Milton Bradley (baseball)

Early life

Bradley was born on April 15, 1978, in Harbor City, California. His mother, Charlena Rector, worked as a clerk at a local Safeway supermarket, while his father, Milton Bradley Sr., was a veteran of the Vietnam War, and was awarded a Purple Heart for his service. Bradley was named Milton Bradley Jr. when Milton Bradley Sr. filled out his son's birth certificate without Rector's permission. According to Bradley Jr.'s mother, Bradley Sr. was addicted to cocaine, physically abused her, and was homeless for several years. Growing up, Bradley had four half-siblings from Rector's previous marriage.

Bradley played baseball at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and was a teammate of Chase Utley. After graduating high school with a 3.7 grade point average, he committed to California State University, Long Beach, but instead signed with the Expos on July 1, 1996 after being drafted by the team in the second round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft.

Montreal Expos (1996–2001)

Bradley began his professional baseball career with the GCL Expos of the Gulf Coast League in 1996; in 32 games, he batted .241 with 27 hits. 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. For the Expos, he was named to the postseason New York–Penn League All-Star team. In 1998, he played for the Cape Fear Crocs and the Jupiter Hammerheads, tying for the Croc team lead in doubles with 21 while hitting .302 for the Crocs and .287 for the Hammerheads. While playing for the Harrisburg Senators the next season, he was suspended seven games for starting a fight after he had been hit by a pitch. He also played for the silver-medal-winning United States in the 1999 Pan American Games.

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. During the next season, after playing 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, he hit three straight singles against the New York Mets; and 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 he walked to give the Expos the go-ahead run against Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals in the top of the 15th inning. 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. Speaking to the Associated Press about the trade, Indians General Manager John Hart stated:

Cleveland Indians (2001–2003)

After the deal, Bradley was assigned to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons and reported to the team on August 2. In addition to the 30 games he played for the Bisons, he also played 10 games for the major league Indians.

On April 15, 2002, he was placed on the disabled list (DL) following an appendectomy a day earlier at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. He went on the disabled list again on May 2 with a broken orbital bone and a scratched iris after a batted ball had bounced off the outfield wall and hit him below his left eye while he was trying to make a catch; up to that point, he was hitting .266 in 23 games. After a rehabilitation stint of six games with the Bisons, he was reactivated by the Indians on June 4 and finished the season with a .249 batting average, 38 RBIs and nine home runs.

Bradley spent the entire 2003 campaign with the 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, he led the team in stolen bases, with 17. On August 30, while on the DL with a back injury, he was ticketed for speeding in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. After being stopped, he refused the ticket and sped away. He pleaded not guilty 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.

On November 19, 2003 he signed a one-year, $1.73 million contract with the Indians in order for the Indians to avoid salary arbitration with him. During spring training, he was banned from the Indians' training camp after not running out a popup a game earlier. On April 3, 2004, he was traded to the Dodgers for Franklin Gutiérrez and a player to be named later (Andrew Brown); the Akron Beacon Journal later reported that manager Eric Wedge had insisted that Bradley be traded.

Los Angeles Dodgers (2004–2005)

In his first game with the Dodgers, playing center field, Bradley went 2-for-3, with two singles and two walks. On June 1, he was ejected from a game by home plate umpire Terry Craft for arguing over balls and strikes. After being restrained by manager Jim Tracy, he returned to the dugout and threw a ball bag onto the field. Bradley was suspended for four games and Tracy for one game. On September 19, he hit a 479-foot home run against the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field. On September 28, during a home game against the Rockies, Bradley mishandled a line drive and was charged with an error. A fan threw a bottle at Bradley, who left his position in right field, picked up the bottle and threw it into the stands, yelling at the fan. Bradley was immediately ejected from the game. The next day, MLB suspended him for the remainder of the season and fined him an undisclosed amount. In postseason play, he hit .273 with a home run while the Dodgers lost the National League Division Series to the St. Louis Cardinals three games to one. He finished the 2004 season batting .267 with 19 home runs and 67 RBIs, but was caught stealing 11 times, tying for eighth most in MLB.

