From ESPN. Money quote, where Bradley insinuates that racist hate mail came from within the Cubs organization:

“I got the same mail LaTroy [Hawkins] probably got; the same mail Jacque [Jones] got,” Bradley said. “Every time I got mail, I handed it to the PR guy and said, ‘Here it goes.’

“I was getting so much until I didn’t even have to open up the letter to know what it was, I could see from the envelope. I could just tell, you get an envelope, no address on it, no postmark, it’s just in your mail. How does that get in your cubby hole? I don’t know how that happens.”

Bradley was asked if he thought the mail with no postage mark was sent from inside the organization.

“I would hope not, but … who knows?” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t even care to know.”

When reached for comment, a Cubs representative said the team would not comment on until it had seen the story.

This will get interesting. . . Bradley basically just accused the Cubs organization—not just the racist fans in the bleachers whom we all agree show up to games in Klan outfits and cook their hot dogs on burning crosses—of sending him racist hate mail. Mail he knew was racist without even opening or reading it. Man.

37 replies on “Milton In His Own Words”

  2. @1 Nonsense. He says mail was in his locker without any address or postage on it (he’s vague about whether it’s return address or addressed to him). But either way, such mail would not have come in the US Post office mail regularly delivered to all players–how would it get into the building and the mail bag without postage?–it would have had to have been put into his mail by someone with access to his locker. Which is to say someone in the Cubs organization: a clubhouse guy, a front office guy, a security guy. What you’re calling insinuation from the reporter is a follow-up question.

  4. @3 Not at all: racism is real, but this guy is making claims that might be legally actionable. And isn’t it possible, even in a world like ours where racism exists, for someone to claim that racism is the cause of criticism directed at him. . . and be WRONG? He says that Cubs fans will support an Ernie Banks or an Andre Dawson, but not him. Could it be because he didn’t put up the numbers? That fans booed him because they disliked his performance rather than his race?

  7. Chicago Fan seems to have an axe to grind. Milton Bradley is NOT the reason the Cubs couldn’t make the playoffs! And many Black players have said that while playing at Wrigley field they are subjected to racial slurs.

  8. Black people can read?!!?!?!1??! Oh wait, he “chose” not to read it.

    ^^(That’s racist. An unread letter is not. Please take note.)^^

  9. Milton doens’t need any help creating his own drama, but there sure are a lot of people out there that like to create a lot of drama for him. People like Chicago Fan. I hope everyone notices that he has stopped talking about how great of a deal the trade for Carlos Silva was for the Cubs after Spring Training games started. Not a word out of Bradley’s mouth with the M’s this year, but Silva has already given up 6 runs in his first 2 innings. Ouch. Silva is a horrible baseball player. Milton is obviously a very sensitive person and a good baseball player. Seems obvious all he wants to do is be respected. Pretty clear that wasn’t happening in Chicago–as evidenced by Chicago Fan. If Silva makes even one start for the Cubs this year they are in serious trouble.

  10. We could have traded Silva for Ted Williams’ headless body and still come out on top. It’s no-lose. And we have the glee of anticipating the first genuine explosion of Milton’s nuttiness.

  13. God knows there’s no WAY Bradley could really have gotten racist hate mail from the spectacularly enlightened fans in Chicago, the most racially segregated city in America.

  15. @ y’all:

    Again, I’ve pointed out Silva’s suckery. No argument. The $9 million is nice though.

    And the issue isn’t whether Bradley got racist hate mail: I’m sure he did. The issue here is his insinuation that such hate mail came from someone in the Cubs clubhouse or front office. That’s a very bold claim.

    As for the spurned lover theme, more like pissed-off Kool Aid drinker. Like many people last year did (say, Jim Hendry), I looked at the numbers and thought the personal stuff about Bradley was irrelevant, contextual, he’d do fine in Chicago, unlike his prior 6 teams. . . and I see that Kool Aid is on tap in Seattle. If he has a great year and Seattle beats the Angels out, great. But if not, I’ll warm up the Told You So Posts. Baseball is a team sport and clubhouse chemistry does matter to how a team plays on the field. Sure, some teams that all hated each other–A’s in the ’70s, Yankees in various generations–won championships anyway, but I’d consider them the exception to the rule.

