Bradley may have burned last bridge
By Tim Brown
“Get outta my face,” Milton Bradley once told me in a clubhouse in Oakland,
which wasn’t unusual.
Over 12 seasons, spread across eight organizations, he had that kind of
relationship with a lot of people.
When he wasn’t in theirs’, he was requesting that they get out of his.
“滚你老木”Milton Bradley 曾经寻常地在奥克兰的球员休息室这样呛过我。12个
球季，待了8队之后，他依然故我的和许多人结怨。当他融不进那个球队，他就叫别人
滚。
Now the Seattle Mariners have told him to get out of their faces, along with
their clubhouse. After one full season and six weeks of another, all coming
after the Mariners swapped out Carlos Silva’s bad contract for Bradley’s,
Bradley was designated for assignment Monday. The Mariners will end up
swallowing about $15 million in the transaction, because nobody’s going to
clean up after Jim Hendry’s or Jack Zduriencik’s blind ambitions.
现在换水手队叫他滚了。自水手把Carlos Silva那张烂约换了Bradley那张合约的1年又
6个星期后，Bradley本周一被DFA。因为没人想收拾Jim Hendry或是Jack Zduriencik出
的包，导致水手得中止合约，吞掉这次交易大概一千五百万的亏损。
In 101 games in Seattle, Bradley, who turned 33 last month, batted .209. Yes,
he was going to get along with manager Eric Wedge this time. Yes, he was
going to get help for his anger issues. Yes, he was going to stay on the
field. Yes, he was a handful or two.
And yet, in a team environment and having chosen a very public life, Bradley
was barely tolerable when he was healthy and hitting. As baseball went,
hitting was his redeemable quality, and sometimes he did it well.
Bradley，上个月满33岁，在西雅图出赛101场，打击率0.209。
没错！这次他会和教头Eric Wedge和睦相处。
没错！这次他会克制他的脾气。
没错！这次他会乖乖待在场上。
没错！他是一两次会失控。
然而，在他所挑球队环境以及非常公开场合之下，Bradley 的健康和上场实在是让人难
以容忍。当比赛开打，打击是他可取之处，偶尔他也干得不错。
Probably, his moods and behavior were not his choices, and that’s why I
usually viewed Bradley sympathetically. In so many areas of his life, he
seemed to seek the fight. Likely, before it came to him.
He found it in umpires, fans, managers, cops, sportswriters. Reportedly, he
found it in companions as well.
也许他的心情和行为不是他能控制的，这也是为什么我觉得 Bradley有够悲哀的。在许
多有他生活之处，他似乎爱找人干架。而且可能每次都他起头的。干架除了找裁判，球
迷，教练，警察，运动作家之外，据传他也跟队友干。
Yet, I liked Bradley. We had a mutual friend. We spoke like adults and we
kept it as such when I was the national baseball writer for the Los Angeles
Times, in a city that – like the others – had turned on him.
So, on a spring afternoon in 2006, months after he’d been traded to the
Oakland Athletics, I approached him meaning to say hello, to ask how he was
getting along with new teammates and in a new environment.
“Milton,” I said, and held out my hand.
He turned, his eyes darkened, and he spat his favorite words,
“Get outta my face.”
“What’s that about?” I asked.
“I saw what you wrote,” he said.
“What I wrote?”
没错，我是喜欢 Bradley，而且我们有一位共通的朋友。当我还是LA时报专栏作家时，
我们像是成人一般闲聊，不过LA这城市“跟其他城一样”唾弃他。
所以，在2006某个春天的下午，那时他已经被交易到运动家一个多月，我跑去向他打招
呼，而且问他最近在新环境跟队友处的如何，
“Milton”我说，并且伸出手。
他转头看了一下，给了我白眼，然后吐出他喜欢的那句，“滚你老木”。
“你干麻这样？”我问。
“我看到你写的东西了”他说
“我写三小？”
I’d covered his trade to the A’s for the paper. The deal brought Andre
Ethier to the Los Angeles Dodgers. I’d also covered the story of an emergency
call from his home to the police after a disturbance with his wife.
It was sad, personal stuff that I believed I’d handled professionally and
without judgment.
我是有为报纸发表一篇关于他交易到运动家的事。这交易内容让道奇拿到Andre Ethier，
另外我也写了篇关于他骚扰老婆，结果被他老婆报警处理的事情。
对此我有点难过，关于这私人鸟事的新闻，我相信我处理的够专业，而且也没有在报导上
做任何的批判。
“I saw it,” and then he quoted from a story he’d read supporting the trade
of him, “…’Well, at least Andre Ethier’s OPS isn’t .911.’ I saw that.”
“Milton,” I said. “I didn’t write that.”
“Get outta my face,” he repeated, raising his hand and shooing me away.
“All right,” I said. “All I can tell you is the truth. Remember who picked
this fight.”
“我看到那篇了”然后从他所读那篇支持交易掉他的文章引述了一句
“.......，好吧，起码Andre Ethier的OPS不是.911(编按：报警专用电话)”，
“我看到那句了”
“Milton，那个我没写，”我说
“滚你老木”他重复一次，举起他的手而且叫我快滚
“好吧”我说，“我说的都是真的，记住谁先开头吵架的”
I walked away, never to talk to Bradley again. It was then I realized Bradley
would find battles where there were none, that even those who’d taken up his
side – out of fairness, sympathy, pity, whatever – were fair game. Maybe he
didn’t want to. Maybe he’d regret it. Then, probably, he’d be too proud to
admit he was wrong, because there was security in living on the edge of
anger, and with the presumption that the world was waiting for him to wobble
in order to take another bite out of him.
走了之后，从此再也没和Bradley聊过天了。因为这件事我就知道Bradley老爱在没事的地
方引战。就算那是公平的比赛，大家聊到他的毛时，内容不外乎是他又再哭八不公平，感
觉他很可悲，可怜。也许他也不想这样做，也许他真的有反省过。那么，他大概是太自大
让他无法承认他有错，因为在激怒中让他有安全感，那么大概可以推论他是十足的被害妄
想症。
Now Bradley, on the far edge of his prime, is out of work, carrying a .218
batting average and a reputation for instability. I don’t think he’ll be
back.
But now he has what he’s always wished for.
Now everybody is out of his face.
现在的Bradley，离他巅峰时期的能力非常遥远，
失去工作的他只剩下0.218的破打率，以及烂脾气的恶名。
我认为他回不来。
但现在他得到他想要的，每个人从他眼前消失了。
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