Russell nears Cubs return: ‘We live and we learn’
MESA, Ariz. – Addison Russell, the old man on the diamond, walks off the field, plops into a golf cart, wipes the perspiration off his forehead and smiles weakly.
Russell’s teammates with the Chicago Cubs left town a month ago. So did nearly all of the fans, except for two sitting in the bleachers over the weekend.
Otherwise Russell is surrounded by a bunch of kids wearing Cubs’ uniforms, playing in the Arizona Rookie League, most of whom have yet to put a razor to their face.
“There’s no one here with any facial hair,” Russell, 25, says. “I feel like, ‘Wow, I finally fit in now.’ This brings you back to your roots and reminds you why you played this game in the first place. It’s also the reminder that this is not where I’m supposed to be at in my life.”
Russell knows he’s not supposed to be here. He should be in the major leagues with the Cubs, where he has been their everyday shortstop since 2015. Instead he is on the verge of completing a 40-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s Domestic Abuse policy when his ex-wife detailed alleged abuse with MLB officials.
Russell, who hit two doubles and a triple Saturday but went hitless in his final game Monday, boarded a flight Tuesday morning for Des Moines, Iowa, where he will begin a one-week stint beginning Wednesday with the Cubs’ Class AAA team.
Russell will be eligible to play his first major league game May 3, when the Cubs face the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. It’ll be Russell’s first major league appearance since Sept. 19.
“It’s going to hit me,” Russell says. “It’s going to hit me hard.”
Russell hasn’t played in the Arizona Rookie League since he signed his first professional contract in 2012 with the Athletics. He was traded two years later to the Cubs, and four years later he was their All-Star shortstop hitting a grand slam in the World Series, helping lead the team to its first World Series championship in 108 years.
“I thought this was going to be really hard for him but he’s been great,” says Carmelo Martinez, manager of the Cubs’ rookie team. “We start so early here, but he’s never complained once. I really admire how he’s helped these young kids.”
Russell has spent the past month waking up each morning at 5:30, arriving to the ballpark by 6:30, playing games at 10:30 and returning back to his Scottsdale rental home where he and his girlfriend, Asti Kelley, and their 5-month-old-son, Raynor, have been staying.
“I haven’t been this happy,” Russell tells USA TODAY, “since I was ready to play baseball for the Oakland A’s. You go to the yard to kind of get away and play baseball. It’s kind of like hardball baseball. No scouting reports. You don’t even think. You just go out there and play.
“I wake up, see my family, and go and play baseball. It’s the best job in the world. You live your dream.”
The reality now is that he will forever be linked to the domestic abuse case. He might never be able to change the public perception, but he believes he has the power to change himself.
Russell says he talks with his counselor at least two times a week. He says he believes this time away from the mainstream baseball world has been perhaps the best thing that could happen to him.
“I feel like overcoming this challenge has made me much more self-aware,” Russell says. “It has taught me to slow things down, reflect and be a better person. It’s given me a lot of insight on what kind of person I am and what my goals are moving forward. I can sit back and play baseball and still reflect and be thankful for the life I live.
“We live and we learn. We’re not going to do things right the first time every single time. I know I didn’t. But the big thing is keep pushing things forward and keep that positive energy going.”
Russell has since apologized to his ex-wife, Melisa Reidy. She endured physical, mental and emotional abuse during their two-year marriage, she said, which ended in divorce in August.
Russell has three children under the age of 4 with three women from his hometown of Pensacola, Florida, and says he’s learning to be a better partner and father.
“I think people need doctors,” he says. “I think people need trainers. And I think people need doctors for your mind. I really do like talking to him. Whatever I have on my chest, I can get off my chest. It’s been working.”
Says Cubs president Theo Epstein, “Addison has been fully compliant to this point. He has put a lot of hard work in and has started to make some improvements in his life, but a lot of work remains.”
Russell says he realizes that no matter how much he might have changed and learned from his mistakes, there will always be people who can’t forgive him. There are some Cubs fans who wish he was no longer a member of the organization. There are others who want him completely out of baseball.
Russell, who always has been an introvert, has become more guarded and cautious. Just like his teammate, Carl Edwards Jr., he, too, has received racist notes and letters. They barely trickled in when he was the All-Star shortstop and the Cubs were winning the World Series. That changed in the past year. The hate prompted him to stop using Twitter, retweeting only one message from a fan since July 19.
“I’ve been called a lot of different things,” Russell says. “It’s very unfortunate that some of the things are racial because of my Asian and African American background. That negative energy shouldn’t really see the light of day, so I stay away from social media now.
“If you’re looking for words of praise, I don’t think it’s going to be coming from the internet or anything like that. It’s going to come from people who really care about you, people close in your life.”
Russell has found inspiration from another athlete. He doesn’t know him. Never met him. But he was one of his heroes growing up. And still is.
Tiger Woods.
When Woods won the Masters two weeks ago, 11 years after winning his last major tournament, it was as if his transgressions — the cheating on his wife and womanizing — had been forgotten. So many people soaked up the euphoria as Woods hugged his son.
“It was such a huge inspiration seeing him win,” Russell says. “All of the stuff he’s been through, the injuries as well, all of the critics and media, and I didn’t really ever see him ever lose his composure.
“It speaks how focused he is on his goals and how he can block things out that really don’t matter. He just went about his business the same way.
“I want to be that person.”