Milton Bradley says he's aware of Wrigley Field's reputation for fans who not only boo their own players, but also have a history of getting racial.
He also says he's ready for it.
''I can be like that guy that you watch all the time for whatever reason,'' he said, referring to his track record of angry outbursts and run-ins. ''But I really think I've outgrown it, a lot of the stuff that I did when I was younger.''
Still, this seems at first glance a curious marriage between the Cubs and their newest big-money free agent, who's expected to return from a groin injury during this weekend's home series against the St. Louis Cardinals. And it might prove to be the biggest test of the new man Bradley says he is at this point in his life and career.
Wrigley seems like the last place an African-American player with such a well-traveled reputation for confrontations would choose to sign a multiyear contract. In the last five seasons alone, Cubs outfielder Jacque Jones and pitcher LaTroy Hawkins said they were the targets of racist taunts and fan mail. Jones also said in 2006 that he became the victim of racial slurs and threats on his cell phone when the number got out.
Former Cubs manager Dusty Baker said that same season that he received enough threatening, racist mail in Chicago that his wife and young son no longer would attend games.
Visiting ballplayers are even easier targets for the more vicious slurs.
''I've heard a few things [from the bleachers],'' Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Mike Cameron said. ''But I don't really get into it with them unless a situation calls for it. I try to stay out of those situations.''
Generally considered by players among the roughest crowds in baseball for their habit of booing players on the home team, crowds at Wrigley and Boston's Fenway Park also are considered among the worst by African-American players for a racist element comprising at least vocal minorities.
Besides Jones' experiences, another black former Cubs outfielder who declined to be identified said in a private conversation during a recent spring training that the Wrigley crowd might have been the worst he'd experienced for racist taunts.
''I've heard that from a lot of the players who played there,'' Cameron said.
Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said that was one of the reasons he had the Cubs on his no-trade list for years while in Minnesota.
So what's the potential for a flash-point incident at the intersection of a beer-swilling, slur-spilling lout and a player with a well-earned reputation for not backing down from a perceived wrong?
''You never know what may throw somebody off,'' said Cameron, who was a teammate of Bradley's in San Diego. ''Those are the things you really have to think about. You'd hope people don't get personal, but sometimes it does. And it can be hard on players.
''But Milton has so much ability that I don't think that will come into play because the guy's so good. He's going to be fighting tooth and nail on every single pitch until the last out is made.''
Full story here.
Via: The Chicago Sun-Times
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