Milton Monday

A couple of days ago a fan post came up on Lookout Landing entitled “Milton Bradley Appreciation Day.”   Naturally, I was drawn to the thread.  If you don’t have time to go look at it, the premise for the idea is that a few true Mariner fans are sick of Milton Bradley getting heckled and booed when playing at home.  Tonight they are planning to go and sit in left field and have a few Milton Bradley signs and jerseys on.  They will try to show support for this guy.  This isn’t a huge thing, but I’m fully in support of this idea.

Milton Bradley is one of my favorite baseball players.  It started last year when he was the guy who came over for Carlos Silva.  That was reason enough to like him.  Then, at the start of last year, Milton was booed vigorously in Oakland in the season opener.  Of course, Oakland fans boo everyone for some reason but the trend continued for Milton everywhere he went.  He was booed in Texas in the next series.  By the way, Milton had his best two years in the majors while in Oakland and Texas.

Bradley brought a different kind of baseball to Seattle.  I think a correct term would be “Angry Baseball.”  Yes, sometimes it set people off, but it was entertaining.  Sometimes we forget that baseball is entertainment, and on a team that was so boring, Milton added an edge.

Of course, things went downhill.  Milton had some issues last year that caused him to miss some time and then he came back and played okay (by Mariner standards).  His season was shortened by injuries and many believed that he had played his last game in a Mariner uniform.

This season he’s come back and has been one of the best Mariner hitters, granted that’s not saying much.  At the home opener, there were several fans behind who booed Milton every time he came up to bat.  I didn’t understand why and I don’t understand why Milton is treated so poorly at home that he has to wear earplugs.  What has he done to our city?  Nothing.

The same fans that boo Milton Bradley are the same ones who give Chone Figgins a nice round of applause when he steps to the plate.  In reality, Figgins has been worse on the field and worse to reporters around.  I know Milton has some problems but I think us, as fans, need to treat players fairly.  We shouldn’t boo someone on our team just because they’ve had a few problems and appear to be mad.

Without Milton, this team would have an even worse record than they do.  So, today is Milton Monday and I expect to have a few of these throughout the year.  We love you Milton and we’re glad you’re a Mariner.

Nice Milton.

Andrew