Spring has always been my favorite time of year.
It’s not just the literal return of warmth to the air, though I appreciate walking outside without feeling like Queen Elsa has moved to the New York area and decided that people would look better without their outer layer of skin. It’s not just about seeing the trees beginning to bud, the flowers starting to bloom and the general renewal of life around me. It’s not even about the fact that spring means my birthday is coming.
Since I was a child, the arrival of spring has always meant one thing: baseball.
This year has not been much different than most recent years in terms of my anticipation for the new season. I’ve been looking forward to the Cubs returning to action and, hopefully, returning to the World Series after falling short over the last two years. By all accounts, the team has the talent to do so; the questions are (a) whether they will be able to hit and score runs more consistently than last year and (b) whether or not their pitchers will stay healthy through the summer.1
I’ll admit, though, that there is a damper on my excitement.
I’ve come to terms with the idea that being a fan in 2019 essentially means rooting for laundry. Players switch teams through trades and free agency much more frequently than they did ten or fifteen years ago, so it’s almost unheard of for a player to remain with a team for his entire career. Many fans are forced to simply cheer for the uniforms, since the players wearing them change so often.
The good news for me is that this hasn’t been the case for the Cubs over the last few years. The Cubs still have most of the players from their 2016 champion roster, which means that I’m still able to follow the individuals to whom I’ve become attached, like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez, just to name a few.
The bad news is that it means that the team’s usual starting shortstop, Addison Russell, is also still on the team. Russell has been an inconsistent hitter over the last couple of years, showing only flashes of brilliance at the plate while being more dependable on defense. He’s an above average player and usually more of an asset than a liability, but his performance on the field doesn’t tell the whole story.
Russell was suspended in the fall of 2018 for violating the league’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.
Rumors of Russell’s abuse of his then-wife, Melisa Reidy, began swirling in June 2017 and then resurfaced in September 2018 when Reidy – now divorced from Russell – wrote a blog post detailing incidents of emotional, verbal and physical abuse against her by Russell when they had been married. Russell initially denied the allegations but did not appeal the disciplinary actions from the league when he was suspended without pay for 40 games. And, while I realize that not appealing the suspension isn’t necessarily an admission of guilt, Russell did eventually admit to the “hurt and pain” he caused Reidy. He has reportedly completed league-mandated counseling, is still participating in his own voluntary counseling, and has been saying all the right things about accepting responsibility for his actions, learning from his mistakes and changing his behavior.
But, if he’s really turned a corner – if he truly understands what was wrong with his treatment of his wife; if he and Reidy are truly working together to co-parent their son; if the rest of the Cubs organization is undergoing enhanced domestic violence prevention training this spring – why don’t I feel better about him still being on my team?
There are certainly reasons to be hopeful about Russell’s progress. First of all, he’s young – he just turned 25 in January – and we all know that young people are stupid. I don’t know much about Russell’s upbringing or when, in his childhood, he learned that spousal abuse was acceptable, but I suppose his age can be an indicator that there is still time for him to un-learn those lessons. More importantly, he has continued participating in counseling beyond the treatment program mandated by the league and his teammates have reported noting differences in his demeanor during spring training. And, perhaps most importantly, he and Reidy have reportedly continued communicating and working together to maintain a functional relationship for their son.
I’m hardly convinced, though.
I think a lot of my ambivalence is still rooted in the concept of professional athletes consistently receiving get-out-of-jail-free cards after committing crimes. It’s not just a matter of absurdly light sentences for egregious offenses – see: Donte Stallworth – or teams still being willing to give out hefty contracts after receiving detailed reports of disgusting actions – see: Greg Hardy. It’s also the blind loyalty that fans assign to their teams, apparently without the slightest qualms about who is wearing the uniform. It’s why I felt “icky” when the Cubs traded for Aroldis Chapman in 2016 and when the Bears signed Ray McDonald2 in 2015.
I guess… it just feels… icky.
— Aaron Yavelberg (@sleepingonedge) July 25, 2016
I hope Russell really has turned the corner, as he says he has. I do generally believe in second chances, especially when most of the signs indicate that the perpetrator has made a concerted effort to change. (I’m not saying I’ve completely forgiven Michael Vick or Ray Rice but their actions as advocates at least make me think about it.) I also hope that the Cubs owners, the Ricketts family, offered Russell a non-guaranteed contract in the offseason because they truly “wanted to support him” and his family and not just because they couldn’t find any trade partners who would be willing to take on a player with a history of domestic abuse.
The Cubs are off to an inauspicious start; they routed Texas in their first game but blew big leads in their next two and committed six errors in a debacle against the Braves. Russell isn’t eligible to return to the team until May 1st as he serves out the final 28 games of his suspension during the start of this season. They still have World Series aspirations, and I hope that they can pull things together to return to glory, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to cheer wholeheartedly for laundry the way I might have in the past.
As an aside, I can’t recommend this piece by fellow Cubs fan, Kaitlin Fine, highly enough. She offers a critical perspective on the Cubs, Russell and being a sports fan, in general. I hope you’ll read it.
1. The Cubs have the second oldest pitching rotation in the major leagues, with an average age of just over 30 years old. Also, in related news, I’ll be researching nursing homes this weekend, since this statistic makes me feel ancient.↩
2. The Bears ended up releasing McDonald two months later after he allegedly physically assaulted a woman while she was holding a baby. Seriously.↩
“April is the cruelest month.” T.S. Eliot