Milton Bradley

Milton Obelle Bradley, Jr. (born April 15, 1978) is an American former professional baseball outfielder.

Standing 6 ft and weighing 215 lb, Bradley was a switch hitter who threw right-handed.

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.

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 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 June amateur draft.

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 Vermont, 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 an 11-year career in Major League Baseball, Bradley played with the Montreal Expos (2000–01), Cleveland Indians (2001–03), Los Angeles Dodgers (2004–05), Oakland Athletics (2006–07), San Diego Padres (2007), Texas Rangers (2008), Chicago Cubs (2009), and Seattle Mariners (2010–11).

His career was also marred by legal troubles and several notable on-field incidents.

After playing four seasons of minor league baseball for the organization, he made his major league debut on July 19, 2000.

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 RBIs over 42 games played.

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 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.

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:

"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."

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.

Bradley was traded to the Padres in 2007, was granted free agency after one season with the team, and signed with the Texas Rangers in 2007.

He was voted to 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.

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.

In Seattle, Bradley batted .205 in 2010 and .218 in 2011 before he was released by the club.

He has a career batting average of .271 with 135 home runs and 481 runs batted in (RBIs) in 1,042 games played, and was described as having "power, speed, a strong arm and star qualities", although "his temper … has never allowed him to fulfill his immense potential."

In 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, and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

For the year, Bradley finished 17th in American League Most Valuable Player Award voting.