Milton Bradley (baseball)

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Milton Bradley (baseball) : biography

April 15, 1978 –

On June 21, 2007, the Athletics designated him for assignment. A trade completed the next day, which would have sent Bradley to the Kansas City Royals for Leo Núñez was voided by the Royals because he had sustained an oblique injury in his last game as an Athletic. He was then traded to the San Diego Padres on June 29, with cash, in exchange for Andrew Brown; it was the second time those two players had been traded for each other.

San Diego Padres (2007)

Bradley started his tenure with the Padres on the 15-day DL, but came off it on July 7; in July, he batted .364 with four home runs and 12 RBI in 18 games. On September 23, 2007, however, he 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 he 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 addressed Bradley with a profanity. Bradley then moved towards Winters. While restrained by Black, Bradley fell to the ground and injured himself. He missed the last week of the regular season in 2007, during which the Padres lost to the Colorado Rockies in a one game playoff for the National League Wild Card on October 1.

Winters was suspended for the remainder of the season and disqualified from the postseason for the incident, after MLB determined that he had indeed directed obscene language toward Bradley. Bradley was not suspended, MLB finding no need for such discipline since he did not make physical contact with Winters.

Texas Rangers (2008)

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.

As the Rangers designated hitter, he led the AL in on-base plus slugging with a 1.036 mark. He was third in batting average (.321), and led the league in on-base percentage (.443). On making the All-Star game, he 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." He was selected to play in his first All-Star Game in 2008 as a designated hitter (DH) after being officially selected as a DH reserve, but due to an injury to David Ortiz he became the starting DH in the 2008 MLB All-Star Game.

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 for 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. Manager Ron Washington and general manager Jon Daniels chased after him and stopped him before he got to Lefebvre, at which point he returned to the clubhouse in tears and said, He 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 he was upset that someone he didn’t know was judging him.

Chicago Cubs (2009)

On January 8, 2009, Bradley signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Chicago Cubs. He was issued a two-game suspension for supposedly making contact with umpire Larry Vanover while arguing a strike call on April 16, which was reduced to one game on appeal. During an interleague game against the Minnesota Twins on June 12, he caught a routine fly in right field and threw it into the stands, believing it was the third out of the inning when there were only two outs. The umpire allowed each of the Twins’ baserunners to advance two bases as a result.

Later that month, Cub manager Lou Piniella told Bradley to leave the dugout and go home after he "went after" a Gatorade cooler in frustration after flying out in another interleague game, against the Chicago White Sox. Piniella and Bradley later confronted each other in the locker room and exchanged words. Piniella later apologized to Bradley, and reinserted him back into the line-up during the team’s next start.