Chicago Cubs infielder Addison Russell is eligible to return from a 40-game domestic violence suspension on Thursday. Russell was suspended by MLB last October following very detailed physical and mental abuse accusations in a letter from his ex-wife, Melisa Reidy (and Reidy added more details of the abuse over the offseason).
Well, the Chicago Sun-Times released an article Tuesday night for their Wednesday paper, on the upcoming month of May for the Cubs and Russell’s possible return.
(While Russell is eligible to return on Thursday, Theo Epstein told the media that the organization will keep Russell in Triple-A with the Iowa Cubs. The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma reports that Russell “is expected to be in Iowa for a few more weeks.”)
The Sun-Times tweeted out a link to the article with a look at the Wednesday sports section’s cover: a photo of Russell, with the headline “Russell Mania.” (The full original headline can be seen by opening the tweet in question in a new window, or by looking at it above.)
It appears that @SunTimes_Sports reached the conclusion that making a professional wrestling pun about a domestic violence offender wasn't the best idea. pic.twitter.com/BAqtp1Gjx7
— Matthew Weaver (@JMattWeaver) May 1, 2019
Yikes.
Using a *wrestling* pun to cover a *domestic violence* story is, well, just about the worst way to handle such a story. It’s possible this was an honest mistake from the Sun-Times, maybe trying to highlight the media craze and potential team distraction with a Russell return. But how does this get by multiple people in an initial review and edit of the newspaper? How does nobody say, “Um, going with a WrestleMania pun for the cover story about a guy under suspension for domestic violence is a horrible, horrible idea.”
Naturally, the cover was soon changed, though it’s unknown if that was due to the Sun-Times realizing their mistake or if it was because people pointed out on Twitter how terrible it was.
The updated cover features Cubs manager Joe Maddon, with the headline “Make Way For May.”
The @suntimes_sports cover, featuring Joe Maddon and the #Cubs, who survived April, but May will be tougher, by @SLGreenberg – https://t.co/uuyGtXP8sM pic.twitter.com/0uBFUVqxZG
— Sun-Times Sports (@suntimes_sports) May 1, 2019
