Phil Bradley

Philip Poole Bradley (born March 11, 1959) is an American former professional baseball outfielder / designated hitter who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, and Chicago White Sox from to . He also played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yomiuri Giants in . He was an MLB All-Star in 1985.

Bradley was the starting quarterback for the Missouri Tigers football team and was named the Big Eight Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He was inducted into the Missouri Tigers Hall of Fame and was an assistant coach for the Tigers softball team. He currently works for the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Amateur career Bradley was raised in Macomb, Illinois, where he played high school baseball and football for the Macomb High Bombers. Due to his success there, the Macomb High School baseball field was later dedicated in his name. Also a talented football player, he played college football at the University of Missouri and was the starting quarterback from 1978 to 1980.

Bradley lettered in football at MU from 1977 to 1980, and in baseball from 1979 to 1981. He quarterbacked the Tigers to three bowl games. He was a three-time Big Eight Conference "Offensive Player of the Year" and set the conference total offense record at 6,459 yards, which stood for 10 years. Bradley, an option quarterback, said he was not a National Football League prospect but had an offer to play in the Canadian Football League.

In baseball, he starred as an outfielder on MU teams that won the Big Eight championship in 1980, and went to the NCAA Tournament in 1980 and 1981.

Professional career Bradley was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the third round (53rd overall) of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft. He made his Major League debut on September 2, 1983, as a pinch hitter against the New York Yankees.

Bradley became Seattle's regular left fielder in 1984, batting .301 with 24 RBI in 124 games, but did not show any power, hitting no home runs. At that point in his career, he had only hit three career home runs, all in the minor leagues. In 1985, Bradley hit .300 with a surprising 26 home runs and 88 RBI in 159 games. On April 29, 1986, Bradley was Roger Clemens' 20th and final strikeout as the pitcher set a major league record for strikeouts in a game.

Bradley was traded along with Tim Fortugno from the Mariners to the Philadelphia Phillies for Glenn Wilson, Mike Jackson, and Dave Brundage at the Winter Meetings on December 9, 1987. In 154 games, Bradley hit .264 with 11 home runs and 56 RBI in his only season with the Phillies. He also became the first player to come to the plate at night (under the lights) at Wrigley Field against the Cubs on August 8, although the game was rained out and did not officially count.

Bradley was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Ken Howell and Gordon Dillard on December 9, 1988, exactly one year after his trade to Philadelphia. The transaction addressed the Orioles' need for right-handed hitting and the Phillies' for starting pitching. Back in the more familiar AL, his batting average rose to .277 in his first season in Baltimore.

After batting .270 with four home runs, 26 RBI and 10 stolen bases through the first four months of the 1990 season, Bradley was traded from the Orioles to the Chicago White Sox for Ron Kittle on July 30. His $1.15 million salary at the back end of a two-year contract was almost double the $550,000 that Kittle was earning. He had rejected the Orioles' one-year, $1.3 million contract offer which he called "a humiliation" a week prior to the trade.

Post-playing career After retiring, Bradley became the baseball coach at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. He also taught classes there, including upper-level classes on sports history.

In September 2009, Bradley was named as a volunteer assistant coach of the Missouri Tigers softball team, He currently works for the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) as a special assistant in the International and Domestic Player Operations department.

Bradley was inducted into the Missouri Tigers Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. He won the MLBPA's Curt Flood Award in 2023.

Career statistics

Personal life Bradley is married. His father was a professor at Western Illinois University. Bradley and his wife have two children. was drafted in the 2007 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and coaches high school football in Bradenton, Florida.