LOS ANGELES (AP) — Freddie Freeman picked up his youngest son and kissed 3-year-old Maximus’ blond head. The slugger’s wife, Chelsea, joined their two other sons for a family photo on the field at Dodger Stadium, where dad created a moment immortalized in baseball history.
Three months ago, Freddie and Chelsea were at Max’s hospital bedside as he battled for his life with Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Max survived and thrived—and he got to see his father Make World Series history Friday night for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Freeman is still recovering from a sprained right ankle, but he had zero trouble getting around the bases after hitting his 10th-inning grand slam to win Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees. After celebrating with his teammates, he looked even faster as he ran over the screen behind home plate to celebrate with his father.
“It’s nothing, floating,” said a beaming Freeman.
“When you’re 5 years old and playing wiffle ball in the backyard with your two older brothers, these are the scenarios you dream about — two outs, the bases loaded in a World Series game,” he added. Give us a 1-0 lead, that’s how good it is.”
After everything the eight-time All-Star has endured since midsummer, it’s clear nothing will stop Freeman from giving everything he has — to his game and his family.
“He’s basically doing something heroic by putting himself in position to play,” Dodgers postseason hero Kike Hernandez said. “Freddie was a grinder. Not many superstars grind like Pretty does. He is a Hall of Famer and this is a special moment in his life.
Freeman missed eight games for the Dodgers in July and August when Max became ill while watching his father during the All-Star Game festivities in Texas.
When the family returned home, Max was hospitalized and put on a ventilator, suffering from partial paralysis and difficulty breathing. He was diagnosed with stable Guillain-Barré disease, a rare neurological condition that affects the immune system, nerves and muscles.
Max’s health gradually improved, and Freeman returned to work on August 5. He did not hide his tears before or after receiving a round of applause from Dodgers fans who understood the depth of his grief.
Freeman broke his right middle finger less than two weeks after returning and collapsed while trying to play through the injury before manager Dave Roberts forced him out of a series in late August to rehabilitate his body.
Max Freeman came back to Chavez Ravine in September to watch the Dodgers stretch out. The teenager is expected to make a full recovery, Freeman said.
Through it all, Freeman had another great season at first base, batting .282 with an .854 OPS, 22 homers, 89 RBIs and 4.7 WAR at the plate.
But Freeman sprained his ankle on Sept. 26 in the Dodgers’ regular-season home finale. The Dodgers acknowledged the severity of the sprain would have kept most players out for several weeks during the regular season, but Freeman is determined to sit it out if possible — because it’s October.
He has sat out three postseason games, including the final two against the Mets in the NLCS. The Dodgers won anywayFreeman reached the World Series for the first time in his native Southern California three years later.
“A lot of times we had to go to Freddie and say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to sit this one out,'” slugger Max Muncy said. “We’ve got you tonight. You need to rest.’ If you know Freddie, that’s a tough conversation. But he knows what’s best for the team and now he feels good enough to do what he did tonight.
After nearly a week of rest and treatment, Freeman said his ankle “felt really good” for Game 1 against the Yankees.
He showed it when he tripled in the first inning — his first since June 1.
Freeman is the third player in baseball history to hit a grand slam and a triple in one postseason game. Kaz Matsui, who did it for Colorado against Philadelphia in the 2007 NLDS, is the only player to accomplish the feat since 1920.
In the sixth inning, Freeman watched in awe, arms folded, as Giancarlo Stanton’s monumental homer flew deep into the left-field stands for New York.
But 36 years after another veteran Dodgers slugger hit a World Series Game 1-ending homer and limped around the bases in a frenzied Chavez Valley, Freeman took the same faltering jab amid the deafening din of October celebrations.
Kirk Gibson produced one of the greatest moments in Dodgers history in 1988. Freeman’s blast was so similar that it landed in roughly the same area as the Dodger Stadium bleachers — with the brake lights of fans departing earlier visible in the parking lot beyond.
“Everything was the same outside of the fist pumps,” Roberts said.
In the 18th inning of the Dodgers’ win over the Boston Red Sox in 2018, Muncie hit his own World Series game-ending homer, though Los Angeles won the series.
“When I hit mine, you kind of blacked out at that point,” Muncy said. “With this, I could see the reactions. Feel the ground shake. I was standing next to Dave, but as soon as (Freeman) hit it, I threw my bat.
Freeman’s Homer is immortalized in Cooperstown.
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