Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 12, 2008
Monopoly on Anger

Ryan Lefebvre made this comment about Milton Bradley Wednesday night:

Lefebvre, who is the son of former major league manager Jim Lefebvre, said he met with Daniels and Washington about his on-the-air comments, but did not talk to Bradley. Lefebvre said the comments were intended to praise Josh Hamilton, who missed nearly four years of professional baseball with cocaine and alcohol additions, rather than tear down Bradley.

"It was a conversation about how Josh Hamilton has turned his life around and has been accountable for his mistakes," Lefebvre told The Associated Press. "Right now, it seems like the baseball world and fans are rooting for him. ... It doesn't seem like Milton Bradley has done the same thing in his life."

When Bradley heard the comments, he tried to run up to the booth to confront Lefebvre, but Washington and Daniels stopped him. Sometimes it's best not to play into people's preconceived notions about your personality. Otherwise, you tend to prove them correct.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:57 AM | Baseball Jerks | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Lefebvre said the comments were intended to praise Josh Hamilton, who missed nearly four years of professional baseball with cocaine and alcohol additions, rather than tear down Bradley.

Then why mention Bradley at all?

Posted by: Bandit at June 12, 2008 12:44 PM

Lefebvre said that Bradley has been, um, interacting with KC fans in, uh, negative ways. I really don't know about the allegations. I've watched much of the games on the local Rangers outlet, but they obviously wouldn't show anything negative about Bradley that they could avoid showing. He's just too valuable to a team that needs every ounce of offense to win games.

Of course, regardless of what was said about Bradley on the broadcast, the smart thing would be to laugh it off. Bradley gets nothing but praise from his local broadcasters. No player can expect equally favorable treatment from the opposing team's announcers.

Posted by: Casey Abell at June 12, 2008 01:03 PM

Lefebvre is a jackass. The implication that Bradley should take life lessons from a crackhead is beyond ridiculous. What did he think his reaction would be? Yes, I think it was contrived to get a response.

Posted by: SS at June 12, 2008 01:43 PM

Bradley may have some on field control issues (in the fine tradition of Lou Pinella or Billy Martin, et al.,) but has he ever broken the law regarding controlled substances?

FWIW I think he should've gotten at most a 1 game suspension for the bottle slamming incident -- it was definitely slammed down and not at anyone.

Posted by: rbj at June 12, 2008 02:16 PM

Little Lefebvre is as much of a piece of crap as his dad.

Posted by: rmt at June 12, 2008 04:44 PM

Lefebvre may be an ass and he likely could have phrased the comments better, but Bradley is also an ass.
So, you're upset about someone talking about your volatile personality and you race to confront him instead of ignoring him. If Bradley had made a calm response criticizing Lefebvre's comments he would have come across as a changed, maturing man. Having watched Bradley's anger and outbursts as he has gone from team to team burning bridges it is hard to accept him as anything but an angry racist clown. His mom's comments about Eric Wedge when he left the Indians showed the type of crap he has been fed his whole life. She raised him to have a chip on his shoulder. For his sake I hope he eventually is able to realize that most folks actually want him to do well and put his demons behind him. Too many players allow something to hold them from being their best and don't realize it until they are too old to have the success they might have. As an Indians fan, I think about how much better Sam McDowell would have been if he beat alcohol earlier or what Tony Horton could have done if he didn't drive himself nuts. Fans of every team have a few players that they look at similarly.

Posted by: largebill at June 12, 2008 11:02 PM

I agree, LB. Re the crackhead comment, Hamilton is currently off the drugs while Bradley is only seonds away from a burst of rage that could earn him 10-20. Lefebvre might be an ass but he wasn't wrong.

Posted by: abe at June 13, 2008 09:10 AM
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