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New York Mets broader Gary Cohen criticized the Chicago Cubo player Matt Shaw for missing one of the team’s games last weekend to attend Charlie Kirk funeral.
Cohen’s comments occurred during SNY’s broadcasting of the food match against the Cubs on Tuesday evening, while Shaw was standing in the fourth round, calling the “bizarre” decision.
“I don’t want to talk about politics about it, but the idea of leaving your team in the middle of a race for a reason other than a family emergency, seems really weird to me,” said Cohen.
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Chicago’s third base player, Matt Shaw (6), was interviewed after a match against the White Sox in Chicago in Rate Field on July 26, 2025. (Images Patrick Gorski / Imagn)
The diffuser of other dishes, Todd Zeile, described the absence of Shaw “unprecedented”.
“It is unusual, I think it is unprecedented at least of my experience as a player, and I think it made a little more unusual than it was revealed only after being in question because it was supposed to be in the canoe and perhaps available, and was not, and that is how it was revealed,” said Zeile.
Cohen and Zeile were criticized on social networks for their comments on the absence of Shaw.
Shaw missed the 1-0 defeat of Cubs against the Cincinnati Reds Sunday to attend the commemorative service in Glendale, although the manager Craig Counsell told the media that Shaw was not available for the game because he was in a funeral for a friend.
Shaw explained why he had made a duty to attend the memorial despite the calendar of his team.
“My connection with Charlie was through our [Christian] Faith, “Shaw said before the Cubs open a new series with New York dishes on Tuesday, according to the Chicago Sun-Totes. “And this is something that motivates me every day, the reason why I am able to do what I do every day, and that’s something that I am extremely grateful.
“I know that without my faith and without the many blessings that have been given to me in my life, that I would not be here, that I could speak to you, capable of helping this team finally winning championships.
Matt Shaw de Cubs leaves the team to attend the commemorative service Charlie Kirk
The third basic player in Chicago Cubs, Matt Shaw (6) High Fives teammates, after hitting a two -round circuit in the fourth round against the Cincinnati Reds at the Great American Ball Park on September 19, 2025. (Katie Stratman / Imagn images)
“This is something that I really feel, really blessed, so whatever the backlash is ok. I feel strong about my faith and that what had to happen.”
Shaw added that he and Kirk became friends of the last season while they lived in the same apartments in Arizona. The two stayed in contact throughout the MLB season, said Shaw.
Shaw said he was emotional when he discovered that Kirk had been murdered during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on September 10.
“When that happened, a lot of emotions came to me,” he said. “I did not plan that it was happening. I do not know how to describe everything that happened, how I felt, but I would say that I was tearing up quite well. I had a lot of [teammates] Support me, and it will be something that I will remember all my life. “”
Shaw had been scratched from the Cubs program that evening before a match against the Braves of Atlanta.
Kirk, from Arlington Heights, a northern suburb of Chicago, was “one of the biggest fans of the Cubs that I have ever met,” said Shaw. In fact, Shaw said it was Erika Kirk, his widow, who asked her to attend the memorial. After a conversation with Counsell and some teammates, Shaw estimated that his decision to attend was accepted.
“The reason Charlie and I connected so close was because of our faith,” added Shaw. “This is something that motivates me every day, something I think all the time. So, if people wonder who I am and what I represent, I would say that my faith and the many blessings that have been given to me are why I can be here, and I just want to love people in the same way as I was blessed.”
Matt Shaw of the Chicago Cubs in action against the Rays of Tampa Bay in Wrigley Field on September 12, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Cubs were one of the MLB teams at pay tribute to Kirk, Call at the end of “all political violence”.
