Legendary MLB player Pete Rose died Monday at the age of 83. The news was announced nationally by ESPN MLB analyst Eduardo Perez during SportsCenter, and 105.3 The Fan host RJ Choppy didn’t like how the network covered it.
“What a disgrace to go right from that breaking news into a preview of a football game. Holy (expletive),” Choppy wrote in a social media post, accompanied by the video of Perez’s announcement.
He later responded to a user criticizing his comments for saying the death of Rose “was not their news to break”, by saying “It’s SportsCenter. That’s literally their job. If it was NFL Countdown, I agree with you.”
On Shan & RJ Tuesday morning, the Dallas sports radio host continued the conversation.
“Obviously, they were not prepared for this,” Choppy said. “That’s that. But at the very least, when they flip it over to Hannah (Storm), they have to go ‘We’ll keep you updated on this story as it happens. In the meantime…’ as opposed to ‘Over to Monday Night Football…We’re ignoring baseball. Baseball doesn’t exist. It’s NBA and NFL, ok? That’s our platform here at ESPN. We’re completely ignoring this.'”
Co-host Shan Shariff said Rose deserved better, as well, before noting that the “Should Pete Rose be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?” discussion is on the Mount Rushmore of sports radio topics. The duo agreed that, in their eyes, Rose does not belong in the Baseball Hall.
