Los Angeles – freddy freeman‘s father wanted mookie bets To get an at-bat. Wanted to have New York Yankees Bates intentionally pitched instead of walking and set his son up for the first walkoff grand slam in World Series history.
Fred Freeman said, “Actually, I was hoping Mookie would get a hit, so Freddy wouldn’t go ahead.”
What?
“He hasn’t played much lately,” Fred said of his youngest son. “I was thinking, ‘Mookie is swinging the bat really well.'”
Fred had a point. Playing on a severely sprained ankle, Freddie missed two of the final three games of the National League Championship. However, Yankees manager Aaron Boone made the obvious decision.
Leading 3–2 in the 10th inning, the Yankees were one step away from capturing Game 1 of the World Series. Los Angeles Dodgers There were runners in second and third place. Left-handed Nestor Cortes Jr. was not going to face right-handed Bates. He was going to take the left-handed Freeman, who, before Friday night, had not had an extra-base hit in the postseason.
It was faster than you could say, “Kirk Gibson.”
Freeman attacked Cortes’s first pitch, throwing the ball down and in at a 92.5 mph fastball. The ball bounced off his bat into right field at a speed of 109.2 mph. This would be the hardest ball hit by Freeman for a base hit since August 31. But Fred, sitting in front, just behind home plate, wasn’t sure the ball would go out.
“As soon as he swung, I knew it was a good swing. But you never know,” said Fred. “(I wondered) is it far enough? is it far away? And then I saw him drop the mic with the bat. And I knew it was gone.”
Freddy’s wife, Chelsea, was sitting in the family room.
“I literally almost fainted,” she said. “It was absolutely incredible. I have no words.”
During the wild celebration on the field after the Dodgers’ 6–3 victory, Freddie quickly approached Fred and jumped into the net behind home plate. The two touched hands, the son saluting the man who raised him and his two older brothers mostly as a single father, the man who still takes him to batting practice in the offseason. Freddie’s mother Rosemary died of melanoma in 2000, when he was 10.
What did he say to his father?
“I was just yelling in his face,” Freeman said in his post-game interview with me on Fox. “Sorry, Dad. He’s been there since I was a little boy and makes me take batting practice every day. This isn’t my moment. That’s my dad’s moment.”
“(My father) has been there since I was a little boy taking me batting practice every day. This is not my moment, this is his moment.”@freddyfreeman5 took charge @Ken_Rosenthal After his walk-off grand slam in Game 1 @dodgers, pic.twitter.com/7KH8fNfIFK
– Fox Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) 26 October 2024
Actually, it was a moment for everyone.
For people of a certain age, Gibson’s Homer immediately came to mind. Game 1 of the 1988 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Gibson is staggering to the plate on two injured legs. Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley’s two-out, pinch-hit, walk-off shot in the ninth turned a 4-3 deficit into a stunning 5-4 victory.
“I played the whole game, though,” Freeman said to laughter in the interview room after the game.
Gibson’s blow stunned the Oakland A’s, amounting to the first big punch from an underdog in a heavyweight fight. The Dodgers upset the A’s, four games to one. Gibson’s at-bat was his only appearance in the series. If the Dodgers had not won, his homer probably would not have been remembered that way.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who called Freeman’s shot perhaps “the greatest baseball moment I have ever seen”, was not yet ready to make the comparison to Gibson.
“It’s iconic,” Roberts said. “I think we’ll be OK with that if we win three more games.”
For those who care to point out mistakes, Gibson appeared to be more seriously injured than Freeman. Eckersley was a far more accomplished pitcher than Cortez. But the similarities between the homers, right down to their respective landing spots in the right field stands, really provide an echo of history, the kind of thing baseball offers like no other sport.
“Everything was the same outside of the fist pump,” Roberts said, referring to Gibson’s famous trip around the base.
Freeman’s journey was remarkable in itself. He held the bat high with his right hand while walking down the first-base line, doing his own version of the mic drop, even rotating between second and third. The Dodgers, accustomed to Freeman’s indifference, were pleased by his response.
“He’s classic, when he hits the ball hard, gets the bat down and scores quick runs,” the third baseman. max munsey Said. “I’ve never seen him broker a living like this.”
Well, if there ever was a time. , ,
“You still dream about those moments when you’re 35 and have been in the league for 15 years,” Freeman said, “you want to be a part of them.”
Before the game, Freeman joked with his teammates that he was going to be the first player to steal a base in the Series, leading to a promotion in which that player would “steal” free tacos for fans at Taco Bells across the United States. Will do.
