Bradley Wayne Penny was born May 24, 1978 in Blackwell, Oklahoma and graduated from Broken Arrow High School (the same high school as former Dodger pitcher Jim Brewer) where he was an All-Metro and All-State selection and Frontier Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Brad was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fifth round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft.  On June 4, 1996, he signed a contract with the Diamondbacks and was sent to the Arizona Summer League where he ranked fourth in the league with a 2.36 ERA and was named Arizona’s Organizational Pitcher of the Month in August.

In 1997, with the South Bend Silver Hawks, Brad was 10-5 with a 2.73 ERA in 25 starts.  In 1998, he went 14-5 with a 2.96 ERA for the High Desert Mavericks and was named to Baseball America’s first team Minor League All-Stars.  He was also named Pitcher of the Year and Most Valuable player for the California League, and the Arizona Diamondbacks Minor League Player of the Year and “A” Level Player of the Year.

In 1999, Brad started the year with the El Paso Diablos in the Diamondbacks “AA” system before being traded to the Florida Marlins.  The Marlins assigned him to their “AA” team in Portland.  On August 8th, his very first game with Portland, he combined with Lius Arroyo for the first no-hitter in team history.

In 2000, after performing well in spring training, Brad made the Marlins starting rotation and got his first Major League appearance on April 7th against the Colorado Rockies.  Brad pitched seven innings, allowing just one run, earning his first big-league victory.  By the end of the season, Brad ranked second among National League rookies in winning percentage (.533), third in wins, tied for fourth with 22 games started and was sixth in innings pitched (119.2) and strikeouts (80).

In 2003, Brad was the winning pitcher for the Marlins NLCS clinching victory over the Chicago Cubs, and in the World Series against the New York Yankees.  He was 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in his two post-season starts.  Brad also hit two home runs during the 2003 season.

On July 30, 2004, Brad was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  In his second start with the Dodgers, Brad suffered an arm injury and was placed on the disabled list.  He returned in September only to re-injure himself after just three innings.  Due to his injury, he began the 2005 season on the disabled list and rejoined the Dodgers on April 24th and proceeded to have a solid year, pitching 175.1 innings and recording a 3.90 ERA.

In 2006, Brad was named as the starting pitcher of the National League All-Star team, where he pitched two innings.  He struck out the side in the first inning, but allowed a home run to Vladimir Guerrero and received a no-decision.  On September 23rd, Brad accomplished the rare feat of striking out four batters in one inning, due to the “dropped third strike” rule.  He struck out Arizona’s Chad Tracy, but catcher Russell Martin failed to field the pitch cleanly and Tracy made it safely to first base.  Brad would strike out three more batters that inning to record a four-strikeout inning.

In 2007, Brad began the season with a 13-1 record and finished third in National League Cy Young Award voting and matched his career highs with 16 wins and 33 starts and had career bests with a 3.03 ERA and 208 innings pitched.  Brad was named to the NL All-Star team for the second consecutive season, becoming the first Dodger pitcher since 1990-91 (Ramon Martinez) to accomplish that feat and pitched a perfect inning during the game.  Brad was the Dodgers nominee for the 2007 Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award.  On August 30th, Brad, along with television fishing show personality Dan Hernandez, hosted a fishing trip for underprivileged youth, taking more than 40 kids in a four-hour excursion off the coast of Long Beach.

Brad began the 2008 season as the Dodgers starting pitcher on opening day, earning a win against San Francisco, pitching 6.2 innings, allowing just four hits and no runs, as the Dodgers shutout the Giants, 5-0.