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Chicago Cubs 23-year-old third baseman Matt Shaw skipped the Cubs game on Sunday — a 1-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds — to attend the funeral of Charlie Kirk. Kirk, 31, was killed in a shooting in Utah on September 10 — that night, Shaw was scratched from the line-up for “unspecified personal reasons.”
According to Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell, rookie third baseman Matt Shaw missed the game on Sunday to attend the “funeral of a friend,” although it is unclear what the nature of relationship between Shaw and Charlie Kirk was beyond the pair posing for a picture together when Kirk visited Wrigley Field on August 20. Nevertheless, Shaw skipped the Cubs’ game on Sunday to head to Arizona for the funeral.
Although the Cubs have clinched a playoff berth, they’re still playing important games. The NL Central club has lost four straight games, its longest losing streak of the season, as it attempted to secure home-field advantage for the Wild Card round.
Charlie Kirk at Wrigley Field a couple weeks ago with @Cubs ballplayers Matt Shaw and Michael Busch.
Presented without comment. pic.twitter.com/jIpSlxXZSQ
— Billy Krumb (@ClubhouseCancer) September 10, 2025
Chicago Cubs third baseman was excused from game to travel cross-country for podcaster Charlie Kirk’s funeral
As The Athletic notes, the absence of Shaw — who made his MLB debut this season and has put up a batting average of .223 to go alongside 11 home runs and 40 RBIs in his rookie season — “was noticeable when the Cubs started Justin Turner at third base and did not use a pinch runner for Moisés Ballesteros in the ninth inning of a one-run game.”
At this time — despite desperation on both sides of the aisle to tie the the suspected 22-year-old shooter to a certain ideology — Tyler James Robinson has not admitted to the crime nor provided a motive, while federal investigators have yet to find a link between Robinson and left-wing or right-wing groups.
“Every indication so far is that this was one guy who did one really bad thing because he found Kirk’s ideology personally offensive,” a source familiar with the federal investigation told NBC News.
The memorial service for Kirk on Sunday seemed to take on the tone of a rally, however, as it was held in a football stadium with a pyrotechnics-adorned stage, drew in powerful right-wing figures like Elon Musk and Dana White, and prompted the likes of Stephen Miller gave politically-fueled speeches.
“Our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion, our lineage, and our legacy hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello,” Miller said in part. “Our ancestors built the cities. They produced the art and architecture, they built the industry.”
His wife Erika Kirk also spoke at the event and said that she “forgives” Robinson, whom prosecutors will reportedly be seeking the death penalty for.