During Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, one of the biggest talking points wasn’t the game itself – it was the fact that Major League Baseball and Fox didn’t honor Tony Gwynn and several other recently-deceased baseball legends during the game. It would have taken 30 seconds and been a wonderful gesture, but it didn’t happen.
On Wednesday night, MLB and Fox released a joint statement to explain their lack of a mention of Gwynn. And quite frankly, all it does it make me more irritated.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, an extraordinary individual whose memory we have honored in numerous ways in recent weeks. The Baseball family has sadly lost a number of people this year – including Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, Frank Cashen, and former All-Stars Jerry Coleman, Jim Fregosi and Don Zimmer – and did not want to slight anyone by singling out one individual.”
So let’s get this straight. MLB and Fox are willing to talk about Gwynn on America’s Pregame and put together an emotional interview with Gwynn’s son… but they don’t want to talk about him on the main All-Star Game broadcast to avoid slighting anyone else?
Furthermore, Fox was willing to slight the other 80 or so All-Stars by turning their broadcast into the Derek Jeter Power Hour, making the whole argument about “not wanting to single out one individual” even more ripe.
And it’s not like there isn’t precedent for this, for those claiming that the All-Star Game has never been about honoring the deceased.
Yep – that’s a two minute and ten second video tribute to Ted Williams at the start of the 2002 All-Star Game, complete with comments from TONY GWYNN.
There’s no better time to honor those we’ve lost than at the All-Star Game. It’s shameful that MLB and Fox are attempting to excuse their decision by using childish logic that’s not going to appease anyone.
You know what else is disappointing about the joint statement? The omission of the word “sorry.” They’re not admitting fault. If MLB and Fox could go back in time, they’d do the same thing – there aren’t any regrets there. If the game was played again tonight, they’d do everything the exact same – complete with 100 mentions of Derek Jeter, and zero of Tony Gwynn. And quite frankly, that’s shameful and embarrassing.
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