Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. ó Texas Rangers outfielder Milton Bradley said Thursday he wanted to iintroduceî himself to Kansas City Royals television announcer Ryan Lefebvre after some negative comments made on the air.
Bradley stormed up four flights of Kauffman Stadium stairs looking for Lefebvre after the Rangersí 11-5 victory Wednesday night.
iI came in to watch my at-bat on the video and all of a sudden I heard my name,î Bradley said Thursday. iIt was a spiel like five minutes out of the blue about me. I didnít think anything he was saying was positive.
iI never met him and I heard him talking about me on TV. I was upset and was going to introduce myself. … All I wanted to do was introduce myself and tell him the stuff youíre talking about is uncalled for.î
Bradley never made it to Lefebvre, who is the son of former major league manager and player Jim Lefebvre. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels interceded and the two went back to the clubhouse.
Daniels said the Rangers would take no disciplinary action against Bradley.
iItís a situation you want to avoid, but I donít see where disciplinary action is warranted,î Daniels said. iI was there the whole time. There was no aggressive action. There was no foul action, nothing of the sort. We move on.î
Daniels said he would have preferred Bradley handle it in a different way than trying to go the television booth.
iIt was the heat of the emotion in the moment,î Daniels said. iIt was an emotional response. Having been there, it was under control. We would have preferred it not become the public incident it did, but nothing happened.î
Lefebvre, the son of former major league manager Jim Lefebvre, said he met with Daniels and Washington about his on-the-air comments, but did not talk to Bradley. Lefebvre said the comments were intended to praise Josh Hamilton, who missed nearly four years of professional baseball with cocaine and alcohol additions, rather than tear down Bradley.
iIt was a conversation about how Josh Hamilton has turned his life around and has been accountable for his mistakes,î Lefebvre told The Associated Press. iRight now, it seems like the baseball world and fans are rooting for him. … It doesnít seem like Milton Bradley has done the same thing in his life.î
Bradley, who leads the league with a .333 batting average and a .629 slugging percentage, said he wasnít looking to physically confront Lefebvre.
iI get tired of people only choose to talk about negativity,î he said. iPeople would automatically assume that if I went to meet that guy that we were going to start fighting. That would be completely out of my character. I never had a fight in my life.î