Mets announcer Gary Cohen took issue with Cubs star Matt Shaw missing a recent game to attend the memorial service of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Shaw asked for and received permission to miss Sunday’s game to attend the Kirk memorial. The Cubs clinched a playoff spot last week and currently hold the first Wild Card spot in the National League.
While stating he didn’t want to get into the “politics” of it, Cohen said he felt the decision to leave his team during the crucial playoff push was “weird.”
“I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a race for any reason other than a family emergency, really strikes me as weird,” Cohen said on SNY during the bottom of the 4th inning of Chicago’s game against the Mets.
Mets analyst and former first baseman Todd Zeile said he thought the situation was “unprecedented” and “unusual.”
This point is no doubt true: It is highly unusual to have friends murdered during a playoff push, or at any other time.
Shaw was not merely an X follower or podcast listener of Kirk’s. The two developed a friendship while living in the same apartment complex in Arizona. Nor did he decide to miss a game because he merely felt like going to the memorial.
As Shaw explains it, “[Kirk’s] wife Erika had texted me, asking me if I would come to the funeral, and I felt as though it was something that was really important for me to do.
Shaw also emphasized that he consulted with his manager, executives, and teammates before attending the memorial.
“I made sure that everybody I talked to, I had their support, that they knew why I was going, that I wasn’t leaving just to leave, that it was something that was really important to my faith,” Shaw said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “It was really nice to see how everyone was able to support me in that moment.
“I felt as though it was something that was really important for me to do. … I was very thankful for how the team responded; allowing me to do that was really special.”
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