"It was a spring full of the usual drills and meaningless exhibition games, injuries and health updates, clubhouse pranks and on-field conditioning.

And then there was Milton Bradley, who figured into several categories, including injuries.

"On the first day of camp, Chicago writers were here trying to make him a story," Ken Griffey Jr. said. "I've been there, and that's a tough situation to deal with. They weren't asking whether he was happy or not – they wanted to talk to him about the past."

Unlike most Seattle Mariners, who seem to come to the organization sanitized and smiling, Bradley has a past, a history that is often overstated. Entering his 11th major league season, the Mariners will be Bradley's eighth team.

That's a history.

While Seattle hopes to keep him fresh by limiting him to five games a week, he is penciled in for the opener tonight two days after he came up with a tight right quadriceps in Albuquerque, N.M.

When the past is brought up, it's rarely about Bradley being one of only three players ever to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same postseason game. His contributions to help The Moyer Fund and other charities don't usually work their way into the headlines."