Milton Bradley’s Mom should let Milton do the Talking

Rob Naddelman: Through a Parent’s Eyes

In September, the General Manager of the Chicago Cubs (Jim Hendry) decided that he had enough of Milton Bradley and sent him home for the remainder of the season due to “conduct that was detrimental to the team.” The decision was made towards the end of the season after Milton made some disparaging comments about the Chicago Cubs franchise and their fans.

This has been a disappointing year for Milton Bradley and the Chicago Cubs. After the 2008 regular season, the Cubs were the heavy favorite to win the NL Pennant only to be eliminated in the first round of the MLB playoffs. During the offseason, the Cubs tried to address what they considered to be a big weakness in their lineup, which was a lack of power from their left handed hitters. As such, they made a big push to sign Milton Bradley, the talented outfielder with a checkered past of anger issues and bouncing around between multiple franchises. Bradley was fresh off a huge 2008 campaign with the Texas Rangers making the All Star Team when he hit .321 and has an OPS of .999. The Cubs signed him to a multi-million dollar three year deal which had many baseball fans and executives scratching their heads. Nobody can question Bradley’s on field talents, but after having anger management issues and other off the field distractions, many wondered if he would fit in with the Cubs.

Bradley’s 2009 stats are a far cry from the 2008 numbers he put up. His average is .257 and his OPS is .775 while only appearing in 124 games. After Bradley was sent packing for the remainder of the season, on Sept 23rd ESPN.com ran a story that based upon the subject matter really surprised me. Milton Bradley’s mother came out in the media and tried to defend her son’s actions.

As a parent, I know it is hard to draw boundaries at times when it comes to your children. All parents want to defend their children, no matter what they do, because we love them unconditionally. However, as a professional athlete that is being paid a substantial amount of money, isn’t it time to step back and allow your son to do the talking to explain his actions? At Baseball Factory, we encourage our high school players to address confrontation head on with their coaches or teammates and advise parents to step into the background. At some point, the students need to learn to interact with authority figures and deal with these situations. As a Major Leaguer, isn’t Milton ready to step up and be accountable for what he says and does? I imagine that his mother felt she was trying to do right by Milton, but it just isn’t appropriate in my mind for her to do this. If she was questioned by the media, the simple answer could have been to say that it is more appropriate for Milton to answer these questions.

Even though as parents we are well intentioned, sometimes we do more harm than good when we try to help our kids. While it is in our nature to step up and help our kids when they are in need, sometimes no action is the best course of action.

Rob Naddelman is the President of Baseball Factory. Naddelman is a former two-time All Ivy League Third Baseman at the University of Pennsylvania, where he competed in a College World Series Regional. He has served as the President of Baseball Factory for the past 13 years, and also is the Executive Director of Baseball Factory's charitable arm The B.A.S.E. - H.I.T. Foundation. Naddelman and Steve Sclafani (CEO) have been featured in Business Week and CNN for their work in building Baseball Factory into the nation's leader in player development and college placement.