Bradley Jay Lesley (September 11, 1958 – April 28, 2013) was an American actor, media personality and former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. Lesley was an especially imposing physical figure, standing and weighing . Nicknamed "The Animal", he was known for his aggressive style of self-motivation.

Early life

Bradley Lesley was born in

Turlock, California Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Its estimated 2019 population of 73,631 made it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County after Modesto. History Founded on December 22, 1871, by prominent grain farmer Jo ...

, and he attended Turlock High School. Later, he attended

Merced College Merced College is a public community college in Merced, California. History In 1961, the Merced High and Le Grand High School Districts petitioned the State Board of Education for permission to set an election to approve the establishment of a ...

Merced, California Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...

Career

Baseball

He played professional baseball for two

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

teams. He was drafted in the first round in 1978 by the Cincinnati Reds, for whom he pitched parts of three seasons, from 1982 to 1984. He pitched in the Reds' minor-league system for five seasons before being called up to the majors. He made his big-league debut at age 23 on July 31, 1982 in a 5-4 Reds loss at

Riverfront Stadium Riverfront Stadium, also known as Cinergy Field from 1996 to 2002, was a multi-purpose stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States that was the home of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball from 1970 Major League Baseball season, 1970 throug ...

, pitching a scoreless ninth inning against the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

. Overall in his rookie season, he pitched 28 games (all in relief) with an 0-2 record but a fine 2.58

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. The following season he appeared in only five games for the Reds, going 0-0 with a 2.16 ERA, and in 1984 he pitched in 16 Reds' games, going 0-1 with a 5.12 ERA. On November 12, 1984 Lesley's contract was purchased by the Milwaukee Brewers. He pitched in five games for the Brewers, going 1-0 but with a 9.95 ERA. After the season, he was released, ending his Major League career. Lesley then played two seasons in Japan for the

Hankyu Braves The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...

. His record in Japan was 7–5, with 24 saves in 60 games over two years. Lesley had a distinctive celebration of strikeouts by putting his arms in a backwards motion behind him, causing his chest to stick out, while he would roar out.

Media personality

After retiring from baseball, he became a

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

in Japan, where he is probably best known for his role as Animaru Resuri "Animal Leslie" in the Japanese

gameshow A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

Takeshi's Castle is a Japanese game show that aired between 1986 and 1990 on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). It features the Japanese comedian Takeshi Kitano (also known as Beat Takeshi) as a count who owns a castle and sets up difficult physical challeng ...

''. He participated in games such as ''Devil's Domain'', ''Stuck Up'', and his own game, ''Animal Bang''. ''Takeshi's Castle'' would later be shown in the US on the cable network Spike TV as ''Most Extreme Elimination Challenge'', later shortened to '' MXC''.

Actor

Lesley appeared in several feature films, including ''

Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

'' (2000) (as Moose), ''Big Monster on Campus'' (2000) (as Arnie), ''

Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) *Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992) *Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), Amer ...

'' (1997) (as Ali Baba), ''A Boy Called Hate'' (1996) (as the Moving Truck Driver), ''

Little Big League ''Little Big League'' is a 1994 American family sports film about a 12-year-old who suddenly becomes the owner and then manager of the Minnesota Twins baseball team. It stars Luke Edwards, Timothy Busfield, and Dennis Farina. The film is direct ...

'' (1994) (as John 'Blackout' Gatling) and '' Mr. Baseball'' (1992) (as Niven).

Personal life

Lesley was married at one time to Chiho Svimonoff and they had one son, Kentaro (健太郎), however, they divorced.

Death

By early 2013 Lesley had been suffering from

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...

problems and had been living in a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

for many months, where he was receiving dialysis. On April 28, 2013, he was rushed to a hospital in

Marina del Rey Marina del Rey (Spanish language, Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated area, unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination ...

, where he died. Celebrity entertainment show

TMZ TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...

obtained Lesley's death certificate and reported that he died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

brought on by a case of coronary artery disease (not

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

, as previously reported).

References

External links

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Retrosheet
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesley, Brad 1958 births 2013 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan American male film actors Baseball players from California Cedar Rapids Reds players Cincinnati Reds players Eugene Emeralds players Greensboro Hornets players Hankyu Braves players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball pitchers Merced Blue Devils baseball players Merced College alumni Milwaukee Brewers players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers People from Turlock, California Tampa Tarpons (1957–1987) players Vancouver Canadians players Waterbury Reds players Wichita Aeros players