  16. @15 – Told You So what? If Bradley turns out to be a clubhouse cancer, then the M’s will dump him at the expense of nothing (aka Silva). You’ve got nothing here. Hoping for the best and preparing for the worst is not “drinking the Kool Aid”.

    And the insinuation is that someone with access to the Cubs’ locker room left the mail. I’m guessing that’s a lot of people, from the GM down to the guy who washes jock straps. I don’t know why it’s so hard to believe that one of those people might be responsible for the hate mail.

  17. I wouldn’t necessarily say Seattle has drunk the Kool Aid with MB. Everyone knows his history and won’t be shocked if he goes off the rails. I don’t put too much stock in Griffey being “the great clubhouse guy” that will keep everyone together and happy. Every year in every city that story gets written, sometimes it’s true and sometimes it’s not. The difference with the Mariners and Cubbies is our expectations are lower, our manager won’t call anyone a “piece of shit” (sorry Lou, but that was out of line), and our fandom is less emotional than Chicago. If (when?) MB does something crazy ( I have “shows his taint to Steve Kelley” in the office pool) it won’t inflame the masses.

    I hope MB does well, but will be entertained if he goes crazy, and plan on enjoying the season one way or the other.

  18. @ 16, that is extremely hard to believe. Do you really think that would ever happen even once, let alone time and time again?

    The big pattern with MB interviews is that he is not to blame. There are a few times when he owns up to his mistakes, but by and large it’s others who are responsible for his situation. Claiming that anyone in a professional organization would risk so much backlash just to get under the skin of one unpopular player – one that they had a significant investment in – is beyond believable. We’ll see though; there’s bound to be tons of follow up any time he speaks to the press, and if his story remains consistent, or he’s able to give any details, then maybe there’s something to it. But it’s supremely unlikely.

    I hope MB is ready to put it past him, and I know that the Seattle fans will give him the warm welcome that he’ll need to do so. I’ve been on his side in the past, particularly the two or three years prior to signing with the Cubs when it seemed that he had gained control of his emotions. But this isn’t a hopeful sign.

    Addressing Chicago Fan, Bradley’s not always a cancer who holds a team back. Heck, who knows how far the 2007 Padres might have gone if they had called Matt Holliday out in that last game? (For those who don’t know, the Rockies and Padres had to play an extra game to determine the NL wild card; it went to extra innings with the Padres taking the lead, but the Rockies won on the controversial “safe” call when Holliday missed the plate sliding in.)

  19. @15, what you refuse to understand is that Bradley is not a big deal. He’s got some possible upside, and some down — but he’s not going to be an everyday starter. He really doesn’t matter much either way. If he puts it all together, we get a lot of good; if he melts down, eh, so what. We’ve got plenty of team here without him.

  20. Whoops, I forgot a crucial bit of Bradley-Padres history, namely the fact that he tore his ACL while being restrained in an altercation with an umpire. So even if the Padres had made the playoffs, MB wouldn’t have been in the lineup. So much for my impression of his years between LA and Chicago.

  21. When I moved to Chicago from New York, after a few weeks one of my first thoughts was “this town’s pretty racist.” Not in an overt way, but in a very passive, clearly segregated way, especially compared to the East Coast. I’m not saying the dude’s right, but I don’t necessarily disbelieve him.

  23. Chicago Fan: you are starting to get into “Me thinks thou dost protest too much” territory here.

    Also, seriously, can’t you find some fellow Cubs fans somewhere around here and go get a private room?

  24. His answer to the question was, “”I would hope not, but … who knows? I don’t know. I don’t even care to know.”

    How the hell is that anything more than him giving a non answer for a stupid question? Could have been another player for all we know.

  25. If I had to play in Wrigley, with the rats and the tiny locker rooms that are like cells, I would say it was like a prison too.

    ICHIRO!!!!!

  27. @21 I’ve visited friends in Chicago for weekend trips about 5 times and it IS a more racist (and homophobic) city than, say, Philly or NYC, where I’m from. Every trip I’ve returned with a “you wouldn’t believe what I heard someone say in a bar/festival/park” story. Or maybe people there just don’t have the same verbal boundaries as other northern cities. That or they’re just more racist.

  30. If Milton Bradley shows his taint to Steve Kelley I will immediately become his #1 fan through any behavior imaginable.

