Cubs All-Star Pete Crow-Armstrong is feeling the bite of one Mad Dog.
Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo went off on Crow-Armstrong during a Wednesday segment on “First Take,” where the sports talk personality addressed the conspiracy that PCA repeated on Kristin Cavallari’s “Let’s Be Honest” podcast, claiming that Babe Ruth never existed.
The Cubs superstar took it a step further when he also said that if the legendary Yankee did exist and hit 714 career home runs, then he did it against pitchers who were essentially throwing to him underhand.
Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong celebrates while scoring the winning run on a throwing error by Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela during the 11th inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. AP Photo/Paul Beaty
Russo was outraged by the take and responded as such, saying that “this drove me nuts” and labeled it “derogatory.”
“Hey Pete, you’re talking to me now about Ruth!” Russo said as he ran through Ruth’s historical numbers. “Nobody hit home runs like Babe Ruth. Say what you want about Ohtani, we understand that he’s a unicorn. Babe Ruth is so good it’s mindboggling. Did you know, Peter Crow-Armstrong, that Babe Ruth hit 27 home runs over 500 feet? Bonds? Never. Not one. … Ruth owned baseball, nobody hit home runs like Ruth! He out-homered leagues! To sit there and say they were pitching underhand, well why didn’t anybody else hit the home runs hitting underhand?
“Outside of Gehrig, nobody hit home runs! It drives me crazy, especially in baseball, it drives me crazy when I hear today’s athletes and media guys who are 30 years old, who disparage the old-time guys.”
Russo acknowledged that one argument he would give credence to would be the fact that prior to 1945, baseball was segregated and that could have inflated some of baseball’s records.
Crow-Armstrong, in the midst of another terrific season for the Cubs, went on the podcast and discussed where he first heard the theory.
“This is gonna be crazy,” he acknowledged. “Babe Ruth never existed is one that I like. I heard some pitcher with the Mariners … I think he did some podcast on Zoom where he was going down the rabbit hole with somebody about how Babe Ruth never existed.
“We always talk about how the game is evolving, people might as well have been like underhanding the ball to that guy,” he continued. “And he’s regarded still as one of the best players ever. Might as well dive further into it and be like, well, maybe he just never existed.”
Babe Ruth, preparing to bat at the opening game at the Polo Grounds, New York, on April 22, 1920. Bettmann Archive
The ESPN talking head later said he did not like how people think that players from 1927 are not nearly as good as players today.
“Are you crazy?” Russo continued. “He would have been a Hall of Famer as a pitcher, forget as a hitter. There’s only one Babe Ruth. He hit anywhere, any place, any time. He’s that good. And when you start to knock Ruth…pay attention, do your homework. That was a disgrace what he said this week.”
