Chris “Mad Dog” Russo had trouble deciphering exactly who passed away on Tuesday, mistaking Billy Bean, the league senior vice president for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for longtime Athletics general manager Billy Beane.
“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 on his on “Mad Dog Unleashed” show on Wednesday. “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.”
Bean passed away on Tuesday of acute myeloid leukemia.
Russo — still believing it be the other baseball’s other Billy Beane — called it a terrible story, speculating who may have known about it.
“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.”
After about 90 seconds, Russo realized his mistake.
“Billy, who fought a heroic year-long battle with Acute Leukemia — uh — That’s the wrong Billy Bean. That’s not the Billy Beane from the A’s,” he said while reading Major League Baseball’s statement.
Beane is currently a special advisor to the A’s and part owner of the team that will be moving to Sacramento and, eventually, Las Vegas — and also very much alive.
“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. This Billy Bean is spelled, uh, it’s spelled differently than the other one,’ Russo said. “Commissioner Manfred called Billy ‘one of the kindest and most respected individuals I’ve ever known and someone who made Baseball a better institution, both on and off the field.’ Great quote from Rob.”
“This is a different Billy Bean. This is not the Billy Beane of the A’s. This is the Billy Bean who works in Major League Baseball. An important, I’m not trying to make light of it, but it’s a different one. I apologize for screwing that up.”