Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Milton Bradley - A Musical Journey...

Like Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue," Milton Bradley came into the world ready to defend himself over an unfortunate moniker provided by a stern father. And he's been fighting ever since.

He's taken on all comers: bats, bags of balls, umpires, first base coaches, gravity, and (more recently) the entire city of Chicago.

And now, Milton's own mother is coming to defend her son against Chi-town.

According to his mother, Bradley's unhappiness in Chicago stems in part from racism that his 3-year-old son has faced at school.

"When racism hit his 3-year-old baby in school, he couldn't take that," Rector said in a radio interview earlier this week, according to the Sun-Times. "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."

When asked why her son shared the information only with her this season, 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."

She believes it affected his play. Bradley struggled at the plate, batting .257 with 12 homers and 40 RBIs this season, and was booed vigorously by home fans at Wrigley Field.

"I watched his swing, and I could tell what was wrong," Rector told the Sun-Times. "His mind wasn't on baseball. He was thinking about all of these other things."

I once got called a smartass by a teacher, and I thought that was pretty bad. But it sounds like Milton Bradley's kid had a really tough go. Not that I'm a king of PR, but expressing to the media that his family was treated badly might have been a little smarter than saying he knows why they've been losers for a century. Now that he's got the time free, Bradley should visit his son's school and introduce them to his famous Sonny Corleone-esque temper.

9 comments:

rbnlaw said...

*sniff sniff* Smells like BS to me.
Where was the kid going to school?
Jim Crow Pre-School? Sorry, I may be an uptight white guy (with enough liberal guilt to sleep at night), but I ain't buying that story. Not in this day and not directed at a 3 year-old by his teacher.

Kyle Baker said...

I have two of those four albums shown in the post.

Kyle Baker said...

Jim Crow Pre-school! Damn, that's funny. I mean, not Jim Crow laws, but your reference. I guess his son needs to be prepared for Klandergarten.

Delino DeShields, Sr said...

I've got friends who teach in Chicago. Not sure they're calling their students racist slurs. But who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man.

I guess there's the outside chance that Milton's mom is also bats--t crazy. It's got to come from somewhere.

rbnlaw said...

I think you've hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head, DDS.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Because people in Chicago have never seen a black person before? They worship the feet of the greatest basketball player, and he's black! Not to mention some guy named Obama who came from that area.

And where the hell do three year old kids learn the N-word?

Kyle Baker said...

RB, you def get props for the Jim Crow pre-school comment. I think I need a little love for the Klandergarten follow-up, though!

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I believe someone should research all this. Y'know, take a look into the kids in Jr's class, the area it is in, how Bradley can think I'm that big a schmuck.

Stuff like that.

Delino DeShields, Sr said...

I just loved how his Mom was breaking down his swing.