Photo credit: CBS Sports Network
By Brandon Contes on

Gary Cohen drew the ire of Gregg Giannotti after questioning Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw for skipping a game to attend a memorial service for right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

After missing Chicago’s 1-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds Sunday afternoon, Shaw told reporters on Tuesday that he received permission from the team to attend Kirk’s memorial service following an invite from the right-wing influencer’s widow, Erika Kirk. Wednesday night, Cohen addressed Shaw’s absence, noting it was “weird” for a player to miss a late September game for anything other than a family emergency.


“I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it,” Cohen said. “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.”

On Wednesday, a listener called into WFAN’s morning show with Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti to express disappointment in Cohen’s take. And while Giannotti noted he still loves Cohen as a broadcaster, he had a major issue with the Mets’ play-by-play voice being critical of Shaw.


“I quite frankly didn’t like his commentary,” said Giannotti. “I thought it was completely unnecessary. Gary Cohen’s whole life is baseball, and baseball’s a very serious thing for him. But Matt Shaw saw his friend get shot and killed – got shot in the neck in front of this family – and his wife requested that he be there, and Gary Cohen’s got a problem with that because the Cubs are in a pennant race? Have we lost all touch with reality here?”

“Well, some have,” said Esiason, who garnered criticism in 2014 for questioning Daniel Murphy’s decision to take paternity leave and miss the Mets opener.

“And he’s like, ‘It doesn’t fall under the MLB’s bereavement policy.’ Who gives a crap!” Giannotti continued. “If he wants to go to that, he can go to that. And don’t be mad at him, if you’re mad at anything – why you’re mad, why you care, I have no idea – but be mad at the Cubs who granted him the ability to go.”

In addition to missing Sunday’s game for the memorial service, Shaw was also a scratch on Sept. 10, the day Kirk was killed, for what the Cubs described as a team matter. Shaw has since revealed that he and Kirk became friends last offseason while living in the same Arizona apartment complex.

“When you say, ‘I don’t want to get into the politics of it.’ Charlie Kirk was a political figure. There’s no two ways about it,” Giannotti added. “You’re bringing that up because of that.”

It would have been interesting to hear how Keith Hernandez would have responded to Cohen’s comments. Hernandez played during an era where you didn’t miss many games, but he is also a noted fan and supporter of several speakers from Kirk’s memorial service. Hernandez, however, has been sick and away from the Mets’ booth for several days.

A Columbia grad and former classmate of George Stephanopoulos, Cohen isn’t as vocal about his politics as Hernandez. And as much as Cohen may have wanted to leave the politics out of this discussion, it’s nearly impossible to take a stance on anything related to Kirk without it being perceived as political in nature.

About Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com

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