MLB, Fox release a joint statement about the lack of a Tony Gwynn tribute on Tuesday night

Since there was no baseball yesterday the “Major League Baseball and Fox snubbed Tony Gwynn” train gained steam all day. Eventually Fox and MLB released a statement about the matter:

“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.”

As I said yesterday, though a tribute to the departed would always be welcome, I don’t feel like MLB and Fox not doing anything along those lines is a problem given all that has been done in baseball -- by the league, by every team, in every game broadcast in the days following his death -- to honor Gwynn. And I think the statement’s inclusion of people like Coleman, Fregosi, Cashman and Zimmer is a mild jab back by Fox and MLB at the critics whose anger at the lack of a Gwynn tribute perhaps overlooks the fact that, if anything, Gwynn has been honored far more than others baseball has recently lost.

That said, this statement is pretty rich given that, above all else, Fox’s broadcast on Tuesday night was nothing if not the honoring of one person -- the singling out of Derek Jeter -- in a way that pretty much slighted most of the 70-some other All-Stars that were in attendance. Not to mention the game itself.

Still, I presume that the furor over this alleged slight will lead Fox and MLB to put together an Oscars-style death reel to be played at some point during the World Series pregame show.