Ken Rosenthal explains how Fox reported Oscar Taveras’ death during the World Series

The story of St. Louis Cardinals prospect Oscar Taveras’ death in a car accident in the Dominican Republic cast a pall over World Series Game 5. As word spread about Taveras, many were wondering when Fox would report the news on its broadcast. It came as the 4th inning was to begin and it was handled properly with a visibly-shaken Ken Rosenthal reporting the story as Fox came back from break and a moment of silence before turning it back to Joe Buck, Harold Reyolds and Tom Verducci.

And while some people tweeted that Fox should have reported the story earlier, Rosenthal explains the network had to confirm it first, plus find the right time to insert the story into the game action:

The first reports about Taveras came from the D.R. via Twitter, unconfirmed. Fans on Twitter immediately wanted to know why we were not reporting it on the broadcast. Well, we were not about to report his death on national television without confirming it first.

FOX’s Jon Paul Morosi and I worked to get official word from the Cardinals and/or Major League Baseball. Our production team worked to prepare a graphic honoring Taveras. The last thing we were going to do was rush, particularly when so much was still uncertain.

Remember, we also had a game to cover.

Rosenthal writes that he was called upon to deliver the news from inside the Kansas City Royals dugout and said he did his best to report it, but added that the story affected him personally:

I was still upset. And thinking about my own son, who is one year older than Taveras and had flown to San Francisco from his home in Los Angeles to attend the World Series for the first time, I nearly broke down.

Rosenthal says that from the San Francisco Giants dugout, Erin Andrews texted him that outfielder Juan Perez was crying and Fox researchers discovered that he and Taveras had been teammates in the Dominican winter leagues.

And in ending his story, Rosenthal admitted that he was moved by Taveras’ death:

I’m crying as I write this. I can’t believe Oscar Taveras is gone.

For reporters, part of the job is to pass along tragic news. We rarely hear how it affects them. Journalists have criticized for being detached and unemotional, but that is how they have been trained, to give the facts and move to the next story. For Rosenthal to provide his thoughts and insight on a tragedy shows the human side of reporters and how hard Fox worked to share this story in a professional manner.

[Fox Sports]