CHRIS ‘Mad Dog’ Russo was left red-faced after announcing the death of the wrong Billy Bean on live air.
The First Take host paid tribute to former Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane on his show Mad Dog Unleashed on SiriusXM on Wednesday.
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But in fact, the similarly named Billy Bean — who was MLB’s senior vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — passed away at age 60 after a battle with acute myeloid leukemia.
“The news we’re getting now is that A’s general manager Billy Beane may have passed away,” Russo said.
“Wow. Was he sick? I wasn’t aware of that. I mean, he’s not that old. Wow. Was it sudden?
“We’ll see if we can get any information. Wow. That’s a terrible story.
“Billy Beane from the A’s. I don’t know anything about it. This is the first time I’ve heard it.”
Russo continued to pay tribute to Beane, whose role with the A’s was made famous by Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball, which was made into a Brad Pitt film.
“So Billy Beane of the A’s, now, he took a leave of absence in the last one, whatever it was? I didn’t even know,” he said.
“I’m sure his teammates in the sport knew. You know, he’s very close to Cashman, so I’m sure Brian knew.
“I didn’t know if anyone in baseball knew. I haven’t heard any of that and I’m on the baseball channel every day or so.
“So that’s a terrible Billy Beane story.”
But after 90 seconds, Russo realized his embarrassing mistake on air.
“Billy, who fought a heroic year-long battle with acute leukemia — uh — that’s the wrong Billy Bean,” Russo said while reading a statement from Major League Baseball.
“That’s not the A’s Billy Beane.
“This is a different Billy Bean. It’s still a terrible story. But that’s not the A’s Beane.
“That’s the Billy Bean who worked for Major League Baseball. It’s a different Billy Bean.
“So we apologize if we messed up. It’s written differently.
First look at the numbers
First Take has grown from strength to strength under the guidance of Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim over the past year.
ESPN’s weekday debate show averaged 496,000 viewers in 2023 — making it the most-watched year in the show’s history.
Its December average of 611,000 represented a 24% annual increase compared to 2022.
The show has also recorded 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 written, uh, it’s written differently than the other one.”
Many fans were quick to comment on Russo’s mistake.
“Like no one corrected him,” said one fan.
“Idiot… it’s past its prime,” said another.
“Every MLB fan knows there were two Billy Beans/Beanes, just like the NBA had two Isaiah Thomases. It’s Journalism 101 to make sure you know which is which,” noted a third.
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 baseball pioneer during his playing days, becoming only the second MLB player to publicly play the game in 1999.
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