A star of his time....A superstar? HOF? probably just short on both based on hitting fluctuations....however he is the prime AL Catcher most of the 1960s.....and his quality play went well into the 70’s....A one team man, typical of the Detroit Tigers, with his likewise peers being Kaline, Stanley, and Gates Brown....Even better, prototypical hometown hero, born and raised in Detroit....obtained a degree in history from University of Michigan....Tremendous run of 10 consecutive years being named to the AL All Star team 1964 -1973 and being best in the league from 1966 on....adding 1975 makes up 11 all star games....Was omitted in 1974 because he was split between catcher and 1st albeit it was his best year in the 70’s.....also in the mix was a run of 5 gold glove awards..... Came to Tigertown at age 21 as a part timer in 1963....earned regular status the following year earning accolades for .300 being the first El Tigre to do so in over 30 years....hit 200 home runs (100 at home and 100 on the road)....while a great relationship between himself and the city was established, it became strained after his tell all book (ala Ball Four) came out around the time of Denny McClain’s 1970 suspension.... while his power and RBI production was down he did a rare thing in 1976, achieving a final season BA higher than his career average at age 34....even if he had a couple of off seasons Freehan would rebound to prominence and usually the Tigers fortunes followed suit.
I don't know how I missed that Bill Freehan published a book at the same time as Jim Bouton. I looked it up and, wow, what a stink people made about it at the time.
ReplyDeleteThe tell all diary style book are never real popular with teammates. I think Freehan goes a step further than that in terms of his methodology by using a tape recorder in the clubhouse. Amazing he didn't get sued, amazing he still stayed with the team. Be interesting to read his book, hard to find now.
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