ESPN analyst in no-holds-barred rant at MLB star live on air over 'disgraceful' Babe Ruth conspiracy theory: 'Drives me nuts'

ESPN analyst Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo has taken aim at Chicago Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong after the outfielder voiced a bizarre conspiracy theory that baseball legend Babe Ruth never existed.

Appearing on ESPN's First Take, Russo ripped into the 24-year-old star over the comments he made during a recent appearance on Kristin Cavallari's podcast.

Crow-Armstrong claimed that he entertained the theory after hearing a rival pitcher discuss it, suggesting that even if Ruth did exist, pitchers were 'underhanding the ball' to him. 

He said: 'This is gonna be crazy. 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. 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.'

The comments ignited a passionate response from Russo, who labeled the remarks 'derogatory' and admitted that the bizarre take 'drove me nuts'. 

Russo raged on-air: 'Hey Pete, you're talking to me now about Ruth! Nobody hit home runs like Babe. Say what you want about Ohtani, we understand that he's a unicorn.'

Russo pointed out that Ruth hit 27 home runs over 500 feet during his legendary career, contrasting it with Barry Bonds, who never hit a single ball that far. 

'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?'

The veteran radio host slammed the trend of active players belittling the accomplishments of sports icons from past generations. 

'Outside of [Lou] 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 went on to emphasize that Ruth's pitching pedigree alone - leading the Red Sox to World Series titles before becoming baseball's power hitter - made the comments look even worse.

'Are you crazy? He would have been a Hall of Famer as a pitcher, forget as a hitter,' Russo concluded. 'There's only one Babe Ruth... And when you start to knock Ruth… pay attention, do your homework. That was a disgrace what he said this week.'