MLB announcer slams rookie for going to Charlie Kirk's memorial

Chicago Cubs rookie Matt Shaw said he had the support of team veterans and coaches when he skipped Sunday's 1-0 loss in Cincinnati to attend his murdered friend Charlie Kirk's memorial service in Arizona.

However, New York Mets announcers Gary Cohen and Todd Zeile took issue with Shaw's decision, which they saw as highly unusual and potentially problematic for a playoff-bound team like the Cubs.

'Shaw had Cubs world in a tizzy this weekend when he was not here for the Cubs game with the Reds — a game they lost and in which his lack of presence was felt,' Cohen said on SNY during the Mets' 9-7 win over the Cubs on Tuesday night. 'It was later revealed that he had been given permission to attend Charlie Kirk's funeral.'

To be clear, Cohen wasn't addressing Kirk's conservative non-profit, Turning Point USA, the podcaster's Christian faith, or his brutal murder during a speech in Utah last week.

Rather, Cohen was specifically discussing Shaw's decision to attend the memorial service with the Cubs still jockeying for playoff seeding with the postseason-bound San Diego Padres. Chicago already booked a Wild Card berth before ultimately conceding the National League Central Division to the MLB-best Milwaukee Brewers.

'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 told Zeile, who played a season for the Cubs and three for the Mets.

'I think it's unprecedented, at least from my experience as a player,' Zeile said. 'And I think it made it a little bit more unusual that it was not revealed until after it came to issue, because he was thought to be in the dugout and maybe available and then was not.

'That's how it was revealed,' Zeile added. 'So it became maybe more of a story than it could have been had it been addressed from the beginning.'

Cohen suggested Shaw's status as a rookie might impact how others view his decision.

He also noted that Shaw wasn't granted bereavement, meaning the Cubs couldn't replace him on the active roster for Sunday's loss.

'I thought it was telling that the reason they didn't tell anybody and that they had to play a man short was that the situation did not qualify for baseball's bereavement list,' Cohen said. '[I] think that in and of itself gives you a clue as to how it was received by a lot of people.'

For his part, Shaw said the decision didn't bother the Cubs.

'All the veteran players that I talked to and really the whole team having their support was really important to me,' Shaw said earlier in the week.

Shaw was asked about any negative reactions to his decision to attend Kirk's funeral, but kept his answers clear of politics. Instead, Shaw explained that he and Kirk bonded over the Cubs, the podcaster's favorite team, as well as their shared faith.

'I met Charlie at my Arizona apartments — one of the biggest Cubs fans I've ever known,' Shaw told reporters. 'He texted me after every game — "Great win for the Cubbies" — and he was super supportive of us.

'My connection with Charlie was through our faith. That's something that drives me every day. That's the reason why I'm able to do what I do every day and that's something I'm extremely thankful for.'

Weeks prior to his murder, Kirk actually posted a picture of himself at Chicago's Wrigley Field alongside Shaw and teammate Michael Busch.

Shaw has endured an up-and-down rookie season in Chicago. The former first-round draft pick out of Maryland is hitting .224 with 12 home runs for the Cubs, who sit at 88-69 after Tuesday's loss.