    Also, yes. The passage quoted does not indicate that Bradley is saying, as Chicago Fan says, that “hate mail came from someone in the Cubs clubhouse or front office.” He’s saying that a) it must have been delivered by someone with access to the locker room and b) it could be sent by someone within the organization but he hopes not.

    Yawn.

  31. Is it possible there’s some type of fan mail inbox at Wrigley? Maybe someone could walk into the front office with an envelope with their little kid in a Bradley jersey & say “my son has fan mail he’d like to give to Mr. Bradley. It doesn’t seem that unlikely. Also, suckit CF. I’m excited about the M’s for the first time since 2005 (I think that’s when they won 116 right?) your posts are a major fucking buzzkill.

  34. Get over it Chicago fan, I’m hoping he has a great year just to spite you assholes. The interview was terrible, she kept badgering him in order to get a good quote out of him. No wonder the Cubs will never win another series, their fans are a bunch of crybabies. boo-fucking-hoo

  35. Actually, fnarf, Bradley will be an every day player, splitting time between LF and DH.

    And as for the Chicago fans, they’ve been so quick to pile on Bradley when it was the Cubs management that signed him to a 3 year, $30M contract. They knew Bradley was having a career season in the second biggest hitter’s park in baseball. They knew that Bradley was combative at times. They knew that the market for Bradley was more like 2 years/$15M than 3 years/$30M. And yet they went right on and signed him, because they needed a Big Splash in free agency to satisfy the drooling rabble.

    Chicago fans are, in many ways, like Boston fans are with non-white players. If you’re great, you’re immortal, except when you blow it, and then you’re a bum. If you’re good, well, why aren’t you great like (insert non-white player here)? If you’re bad, well, it’s all about the scrappy white kid they have stashed in Birmingham or Iowa, right? The one you’re blocking by not being all that good?

    Seattle has its racial problems, obviously, but at least with baseball it’s far from the cannibalizing sports media circuses of Chicago/Boston/New York/LA. When the biggest dick is Steve Kelley, then you know this place is all about being a homer.

    There are a lot of questions left about Bradley. Can he last a season without serious injury? How will he handle Safeco, an extreme pitcher’s park that rewards left-handed line-drive hitters (like Griffey)? Will he tear Steve Kelley’s head off and suck the blood spewing from Kelley’s neck, and when’s the parade in Bradley’s honor going to be when he does it? But honestly, if he’s just career average — 20 HR on an .821 OPS with above average defense — he’s going to be the best LF the M’s have had since they traded Julio Cruz Jr. And he’ll probably still be in Seattle in 2011, too.

    Meanwhile, Carlos Silva is going to make $12M this year to be a middle reliever for the Cubs. Silva’s career ERA+ with the M’s was 62. Given that that’s a park adjusted 62, and that Safeco is now the most pitcher friendly ballpark in baseball, that’s downright atrocious. The Cubs’ mop-up guy last year, Aaron Heilman, had an ERA+ of 109. Acquiring Silva might save the Cubs a little money (since Silva’s contract is one year shorter), but he’s not going to help them nearly as much as even an angry, damaged Bradley would have.

    The M’s paid $6M for Bradley and dumped their vastly overpaid clubhouse problem on the Cubs, who promptly signed a declining Marlon Byrd, another guy who benefited for the Bandbox In Arlington inflating his numbers. And it’s the Mariners who got the short end of the stick?

    This isn’t a Cubs team that’s going to contend. The Cards may go wire-to-wire, the Brewers will be in the hunt, and the Reds look better than they’ve been in years. The Mariners, on the other hand, are actually predicted to win the AL West for the first time in years (though I don’t think they will, not without making a deadline deal for a power-hitting 1B) despite the imminent explosion of Mt Bradley.

    If you’ve ever wondered why the Cubs have failed to win the World Series since 1908… now you know. Poor management, racism, and a fanbase that can’t tell a good hitter from their ass.

  36. @35, I’ve heard 400-450 PA, which is isn’t enough to qualify for the batting title, which is where I would draw the “everyday player” line. There’s some competition at both LF and DH.

    If Bradley goes after Kelley, I’ll join him, pitchfork and torch in hand. Kelley’s a nitwit.

    Cubbies for fourth. M’s could win it even without that 1B power — we might have the best defense in the history of the game. Cliff Lee’s going to love it here.

Comments are closed.