Posted by Lockwood Castle on September 23, 2009 at 13:56:39:
Milton's mom: He'd be open to a Cubs return
Bradley's mom says he would rejoin Cubs because he loves game
September 23, 2009 - BY CHRIS DE LUCA cdeluca@suntimes.com
Charlena Rector answered the phone and insisted she wasn't talking to another reporter. Milton Bradley's mom felt her
''Christian statement'' to a Chicago Tribune columnist got twisted around, and she felt duped into doing a radio
interview with Jonathon Brandmeier. Besides, Milton had just phoned her to say no more comments to the media.
Fair enough.
Then there was a pause, before Rector resumed talking Tuesday night.
Bradley has long boasted that some of his strongest traits came from his mother, and this was another one. She had to
keep talking.
[Suspend disbelief]
So one question led to another until the conversation turned to her son's supposed suspension from the Cubs.
''All the people on TV keep saying, 'Oh, Milton has played his last game for the Cubs,''' Rector said, letting out a
disbelieving sigh.
By Tuesday, the Cubs still hadn't filed any formal papers with Major League Baseball, the players' union or Bradley's
agents outlining their suspension. But Bradley still was absent from the team. The Cubs know they can't withhold
Bradley's pay in this manner, and more clarity on the suspension is expected today.
If the landmark suspension doesn't stick, would Bradley be open to returning to the Cubs?
''Yes,'' Rector said, ''because Milton eats, sleeps and drinks baseball. He loves it. That's all he wants to do.''
During the Brandmeier interview, which Rector claims she thought was a phone conversation and not for broadcast, she
tried to detail the key reasons behind her son's unhappiness in less than a season with the Cubs. She claimed Bradley's
3-year-old son faced a slew of racial slurs at his school.
''When racism hit his 3-year-old baby in school, he couldn't take that,'' Rector told Brandmeier. ''Parents, teachers and
their kids called him the n-word. He didn't even know it was a bad word until his mom told him.''
Asked by the Sun-Times why Bradley didn't mention this during his several conversations with reporters this season -- a
detail that might have gained him more sympathy in Chicago -- Rector said: ''Milton is a quiet person. Stuff like that,
he keeps to himself. He doesn't want to talk about that because he doesn't think anybody cares. It is a heartbreaking
situation.''
But Rector said Bradley shared this information with her. And she knew it affected his play.
''I watched his swing, and I could tell what was wrong,'' she told the Sun-Times.
''His mind wasn't on baseball. He was thinking about all of these other things.''
She also said Bradley quickly realized he would be playing in the shadow of Mark DeRosa, the popular player who was
traded to the Cleveland Indians to free up cash for Bradley's $30 million contract.
''When he got there, he was happy to be there, until he started playing,'' she told Brandmeier. ''And he could see right
away the fans didn't accept him because they wanted DeRosa, I think his name was, to be there. So he never really felt
accepted. He never felt comfortable at all.''
It's hard to buy all of this as the reason behind Bradley's struggles. Much of the blame still belongs to Bradley. Just
check his resum1/8©.
But this is a pattern of behavior with Bradley. He loves the negative limelight. Almost feeds off it.
Take his comments in 2003, when he was an emerging star -- possibly the heir apparent to Kenny Lofton -- with the
Indians. Bradley was discussing being snubbed for the All-Star team and seemed to embrace the idea he was disliked around
baseball.
''I want them to hate my guts,'' he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in July 2003.
[Milt's media]
Pointing to a group of reporters in the Indians' clubhouse, Bradley said: ''I'm the reason why a lot of these people have
got jobs. I know I'm an interesting person. If I wasn't on this team, what would you be writing about?''
That's the irony with Bradley. He hates the media, but he's always there to feed the beast. We love him for it.
Like mother, like son.