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The Dodgers' Milton Bradley has been suspended two separate times this season.
Major League officials planned to review a clubhouse confrontation between Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Milton Bradley and a reporter he called an "Uncle Tom" after being asked about his treatment by St. Louis fans following his season-ending suspension.
The flare-up occurred in a clubhouse in Busch Stadium after batting practice Wednesday, a day after the Cardinals defeated the Dodgers 8-3 in the opener of their best-of-5 NL Divisional Series.
Game 2 was Thursday night.
Bradley fielded a question from Los Angeles Times reporter Jason Reid regarding Cardinals' fans actions Tuesday -- Bradley's first game since he was suspended by the league for the regular season's final five games after a bottle-throwing tantrum during a win over Colorado in Los Angeles.
Bill Dwyre, the Times' sports editor, said various reporters in the Dodgers' clubhouse Wednesday said Bradley didn't like Reid's question. According to eyewitnesses and Reid's tape, Bradley said, "You're an Uncle Tom. You're a sellout."
Reid, who is black, took offense and began yelling at Bradley, who also is black, Dwyre said.
"We're terribly unhappy on how and why this happened," Dwyre said in a statement. "We back our reporter from every angle of this. We also agree with the Dodgers in the sense that this is something that can and will be worked out between these two people."
Bradley claimed Reid kept pushing the issue.
"He was just one of those guys who wants to keep harping on it," Bradley told Los Angeles' KCBS-TV. "I told him what I felt about the situation and I told him how I felt about how he was choosing to handle it."
Bradley said Reid "took offense to that and... started getting physical with me" before being restrained as he was walking away "to leave the situation alone."
Lon Rosen, the team's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said that "ultimately this is an issue that needs to be settled between the two individuals, and we will work with them toward that end."
A Fox Sports Net Midwest television crew filmed the confrontation but erased it at the insistence of a Dodgers spokesman, FSN reporter Brent Stover said.
"What he said is, 'That tape is not going to leave the locker room. I'm going to watch you rewind it and I'm going to watch you record over it,"' Stover said.
Stover described the situation as threatening and intense, with several Dodgers players milling around. Complying with the request, he said, "felt like it was the best thing to do." Stover said he was concerned his media credentials might be revoked.
In a one-paragraph statement issued Thursday, Jack Donovan -- FSN Midwest's general manager and vice president -- said that footage of the incident was erased "in the heat of the moment."
"This was an intense locker room situation, and it was a serious mistake to erase the video," Donovan said without elaborating.
When asked whether he expected to be disciplined by his employer, Stover said, "I've not heard that I would and don't plan to be."
A message left Thursday on the cell phone of Dodgers spokesman John Olguin was not returned.
Bradley, who last week apologized for the bottle-throwing matter and pledged to seek help for his anger problems, was suspended for four games earlier after tossing a bag of balls onto the field following an ejection.
Bradley hit .267 with 19 homers and 67 RBI during the 2004 season.
Source: AP