The promotion was discontinued this season due to Taco Bell no longer sponsored Of Major League BaseballThe Dodgers, apparently unaware of the change, reacted angrily to Freeman’s mere suggestion that he might steal a base.
“We were all telling him, if you do that we’ll walk off the field and escort you off the field,” Muncy said. “Sure, he hits triples. Of course, it was exactly that. “I wouldn’t have expected anything different.”
Freeman’s first-inning triple probably should have been a double, but the Yankees left the infielder alex verdugo Carrom was incorrectly played against the wall down the third base line. When Freeman came in third Roberts asked what he was thinking, initially giving a one-word answer:
“to stop.”
But Freeman, even while proceeding with caution, insists on playing with a winning edge. He was similarly opportunistic in his first game of the postseason, when he stole second just nine days after suffering an ankle sprain. Doctors told him that it usually takes four to six weeks to recover from such an injury.
It has been almost painful to watch Freeman at times this postseason. During the Division Series in San Diego, he could be seen struggling to walk barefoot in the clubhouse with his ankles turned inward.
On Friday, he said he arrived at Dodger Stadium at 10:30 a.m. to begin treatment for a game that would start at 5:08 p.m. However, his six days off served him well. Freeman remained on his feet. He said that when he ran to high-five his teammates during introductions, it was the first time he had run in a week.
The season-ending ankle was not Freeman’s only physical problem – he also suffered a hairline fracture in his right middle finger while trying to field a ground ball on August 17 in St. Louis. However, that injury cost him minimal playing time. Ankle sprains are debilitating not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally.
“We have to tell him, ‘Hey, we’ll take you,'” Muncy said. “He wants to be there every day. And we told him, take your day right now, take the day off, be ready for the next game. It is difficult for a person like him to accept this. But everyone in this clubhouse has been behind him the whole time.
Freeman’s father also praised his son’s perseverance.
“I can’t believe he’s playing, let alone doing this,” Fred said. “I’m so proud of her. I don’t even have words for it. I’m bursting with pride.”
Before Game 1, Chelsea Freeman gathered the Dodgers’ wives for a toast. Standing on the field after Freddy’s homer, he recalled his message: “To think about just a few months ago, how low we were, to where we are today, is absolutely incredible.”
Chelsea wasn’t talking about the Dodgers. She was talking about her family and specifically Maximus, the youngest of the Freemans’ three sons. In late July, 3-year-old Max was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological condition in which the body’s immune system attacks his nerves.
Max went into temporary paralysis. He was put on ventilator. Freeman spent 10 days away from the team, and when he returned to the clubhouse he was brought to tears after seeing a blue T-shirt with #MaxStrong on the front and Freeman’s name and number 5 on the back.
Chelsea and Freddie Freeman, with their sons Max (hands), Brandon (right) and Charlie (center). (Ken Rosenthal/The Athletic)
When Freddy hit his grand slam on Friday night, all three of Freeman’s boys were in the Dodgers’ family room, “probably going crazy in there,” Chelsea said, laughing. After this the entire family gathered on the field. Max, on the way to full recovery, was limping, but found solace in his father’s arms.
“It’s been a long three months, but these fans here, when I came back to the first game, they showed love,” Freeman said during his interview on Fox. “I’m glad I was able to repay him tonight.”
By then, Freeman had dried off from a ritual immersion in ice water by teammates Muncy and teoscar hernandezHis teammates were still talking about him in the clubhouse, praising his character, marveling at his strength.
“It’s not possible to become a better person,” Bates said.
Or, as Roberts said, “When you do things the right way, you play the right way, you’re a good teammate, I believe the game respects you. Tonight, Freddy.” Was honoured.”
Funny how games can be so poetic, isn’t it? Boone called Cortes face to face. shohei ohtani With two on and one out. At the time, Ohtani was 18th for his last 24 with runners in scoring position. in the batting cage, kike hernandez Made a very bold prediction.
“I thought Shohei was going to finish it,” Hernandez said. “But I’m really glad Shohei didn’t end it.”
No, it had to end the way it did. Ohtani tossed a foul popup, which Verdugo somehow caught while spanning into the stands, with both runners automatically advanced as he fouled out of the game. With the Yankees, Betts intentionally walked to load the bases. And Freeman hit his unique slam.
Fred Freeman was right: Bates was swinging the bat really well. But after what his son accomplished in Game 1, Fred admitted he needed to recalibrate his expectations.
“Freddie is the same way now,” Fred said, laughing into the night, enjoying the moment.
(Top photo of Freddy Freeman: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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