The latest incident in the Cubs’ Aroldis Chapman story had nothing to do with the pitcher, other than the fact that he had just left the mound.
Chapman pitched a perfect ninth inning in the Cubs’ 6-4 loss Sunday night, and a few minutes later, as the video board played a replay of the last out, a song called “Smack My Bitch Up” by Prodigy played over the speakers. ESPN’s Sarah Spain was at the game and tweeted about the song.
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The song played during a commercial break as the Cubs waited to bat. Most at home found out about the song through Twitter, thanks to ESPN’s Sarah Spain, who was at the game. The once-popular ’90s techno beat was meant to pump the crowd up. On Sunday, the Cubs gave out a Clark the Cub hat to the first 5,000 kids to arrive at the park. Despite the later start time thanks to Sunday Night Baseball, plenty of kids were in attendance, including two of my young cousins and quite a few Zobrist children.
If you’re giving the now-fired DJ (first reported by the Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan) the benefit of the doubt, which the Cubs did not, he or she ostensibly played the song because aside from “Smack my bitch up,” the only other phrase in the song is “Change my pitch up.” But given the context of Chapman’s past domestic violence situation, the song choice sparked an outcry on social media and beyond. Even Billboard reported on the incident, writing that the video was banned by MTV for its depiction of violence against women.
Since trading for Chapman on July 25, the Cubs have already faced plenty of public criticism (myself included) and had to put out a fire after some Spanish-to-English translation confusion implied that Chapman didn’t remember what the Cubs told him during their pre-trade phone call.
With this latest incident, it appears the Cubs are just cleaning up their messes rather than dealing with it proactively.
After trading for a player like Chapman, the Cubs are under a microscope. Just because Chapman served his 30-game suspension doesn’t mean the alleged incident won’t follow him around wherever he goes. So when the Cubs acquired Chapman, they took on his baggage, too, whether they wanted it or not. They felt that Chapman’s talent was worth the flack they’d get.
The Cubs knew this going into the trade, but probably didn’t think they’d have to continue to address the issue time and again. Chapman may be cheered raucously every time he jogs out from the bullpen to the mound, but that doesn’t mean all fans are happy.
So how did this happen?
If the Cubs had played this song before — One reporter thought they had Sunday night — it not been noticed before. But the backup DJ (The team’s regular DJ Dante the Don was out of town, according to his Twitter profile) likely didn’t think about the song’s message. But with public pressure mounting, the Cubs didn’t give the DJ a second chance, firing them two hours after Sullivan reported the DJ would be disciplined.
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Two sources confirmed the Cubs didn’t previously outlaw any songs to their DJs. One would assume they felt the music professionals would use common sense.
A swift firing is one way to get your message across. Another would be to re-evaluate your systems (for example, removing any songs from the rotation with the words “smack” or “bitch” in the title) and educate your employees on the issue.
But based on the Cubs’ stance, it appears they’re missing the point. Cubs president of business operstions Crane Kenney released a statement in which he apologized and confirmed the Cubs fired the responsible employee and “will be implementing stronger controls to review and approve music before public broadcast during our games.”
Those “stronger controls” are only part of the solution. Removing a couple songs from the rotation isn’t going to change much of anything. Surely someone is going through that song list with a fine-tooth comb as we speak.
The Cubs may be one of the most prepared baseball teams to take the field every day, but the powers that be appear less equipped to handle (or prevent) the peripheral situations that arise when you employ a player accused of domestic violence.