Fil-Ams at home at last with the Chicago Cubs’ World Series hero
Addison Russell #27 of the Chicago Cubs celebrates after defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in Game Seven of the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field on November 2, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cubs win their first World Series in 108 years. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP
Of the countless stories about the Chicago Cubs who recently won the 2016 World Series after 108 years of waiting, a couple came from newsmen covering the Windy City’s vibrant Filipino-American community.
Like true Cubs die-hards, Romy Sager and Joseph Lariosa have turned into weavers of dreams and makers of merry. Naturally, their happy tales of triumph revolve around the Cubs’ Filipino-American short stop, Addison Russell, and his hitherto mysterious ancestry.
From a high school phenom to a World Series hero, Addison—whose mom, the former Milany Deocampo, is Olongapo City-born and -bred—provided some of the timely plays that helped the Cubs crown themselves world titlists of Major League Baseball once more since 1908 after languishing literally for ages.
That Russell is on a fast path to MLB greatness is an understatement.
Twice, the 22-year-old prodigy, the eldest of four children raised by Milany and their stepfather Wayne in Pace, Florida, lifted the Cubs from the throes of defeat and ignominy yet again.
Russell broke out of the doldrums in Games 4 and 5 of the National League pennant finals as the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and booked a ticket to the 2016 Fall Classic against the Cleveland Indians, champions of the American League.
He went on to become the youngest player, after the great Mickey Mantle, to hit a grand slam home run in a World Series while leading Chicago to a 9-3 Game 6 victory over Cleveland.
Curse of the Billy Goat
The feat forced a deciding game the Cubs eventually won, 8-7, in 10 innings to end the longest and most epic title drought in American professional sports history and Chicago’s infamous Curse of the Billy Goat.
The curse had been cast on the ball club by a guy named Billy Sianis in Game 4 of the Cubs’ last World Series appearance they lost to the Detroit Tigers in 1945.
Sianis came to the game with two box-seat tickets—one for himself and one for his goat. The smelly animal bothered people around Sianis and demanded that it leave Wrigley Field. His owner passionately protested, causing his and the goat’s ejection from the park.
“The Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more,” Sianis uttered and thus began the curse Russell and his teammates finally erased in this year’s Fall Classic.
“Matt Spiegel, talk-show host of the Cubs’ home radio, spilled Chicago’s best-kept secret the day after the World Series,” said Sager, a former Manila broadcaster and now an editor of a newspaper for Chicago’s 131,000-plus Fil-Ams. “Spiegel blurted out on the air that Russell was half-Filipino!”
Sager said Spiegel’s surprise served as “the opening for Pinoys to finally embrace and proudly acknowledge him (Russell) as one of their own. Addison was “not of Jamaican or Caribbean heritage,” as the media had erroneously reported after all, said Sager with a sigh. “He was of Filipino lineage!”
Lariosa knew from the get-go that Russell was 50-percent Pinoy. It’s just that his desire to interview his prized subject had been stifled in part by a Cubs’ front office that didn’t think publicizing Russell’s Pinoy roots via the minority press was an added marketing bonus.
It’s been two years to the day Lariosa tried to talk to Russell and has had no luck yet. (Sunday Inquirer Sports also tried and failed to connect with the Fil-Am star via the Cubs media office).
But Lariosa had been in touch with Milany via Facebook. After the emotional turmoil of the World Series, Mrs. Russel had contacted Lariosa, who quoted her as saying, “I don’t know what Addison intends to do during the off season … He will probably want a big Filipino homed-cooked dinner with the family.”
Indeed, family to Russell has been both sanctuary and stimulation. In a recent talk with the Chicago Tribune, he said: “I know my family is happy with my success, and without my family I wouldn’t be where I am today, without my wife Melisa (who is also half-Pinoy) doing what she does. It’s just one big contributing factor.”
Addison and Melisa had a child in August 2015 and married in January 2016.
“My mom has always given some of the best advice that I can remember,” he said. “She told me—and I’m pretty sure she told Melisa, too—that a marriage is this thing you take care of. You have to protect it and treat it with such care. You have to be able to grow it. My mom puts it in a way I can’t bring to life, but that’s basically what she says.”
Raising his younger siblings
According to the Tribune, “Russell’s parents were young when he was born, so he spent a lot of time helping raise his younger siblings.” Addison told a Tribune reporter he “was just busy trying to be a kid. I played a lot of baseball and football, and babysat my [siblings] when I wasn’t playing sports.”
Russell was drafted out of Pace High School by the Oakland Athletics as the 11th overall pick of the first round of the 2012 MLB draft. Press reports said he received a $2.625-million (P128.6 million) bonus for signing, instead of attending Auburn University.
As an amateur player, Russell led his high school to a state championship and was ranked No. 18 prospect by Baseball America, a national magazine that covers the sport at every level.
Russell started his career with the Arizona League Athletics, where he hit six home runs and 29 runs batted in in 26 games. He was a member of the USA Baseball Under-18 team that won the gold medal in the 2011 Junior Pan American Championships in Cartagena, Columbia.
While with the Oakland organization, Russell sharpened his skills in the minor leagues before he was traded to the Cubs in a multiplayer deal in 2014.
His acquisition drew fire from fans who criticized Cubs president Theo Epstein for stockpiling shortstops, including Russell and starter Starlin Castro.
“We’re not smart enough to know how all the pieces fit together,” Theo told the Tribune after the deal. “But it’s easy to be excited about a lot of the different permutations.”
“Russell started at second with the Cubs but replaced Castro at shortstop in the second half of 2015, allowing Epstein to deal Castro to the Yankees in the off season.
Addison has since emerged as one of the Cubs’ stars. Although he suffered a hamstring injury, he healed in time to be chosen the starting National League shortstop in the 2016 MLB All-Star Game.
Needless to say, he becomes the second Fil-Am to have played in a World Series after erstwhile San Francisco Giants pitcher and Cy Young awardee Tim Lincecum in 2010.
Lincecum, now with the California Angels, is a descendant of the De Asis family of Bellevue, Washington, by way of Mindanao.
