Not a ‘Character Guy,’ Bradley Still a Character

Milton Bradley playing on the same field here as the Raiders, now tell me that isn’t apropos, and the easy cheap shot.

But then I’ve always liked Bradley, find him engaging and competitive and still maintain he could have become one of L.A.’s most charismatic performers until he self-destructed.

We disagree about his penchant for self-destruction, of course, but unlike the volatile reputation that shadows him, I know better -- and wasn’t worried about flying bottles or thrown punches.

The way he has been swinging the bat lately, I was even safe on that account.

But I did I get the scowl on occasion Thursday, the one that used to keep most reporters at a distance, as we stood outside McAfee Coliseum a day before the Dodgers were to arrive.

He said he won’t be talking to L.A. reporters, taking a similar silent stance when he returned recently to Cleveland, where he had earlier differences with the team’s manager.

“Everyone has an opinion, and it’s not going to change,” he said.

We chatted and argued at length, though, just as we did throughout his stay in L.A., and he told me I was wrong about something, and I reminded him I’m never wrong, which made him wrong, and he laughed. Milton Bradley laughing -- alert the media.

He’s starting over again with the A’s, traded by the Dodgers, he believes, because problems in his marriage, including calling the police, became public.

“I just find it interesting and convenient that all this stuff that happened with my family was known in June and July, but it didn’t come out until after my problem with [Jeff] Kent,” he said. “As long as I was playing and doing fine for the Dodgers, it was covered up, but as soon as they didn’t want me ... “

The Dodgers are doing just fine, so there’s no outcry about Bradley’s departure. Yet, he was the team’s nominee last year for the Roberto Clemente Award for community contributions -- then left town because the Dodgers didn’t believe he fit in their clubhouse.

“They swore they wanted character guys, but then they signed a DUI guy and a guy sleeping with a reporter and that’s fine,” Bradley said, “but I got character issues?”

Bradley is no longer married, sharing custody of his 6-month-old son, and is trying to establish himself in the A’s lineup, although a series of injuries has sabotaged those plans.

A recent shoulder injury probably will keep him from playing against the Dodgers this weekend, which means he probably won’t get a chance to bump into Kent any time soon.

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AS ALWAYS, I got the confounding contradiction that is Milton Bradley.

“I kind of lost a lot of my spirit after leaving L.A. For me now, being successful is not having a problem occur. Dusty Baker gave me this little book during the off-season: ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.’ It kinda got me to the point -- if it’s not life and death, then just let it go.”

A moment earlier, he said, “I’m having a blast. Baseball is fun again. I enjoy coming to the park here and being in the clubhouse. In L.A., I just enjoyed playing. When I got there in ‘04, I liked everybody, but everybody I liked either got fired or traded.”

Bradley refused to admit he had anger-management problems while in L.A., but he said, “Now I’ve got a grasp of that. I didn’t react to things in a positive, helpful manner. It was a defensive mechanism I used growing up. I’d be this little kid playing basketball on the courts in Long Beach, and a problem would occur and I’d act crazy and nobody would mess with me.

“But some stuff isn’t my fault, but because it’s me and I messed up before, it’s always my fault. When I threw that bottle out there, that was my fault. But everything after that, that wasn’t my fault. People think they have to deal with me differently. I’ve never put a hand on anybody. You’d swear I beat the world up. Sure, I go off verbally at times, but then I’m done with it.”

Tell that to Kent.

“I admire the hell out of him as a ballplayer,” Bradley said. “I’d play with him again.”

Bradley, however, still considers Kent a racist, but does so in context while talking broadly about racial issues that affect everyone.

“I’m black, he’s white,” Bradley said. “It’s always about race.”

So when Kent tapped Bradley on the shoulder after a game last season and accused him of not hustling, it struck a nerve, a racial nerve, and Bradley struck back.

“I was in a good mood, tried to walk away, but Kent followed,” he said. “You’re calling me out, you want a confrontation, you want a problem. I never start a problem, but I’ll definitely finish it.”

Bradley said he was running on a torn-up knee when challenged by Kent. He ignored Manager Jim Tracy’s order not to discuss it with the media, “because I’m a grown man,” he said, suggested Kent was a racist and never played for the Dodgers again.

“I watched a show on TV about the Oakland Raiders and A’s of the ‘70s, and they took in pretty much all the malcontents and won championships,” Bradley said. “You make mistakes, and they welcome you here.”

He had that going for him in L.A., though, paying dearly for those mistakes.

“I didn’t pay anything,” he said. “The Dodgers paid me $4.2 million over two years, and the checks were always on time. I have no bad feelings about the Dodgers.”

No, but it sure would’ve been fun to see him go into second base in an effort to break up a double play this weekend.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.