First Take star Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo in embarrassing on-air blunder after announcing death of wrong person

CHRIS ‘Mad Dog’ Russo was left red-faced after announcing the death of the wrong Billy Bean live on air.

The First Take host paid glowing tribute to former Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane on his Mad Dog Unleashed show on SiriusXM on Wednesday.

Getty

Getty

Getty

But in fact, the similarly-named Billy Bean – who was the MLB senior vice president for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion – had passed away from a battle with acute myeloid leukemia aged 60.

“The word that we’re getting right now is that the general manager of the A’s, Billy Beane, may have passed away,” Russo said.

“Wow. Was he ill? I wasn’t aware of this. I mean, he’s not that old. Geez. Was it sudden?

“We’ll see if we can get some information. Wow. That is a terrible story.

“Billy Beane of the A’s. I don’t know anything about it. This is the first I’ve heard.”

Russo continued to pay tribute to Beane, whose role at the A’s was made famous by the Michael Lewis book Moneyball which was turned into a Brad Pitt movie.

“So Billy Beane of the A’s, now, had he taken a leave of absence in the last, whatever it might be? I didn’t even know,” he said.

“I’m sure his cohorts in the sport knew. You know, he’s very close to Cashman so I’m sure Brian knew.

“I didn’t know if anybody in baseball knew. I didn’t hear any of this and I’m on the baseball channel every day or thereabouts.

“So, that’s a terrible story of Billy Beane.”

But after 90 seconds, Russo realized his embarrassing on-air blunder.

“Billy, who fought a heroic year-long battle with acute leukemia – uh – that’s the wrong Billy Bean,” Russo said as he read out a Major League Baseball statement.

“That’s not the Billy Beane from the A’s.

“That’s the different Billy Bean. Still a terrible story. But that’s not the Beane of the A’s.

“That’s the Billy Bean who worked for Major League Baseball. It’s a different Billy Bean.

“So we apologize if we got that screwed up. It’s spelled differently.

First Take viewing figures

First Take went from strength to strength under the guidance of Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim last year.

The weekday ESPN debate show averaged 496,000 viewers in 2023 – making it the most-watched year in program history.

Its December average of 611,000 was a 24% year-on-year increase compared to 2022.

The show also reported more than 250 million views on YouTube.

First Take was helped by the addition of Shannon Sharpe alongside Smith and Qerim after he left Fox Sports’ Undisputed.

“This Billy Bean is spelled, uh, it’s spelled differently than the other one.”

Many fans were quick to comment on Russo’s blunder.

“How did no one correct him,” one fan said.

“Idiot … long past his prime,” another said.

“Every MLB fan knows there were two Billy Bean/Beanes, just as the NBA had two Isaiah Thomases. It’s Journalism 101 to make sure you know which one is which,” a third noted.

Bean served as a special assistant to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

He played six years in the majors with the Tigers, Dodgers , and Padres.

Bean was a pioneer of baseball during his playing days, becoming just the second MLB player to publicly come out as game in 1999.

AP