Nothing has changed after migrating from team to team, presenting the same shameful outrage in Chicago. Although the Cubs are struggling to avoid 101 years of hell, Bradley’s presence curses them as much as Steve Bartman interfering on a catchable foul ball or the black cat crossing home plate. At Wrigleyville, the Cubs have morphed into a dismal frenzy and suddenly the Friendly Confines has divided into the Disgraceful Confines.
They are asking for trouble whenever Bradley is nearby Wrigley Field or even U.S. Cellar Field, where his recent anger outburst occurred, meaning it still happened in Chicago.
The Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was gritty to sign Bradley to a $30 million contract during the offseason, knowing his reputation in the past of irritable incidents on the field and inside the clubhouse. By viewing Bradley’s terrible behavior from previous clubs, it was enough to know that it would continue.
Because of Bradley’s enigmatic demeanor, his talent is enveloped and stashed behind a treacherous attitude, that is spreading rapidly around the clubhouse.
At 31, understand that Bradley will never develop into a remarkable hitter or a premier slugger in the game. He refuses to mature into a well-behaved citizen in Chicago, where the stakes and expectations are high. Think of it like this, as the Friendly Confines worships those who perform well or capable of producing wins, and Bradley could be one of those players who represent the Cubs as a solid hitter.
Instead of individualizing himself as a player, Bradley exchanged words in the dugout with manager Lou Piniella. Since joining the Cubs, negative moods have invoked problems and irritability, frustrated with his offensive failures. On Friday, he went 0-3 and is hitting .237 with five homers and 16 RBIs. But he was furious after the six-inning at-bat, when Piniella removed him from the game. Later, he was seen in street clothes walking to the players’ parking lot. At least, Bradley could have shown more class and acted as a loyal teammate, instead of disappearing from the game. But reports clarified that Piniella sent home the mindless right-fielder after exchanging words. It just goes to show us, he’s a juvenile and sentimental player without a conscience as if he’s baseball’s Terrell Owens, censurable of devilish ire.
At the postgame news conference, Lou Piniella said he threw a rage in the clubhouse. “I told him to take his uniform off,” he said calmly. “He threw his helmet off and smashed a water cooler. I just told him to take his uniform off and go home. I followed him up into the clubhouse and we exchanged some words.”
I’ll take it from Piniella and say it is the second cooler destroyed this year by a Cubs player. Not long ago, pitcher Carlos Zambrano damaged the Gatorade cooler in the dugout when he was livid after being removed from a feeble outing on the mound.
The difference with Bradley is problems occurred with almost all of his previous team. By following the hellish journey of shameless and sinful conduct, the most noticeable incident is when he was suspended five games of 2004 for slamming a plastic bottle in front of a fan seated behind right field. In history, he feels the need to throw items on to the field, such as ’04 when he tossed a bag of balls onto the field, which led to an ejection. Another complexity that follows Bradley insipid disgraceful etiquette is his disheveled mouth, confronting then-manger Eric Wedge in the dugout during spring training.
See, it’s always something with Milton Bradley, a board game that I could quite never figure out.
Wait, there’s more to the board game of Twister and Battleship.
With the Dodgers, he criticized then-teammate Jeff Kent in 2005, saying he was racist and he couldn’t blend with African Americans. If Bradley took a close look in the mirror, there’s a hint. I’m sure Kent maintained distance from his frail temperament, of which he treated as if Kent personally disliked being around him.
And if so, he had every reason to keep a distance of any nonsense. As a member of San Diego, without a doubt Bradley ran into distasteful nuisance and was in the midst of a pennant chase. But idiotic guise cost him the final five games of the regular season, and did not participate in the postseason. When the incident occurred, Padres manager Bud Black stepped in to barricade an irritable Bradley of charging umpire Mike Winters and was eventually spun to the ground by Black, which resulted in a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
According to the Chicago Tribune Web site, Bradley says he does have the same rules as his teammates. Well, it could be true, only because of his misbehaving personality that forced Piniella to set stricter guidelines for a moody Bradley. Still, it doesn’t give him assent to throw ludicrous tirades or hissy fits, especially at Piniella, the skipper who was nice enough to place him in Saturday’s lineup.
Point I’m trying to make is that Bradley isn’t worth the disruption. Although Hendry talked about the altercation with Piniella and Bradley before Saturday’s game, still he could be baseball’s idiot. Something else might occur between now and October, I wouldn’t doubt it.
You never know with Bradley.
