Radio broadcaster Mike Mike Francesa at New York City’s WFAN is not happy that Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy took a few days off to be with his wife and their newborn son. Via the New York Daily News:
Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy missed his second straight game Wednesday night to be with his wife and newborn child, taking advantage of his collectively bargained paternity leave.
But his absence didn’t sit well with some of New York’s sports talk radio hosts, who took the second baseman to task for not “getting his ass back to the team.”
“One day I understand. And in the old days they didn’t do that. But one day, go see the baby be born and come back. You’re a Major League Baseball player. You can hire a nurse to take care of the baby if your wife needs help,” WFAN afternoon host Mike Francesa said on Wednesday.
Murphy left the Mets on Monday to be with his wife, Tori, who gave birth to their son, Noah, in Florida. The Mets were off Tuesday and called up Wilmer Flores on Wednesday to play second base.
Murphy, who is allowed 1-3 days off for paternity leave that was put into MLBPA’s collective bargaining agreement in 2011, is expected to be back in the lineup for Thursday’s afternoon game against the Nationals. That isn’t soon enough for Francesa, who says all dads should follow his example.
“What are you going to do? I mean you are going to sit there and look at your wife in a hospital bed for two days?” he mocked. “Your wife doesn’t need your help the first couple of days; you know that you’re not doing much the first couple days with the baby that was just born.”
And Francesa wasn’t alone:
Boomer Esiason, on WFAN’s morning show, took it even a step further, saying Murphy should have insisted his wife “have a C-section before the season starts. I need to be at Opening Day, I’m sorry.”
His partner, Craig Carton agreed: “Assuming the birth went well, the wife is fine, the baby is fine, 24 hours and then you get your ass back to your team and you play baseball.”
Really Boomer? After all Esiason has gone through with his son, I’d expect that he’d at least understand the importance to a father being with his wife and child at his child’s birth.