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Freddie Freeman was battling through so many injuries during the Los Angeles Dodgers’ run to a World Series title that his father Fred Freeman tried to convince him to stop playing.
In addition to the widely reported ankle injury that Freddie Freeman played through– which left him largely hobbled in the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets — the Los Angeles Dodgers star was also battling a broken rib cartilage that he suffered on October 4.
According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, a broken costal cartilage in his sixth rib is an injury that usually sidelines players “for months.” With the Dodgers chasing a World Series title, however, Freeman forged forward, despite pleas from his father to do otherwise.
“Freeman’s father, Fred, worried about his youngest son, whom he raised after Freeman’s mother, Rosemary, died of melanoma when Freddie was 10. He saw the anguish in every minuscule movement. Considering the injuries to his rib and ankle and the lasting soreness from a middle finger he fractured in August, surely Freeman was too beaten up to keep playing. Surely there would be more postseasons, more opportunities.”
“‘I actually told him to stop,’ Fred said. I said, ‘Freddie, this is not worth it. I know you love baseball. I love baseball. But it’s not worth what you’re going through.’ And he looked at me like I was crazy, and he said, ‘Dad, I’m never going to stop.'”
In the Dodgers’ 4-1 World Series win over the New York Yankees, the 35-year-old former Atlanta Braves first baseman batted.300 with 4 homers (one HR in each of the first four games) and 12 RBIs.
With his career batting average of .300 to go along with 343 home runs, eight All-Star game appearances, two World Series titles, a National League MVP, and a World Series MVP, Freeman will likely be headed to the Hall of Fame when his playing days are over. His cap, however, will be a Braves hat.