With one out and one on in the bottom of the third inning of a spring training game against the Texas Rangers, Milton Bradley took a pitch at the letters for a called strike three. Bradley dropped his bat, undid his batting gloves, bent over, picked the bat up, walked away, and got ejected. (Here’s a handy .gif of the event.)
Milton Bradley Ejected For Striking Out
↵At first, there were suspicions that Bradley must’ve said something to get on home plate umpire Dan Bellino’s nerves. Multiple slow-motion replays, however, confirmed that Bradley didn’t say a word, or even cast a dirty glance in Bellino’s direction. He simply dropped his bat and picked it up seconds later, an act, it seems, sufficiently disrespectful to warrant a tossing. Don Wakamatsu thinks Bradley just thought there were three outs, which, hey, wouldn’t be the first time. But, nope. Doesn’t matter to Bellino. Bradley was outta there, because no umpire should never feel as if his authority is being questioned, and certainly not by a guy with a history.
↵Milton Bradley could wake up tomorrow a saint, and it wouldn’t make any difference, because at this point, there’s no undoing that reputation.
See More:
