ESPN‘s Laura Rutledge Admits to running Secret Twitter Account to Defend husband’s Baseball Career
Laura Rutledge, ESPN’s rising star recently promoted to the “Monday Night Football” broadcast team, revealed she created a burner account to defend her husband, former MLB player Josh Rutledge, from online criticism. Rutledge detailed the scheme during an appearance on the ”Marchand Sports Media” podcast.
“I’m not doing it ever since,” Rutledge said. The account, named “BillyHalo76,” exclusively posted positive commentary about Josh Rutledge and occasional praise for Mike Trout, in an attempt to appear as a genuine fan. “If anyone had said something negative about him,I woudl find them and then BillyHalo would be like,’you’re wrong,’ and back it up with stats.” Rutledge confessed she believes her husband is unaware of her online advocacy and ”is gonna be really mad at me.”
Josh Rutledge, a middle infielder, began his professional baseball career with the Colorado Rockies in 2014 before being traded to the Los Angeles Angels. He later played for the Boston Red Sox from 2015-2017, where he faced criticism while playing third base-a position he hadn’t played regularly since middle school. Laura Rutledge admitted struggling with the negative reactions,recalling wanting to “shut up” the booing fans during games at Fenway Park.
Josh Rutledge retired from baseball after a short period with the San Francisco Giants organization in 2018. Laura and Josh Rutledge, both 36, married in 2013 and have two children. Laura Rutledge’s career at ESPN has been on an upward trajectory,and she currently hosts “NFL Live” and “SEC Nation” in addition to her new role on “Monday Night Football.”
