Hot Head

Name: Milton Bradley

Card Company: Topps

Year: 2004

Team: Cleveland Indians

Bats/Throws: S/R

Height: 6'0

Milton Bradley, a name the conjures up memories of old toys and fun as a child for most people. But as you are probably well aware of right now I am not like most people. To me the name Milton Bradley conjures up memories of a decent outfielder, with one hell of a temper. In fact his temper is the only reason many baseball fans still remember who he is today. But as usual I'll try and shed some light on this journeymen.

Milton Bradley played baseball with Chase Utley at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, before being drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 2nd round of 1996 MLB Draft. And early on it looked like he was on his way to being a solid player improving his batting average and home run totals from 1996-1999. And after an 88 game stint in AAA which saw him hit .304, with a .385 OBP he was brought up to join the Expos.

However Bradley would struggle with the Expos. In his two seasons with Montreal He would compile a stat-line of (.222 BA) (.288 OBP) (.332 SLG) (3 HR) (34 RBI). Bradley would be traded to Cleveland during the 2001 season in exchange for pitcher Zach Day.

Bradley would finally become a full-time member of the Indians in 2002, playing in 98 games, hitting .249 to go along with 9 HR's and 38 RBI's. And despite being put on the 15-Day DL in 2003, he still managed to play in 101 games and jumped his batting average from .249 to .321, while also accumulating a .921 OPS (On Base Plus Slugging).

However this would be when the baseball world started to see the cracks in Bradley's character. While on the DL Bradley was pulled over for speeding in Ohio. This by itself doesn't sound so bad, but instead of just accepting the ticket and moving on Bradley proceeded to reject the ticket sped off, and was eventually sentenced to a 3-Day jail stent.

Despite this red flag the Indians proceeded to sign Bradley to a one year $1.73 million contract to avoid arbitration. During spring training in 2004 Bradley was banned from the Indians training facility after not running out a pop-up. These tensions would eventually drive the Indians to trade away Bradley to the dodgers in exchange for player to be named later (Andrew Brown) and Franklin Gutierrez.

Bradley would once again wear out his welcome in LA because of his temper despite putting up decent stats. In 216 games with the Dodgers Bradley would compile a stat-line of (.275 BA) (.358 OBP) (32 HR) (105 RBI).

And again because of his temper and relationship with management Bradley would once again be traded. This time He would be traded with Antonio Perez to the A's in exchange for Andre Ethier

Bradley with his brief time with the A's manage to put up some pretty decent years, primarily being used in a platoon/ part-time role. In 2006 with the A's, Bradley became the third player in MLB history to hit home runs from each side of the plate in a postseason game. The A's made it all the way to the ALCS before being swept by the Tigers.

Fun Fact: This was that ALCS where Magglio Ordonez hit that walk off home run in game 4 to send the Tigers to the World Series.

During the 2007 season, Bradley would again be traded, this time he would be traded to the Padres for Andrew Brown the same player he was traded for in Cleveland.

After the 2007 season Bradley signed with the Texas Rangers as a free agent on a one-year deal. Bradley would go on to have the best season of his career with Texas leading the league in OBP and OPS, and for the first time in his career was named an All-Star. And for the first time in awhile had managed to make it through the season without causing any major controversy.

But this season turned out to be fools gold. And after two disappointing stints with both the Cubs and Mariners Milton Bradley retired from baseball after 12-years.

Bradley had all the tools you look for in an MLB prospect but the one thing he didn't have was self control. He is considered by some to be a what if, because of the talent he had and what he could've been if he would've been able to control his temper.

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