 game suspension? Shitfield instigated the whole thing, threatened half the Indians with retribution, but he only gets a 4 game suspension. Bud Selig is a total dirt bag.
DCBucks:
This morning’s PD says Carmona got 6 to make sure he misses a start. Good news is that I doubt anyone else will be charging the mound after him any time soon, and hopefully he will keep pitching inside. Wish all our pitchers would. Maybe if Astrubal promises to have their backs …
Good article on MB: http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/schwarz_alan/1574709.html
i was glad to see him leave yet i was a little bummed because at one time, cleveland sports teams had guys named milton bradley, ben gay, and coco crisp.
Yeah Buu, that was the underrated part of the story. We had Milton Bradley and Coco Crisp in the same outfield. That was the best based simply on cool names. I doubt anyone will see something like that again.