Freddie Freeman was welcomed on Friday to the remainder of his life.
From the second degree of the double-decker bus he rode with teammates, Freeman seemed out at a world that wasn’t the identical because it was earlier than.
Earlier than the Dodgers received the World Sequence. Earlier than he hit that dwelling run.
Dodger Stadium was rocking when gamers walked onto the sector for a post-parade celebration. The decibel degree elevated by a number of orders of magnitude when the video scoreboards displayed the picture of Freeman along with his son in his arms.
Fre-ddie! Fre-ddie!
Freeman later addressed the group, and he couldn’t end his remarks with out being interrupted.
Fre-ddie! Fre-ddie!
For Angelenos who aren’t sufficiently old to have watched Kirk Gibson or Orel Hershiser, to whom the pandemic championship 4 years earlier felt as if it’d as nicely have been received on one other planet, Freeman is their first postseason hero.
Every time they hear the title Freddie, they received’t consider Freddie Mercury or Freddy Krueger, even on Halloween.
Now, there’s just one Freddie in Los Angeles.
“I did everything I could to get on this field for you guys,” Freeman informed the Dodger Stadium viewers. “I’m glad I did because we got a championship now.”
Freddie Freeman hits a walk-off grand slam towards the Yankees in Sport 1 of the World Sequence on Oct. 25.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Occasions)
The legend of Freeman’s World Sequence MVP efficiency figures to develop with time. Within the wake of a championship-clinching Sport 5 victory over the New York Yankees, Freeman revealed to ESPN that he performed within the postseason with greater than a sprained proper ankle.
The day earlier than Dodgers’ playoff opener, Freeman dropped to the bottom whereas taking batting follow. Exams later revealed he broke the costal cartilage of his sixth rib.
Recovering from the harm sometimes takes months.
Freeman seemed compromised within the NL Division Sequence towards the San Diego Padres, in addition to the NL Championship Sequence towards the New York Mets.
“He wasn’t nearly close to 100% when he was standing in the box,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated.
The World Sequence was a special story, with Freeman delivering a efficiency for the ages. He drove in 12 runs within the 5 video games towards the New York Yankees. The full matched a World Sequence report first set in 1960 by Bobby Richardson.
“I thought it was pretty fitting to see what Freddie did in this World Series,” third baseman Max Muncy stated. “The whole postseason we kept going up to Freddie and saying, ‘Hey, we got you, we know you’re grinding, we got you.’ In this World Series, Freddie told us, ‘Hey, I got you guys. You covered me, and now I got you.’
“And that’s exactly what happened.”
Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam for the Dodgers in Sport 1 of the World Sequence towards the Yankees.
In time, particulars of this World Sequence will progressively fade from the town’s collective reminiscence. However folks bear in mind how they really feel, and they’ll at all times bear in mind how they felt when Freeman crushed the walk-off grand slam in Sport 1 that despatched the Dodgers from a sure defeat to a momentum-stealing victory — simply because the earlier era did with Gibson’s homer within the 1988 Sequence towards the Oakland Athletics.
“People,” supervisor Roberts stated, “remember moments.”
Roberts is aware of from firsthand expertise, as he stays revered in Boston to this present day for a stolen base that began a historic comeback for the Crimson Sox within the 2004 American League Championship Sequence.
The day after the grand slam, Freeman was provided a glimpse of his future. The Dodger Stadium crowd has steadily chanted his title in his three years with the crew, typically as he’s entering into the batter’s field, typically after he’s give you an necessary hit. In Sport 2, they chanted his title after each pitch in each one in all his at-bats.
Freeman stated after that sport, “Walking up to the plate, my first-at bat today, hard not to have a smile on the inside.”
As a former MVP and eight-time All-Star, Freeman was already a well-liked participant earlier than this. And to suppose the Orange County native wouldn’t have ever signed with the Dodgers if he had been provided a six-year contract by his former crew, the Atlanta Braves.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman celebrates along with his teammates after being named the 2024 World Sequence MVP.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)
“It does feel like he’s a Dodger now,” stated his father, Fred. “He feels like he’s a Dodger, he looks like a Dodger and he is a Dodger.”
On the Dodger Stadium rally, Freeman as soon as once more thanked the followers for the way they supported him whereas his three-year-old son, Max, was quickly paralyzed with a uncommon neurological situation.
The followers thanked him again with with a roaring ovation, and they’ll proceed to thank him by chanting his title, by naming their kids after him and by paying for his meals in these elements for so long as he lives.
