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The New York Mets announcer, Gary Cohen, criticized the Chicago puppies player, Matt Shaw, to miss one of the team’s games last weekend to attend the funeral of Charlie Kirk.
Cohen’s comments occurred during the SNY transmission of the Mets game against the puppies on Tuesday night, while Shaw was up to the fourth entrance, qualifying the decision as “strange.”
“I don’t want to talk about any of the policies, but the idea of leaving your team in the middle of a race for any reason other than a family emergency, it really seems strange to me,” Cohen said.
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The third base of the Chicago puppies, Matt Shaw (6), is interviewed after a match against the Chicago White Sox in the field of the rate on July 26, 2025. (Patrick Gorski/Imagn images)
The Mets station, Todd Zeile, described the absence of Shaw “unprecedented.”
“It is unusual, I think it is not preceded at least of my experience as a player, and I think it made it a little more unusual that it was not revealed until after it was issued because it was thought that I was on the bench and perhaps available, and it was not, and that was how it was revealed,” Zeile said.
Cohen and Zeile were criticized on social networks for their comments on the absence of Shaw.
Shaw lost the 1-0 defeat of the puppies before the Cincinnati reds On Sunday to attend the memorial service in Glendale, although manager Craig Counsell mentioned to the media that Shaw was not available for the game because he was at a funeral for a friend.
Shaw explained why he proposed to attend the monument despite the schedule of his team.
“My connection with Charlie was through our [Christian] Faith, “Shaw said before the puppies opened a new series with the New York Mets on Tuesday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “And that is something that drives me every day, the reason I can do what I do every day, and that is something I am extremely grateful.
“I know without my faith and without the many blessings that have given me in my life, that I would not be here, to be able to talk to you, capable of helping this team eventually go and win championships.
Matt Shaw of the puppies leaves the team to attend Charlie Kirk Memorial Service
The third base of the Chicago puppies, Matt Shaw (6) teammates of the High Fives, after hitting a two -run homer in the fourth entrance against the Cincinnati Reds in Great American Ball Park on September 19, 2025. (Katie Stratman/Imagn images)
“That is something I really feel, very blessed, so any violent reaction is fine. I feel strong with my faith and what was destined to happen.”
Shaw added that he and Kirk became friends with the low season, since they lived in the same apartment complex in Arizona. The two remained in contact during the MLB season, Shaw said.
Shaw said he was excited when he discovered that Kirk was killed while he was at an oratory event at the University of Utah Valley on September 10.
“When that happened, many emotions occurred to me,” he explained. “I don’t expect that to happen. I don’t know how to describe everything that happened, how I felt, but I will say that I was crying quite well. I had a lot of [teammates] Supporting me, and that will be something that I will remember throughout my life. “
Shaw had been scraping from the alignment of the puppies that night before a match against the Braves of Atlanta.
Kirk, a native of Arlington Heights, a northern suburb of Chicago, was “one of the biggest fans of the puppies I have met,” according to Shaw. In fact, Shaw said it was Erika Kirk, his widow, who asked him to attend the monument. After a conversation with Counsell and some teammates, Shaw felt that his decision to attend was accepted.
“The reason why Charlie and I connected so close was by our faith,” Shaw added. “That is something that drives me every day, something I think about all the time. So, if people ask who I am and what I defend, I would say that my faith and the many blessings that have given me are why I can be here, and I just want to make sure that I can return that to people, that I can support the people around me, that I can love people in my same way, I just want that I have been saved.”
Matt Shaw of the Chicago puppies in action against the rays of Tampa Bay in Wrigley Field on September 12, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Michael Reaves/Getty images)
The puppies were among the MLB teams for pays tribute to Kirk, asking for the end of “all political violence.”