During the offseason, Bradley went through anger management counseling. In a game against the San Francisco Giants on April 12, 2005, he drove in two runs with a single to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, the winning run then scoring on Jason Ellison's error in the same play. On August 25, 2005, after hitting .290 with 38 RBIs in 75 games, he was put on the 15-day DL with a torn patellar tendon and anterior cruciate ligament which rendered him inactive for the remainder of the season. On December 13, 2005, the Dodgers traded him to the Oakland Athletics along with infielder Antonio Pérez for outfielder prospect Andre Ethier.

Oakland Athletics (2006–2007)

In his first season with the Oakland Athletics, Bradley posted a .276 batting average with 14 home runs and 52 runs batted in, in a part-time role. He went on the 15-day DL on May 11, 2006 for a strained oblique muscle and a sprained right knee. On July 30, he hit a three-run walk-off home run to beat the Toronto Blue Jays with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. 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. For the series, he went nine-for-eighteen with two home runs and five RBIs.

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 barrage of profanity. Bradley then moved towards Winters. While restrained by Black, Bradley fell to the ground and injured himself. He missed the final 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 also spent the postseason on the restricted list 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 .999 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.

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" on the part of the Cub organization and declared, "You understand why they [the Cubs] haven't won in 100 years here." He also said he was uncomfortable just being on the Cubs. General Manager Jim Hendry felt the comments were disrespectful. Bradley later apologized to the Cubs organization for his remarks. For the Cubs, Bradley hit .257 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs before being traded to the Seattle Mariners for Carlos Silva and cash on December 18, 2009.

Seattle Mariners (2010–2011)

Bradley was part of a flurry of offseason moves by the Mariners in hopes of returning to the playoffs, having not reached the postseason since 2001. On May 4, 2010, he removed himself from a game and left the stadium. He asked the Mariners for help with a personal problem, and the organization responded. He was placed on the restricted list, and returned to the team on May 18 after undergoing treatment of an undisclosed nature. He ended the season on the DL after having been placed on it on July 31 prior to right knee arthroscopic surgery on August 17. He finished the 2010 season batting .205, with eight home runs and 29 RBIs over 73 games played.

On May 9, 2011, the Mariners designated Bradley for assignment after starting the 2011 season hitting .218 with two home runs and 13 RBI in 28 games. Unable to trade Bradley, the Mariners released him on May 16.

Personal life

In 2005, Bradley was the Dodgers' 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. In August 2005, Redondo Beach police received three domestic-violence-related calls from Bradley's house. No charges were filed. In 2006, Bradley filed for divorce but the petition was never finalized.

On January 18, 2011, Bradley was arrested at his home in Encino, California and charged with making criminal threats to his wife, Monique. When he agreed to participate in an out-of-court hearing process, no charges were filed against him. However, his wife subsequently filed for divorce.

In January 2013, Bradley was charged with several crimes stemming from five different domestic incidents which occurred in 2011 and 2012. On June 3, 2013, Bradley was convicted by a jury of nine counts of physically attacking and threatening his wife including four counts of spousal battery, two counts of criminal threats, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of vandalism and one count of brandishing a deadly weapon. On July 2, 2013, he was sentenced to 32 months in prison and 52 weeks of domestic violence and anger-management classes, and was released on $250,000 bail. Despite his convictions and sentence, Bradley maintained sole custody of his and Monique's two sons.

On September 14, 2013, at the age of 33, Monique Bradley died at Encino Hospital Medical Center. A death certificate dated October 10 lists the causes as cryptogenic cirrhosis of the liver, hemorrhagic shock and cardiac arrest.

On January 21, 2015, a Los Angeles appellate court rejected Bradley's appeal. Sports Illustrated reported in May 2015 that following another unsuccessful appeal, Bradley was ordered to begin serving the 32-month sentence for his 2013 convictions, with the hearing judge stating that Bradley's request for leniency was "breathtaking, frankly, in how callous" it was. In early 2016, Bradley's request to have his jail sentence reduced was denied by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.