How Dodgers’ World Series MVP Saved His Dad’s Life
By Movieguide® Contributor
The Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman almost lost his dad when he was just 12 years old.
In an interview with ESPN’s E:60, Freeman described the night his father, Fred, nearly died.
“I’m just sitting in that [hospital] room,” Freeman recalled. “The doctor comes in the room, and I’m with my dad. And he goes, ‘Mr. Freeman, you’re lucky you came to the hospital tonight. If you didn’t come in and would have gone to sleep, you would have most likely died in your sleep.'”
Fred, unknowingly at the time, suffered from congestive heart failure.
To this day, he credits his son for his life.
“Freddie actually saved my life that night,” Fred said.
“I was this close to being parentless at 12 years old,” Freeman added. His mother passed away from cancer when he was 10.
From that night on, Fred promised his son that he would improve his health so that he could see Freeman play baseball.
When Freeman broke the world record for the first-ever grand slam in World Series history, the first person he went to was his dad.
“I just remember my swing is because of him. My approach is because of him. I am who I am because of him,” he said in a post-game press conference. “All the batting practice. All the relentless hours we spent together on a baseball field — we still do it. In the off-season, he still throws me batting practice. I just wanted to share that with him because he’s been there. He’s been through so much in his life, too, and just to have a moment like that, I just wanted to be a part of that with him.”
When asked what that moment felt like, he said, “It felt like nothing. I was just floating.”
“It might be the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed. And I’ve witnessed some great ones,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Freeman went on to secure a homerun in every World Series game this season, which is another record broken, earning him the World Series MVP title.
READ MORE: WORLD SERIES MVP KEEPS CHRIST AT THE ‘FOREFRONT OF EVERYTHING’
