Pat Murphy addresses his confrontation with Chris Russo

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Pat Murphy addresses his confrontation with Chris Russo

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated Oct 22, 2026 4:43 PM ET

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy probably did not expect to be talking about a conflict with a well-known sports talk radio host on the eve of the World Series, but that is precisely what wound up happening to him on Monday.

Murphy responded after Chris “Mad Dog” Russo claimed Wednesday that Murphy and the Brewers snubbed his interview request. According to Russo, the Brewers declined the interview request, citing Murphy’s busy schedule, within five minutes of it being made.

"The Brewers emailed my producer back and said, ‘Sorry, we cannot accommodate the request, Pat Murphy’s schedule is too busy.’ What? I’m a hall of famer. I’m on First Take!" Chris Russo https://t.co/MBKn8ZxGVD
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 21, 2026

On Thursday, Murphy humorously offered up his version of the conflict.

“Somebody sends me a little thing — I don’t know what you call them, a thing,” Murphy said. “Then it says, ‘Pat Murphy, I’m a Hall-of-Famer,’ and he shut me down. That’s all I see. I don’t even watch the whole thing.”

Murphy said he asked Brewers PR man Mike Vassallo what was going on, and was told the request was turned down immediately. Murphy said he wanted to go on because Russo “put out a bunch of bad things about the Brewers.”

“We called him right then and we did the show right then. We Facetimed,” Murphy said. “He was really, really soft and nice with me. I’m like, the guy’s not even being himself. Where’s that drunk uncle I had, you know what I mean?”

Brewers manager Pat Murphy on the brouhaha that dominated social media for a couple minutes this week (Mike is Brewers PR ace Mike Vassallo): https://t.co/WG38DdHUsQ
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) October 22, 2026

It all worked out in the end for both parties, but there is something pretty funny about Murphy slyly alluding to the varying sides of Russo’s on-air persona and how much the tone changed when the two actually connected.

Russo, a longtime WFAN and SiriusXM host, is known for having strong opinions about baseball. They don’t always turn out well for him, as was the case a few years back.

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