Bill Freehan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bill Freehan | |
|---|---|
| Catcher | |
| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| September 26, 1961 for the Detroit Tigers | |
| Final game | |
| October 3, 1976 for the Detroit Tigers | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .262 |
| Home runs | 200 |
| RBI | 758 |
| Teams | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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William Ashley Freehan (born November 29, 1941 in Detroit, Michigan) is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire 15-year career with the Detroit Tigers. The premier catcher in the American League for several years, he was named an All-Star in each of the eleven seasons in which he caught at least 75 games, and was the MVP runnerup with the 1968 champions for his handling of a pitching staff that included Mickey Lolich and Denny McLain, who became the first 30-game winner in the majors since 1934. A five-time Gold Glove Award winner, he held the major league record for highest career fielding percentage (.9933) until 2002, and also the records for career putouts (9941) and total chances (10,734) from 1975 until the late 1980s; he ranked ninth in major league history in games caught (1581) at the end of his career. His career totals of 200 home runs and 2502 total bases placed him behind only Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey among AL catchers when he retired.
[edit] Career
Freehan attended the University of Michigan, where he set an all-time Big Ten Conference batting mark of .585 in 1961 and also played football. He signed with his hometown Tigers in 1961 for a $100,000 bonus, which his father withheld until he graduated in 1966, and broke in briefly with 4 games at the end of the season before returning to the minors in 1962. In 1963 he arrived in the majors to stay, working with former catcher Rick Ferrell on his defense and splitting catching duties with Gus Triandos, who was traded following the season. The 1964 campaign gave indications of what was to come; he batted .300 to finish sixth in the AL, along with 18 home runs and 80 runs batted in. He also earned the first of ten consecutive All-Star selections, and placed seventh in the MVP balloting. In 1965 he led the AL in putouts for the first of six times, and received his first of his five consecutive Gold Gloves. In 1966 he again led the league in putouts, and also led in fielding average for the first of three times.
1967 was his best season yet, as he batted .282 – ninth in the AL as averages hit an all-time low – with 20 home runs, and broke Elston Howard's 1964 AL single-season records with 950 putouts and 1021 total chances. Freehan led the league in both intentional walks and times hit by pitch, and finished third in the MVP voting after Detroit came within one game of the Boston Red Sox for the AL pennant.
He had an even better year in 1968 as he was considered the quiet leader of the 1968 World Series championship squad, posting career highs with 25 home runs and 84 RBI, fifth and sixth in the AL respectively. McLain won 31 games and Lolich won 17 as the Tigers ran away with the pennant; despite playing in hitter-friendly Tiger Stadium, the team was third in the AL with a staff earned run average of 2.71. Freehan broke his own records with 971 putouts and 1050 total chances, marks which remained AL records until Dan Wilson topped them with the 1997 Seattle Mariners; Wilson broke his record for career fielding average in 2002. He was also hit by 24 pitches, the most in the AL since Kid Elberfeld in 1911. He finished second to McLain in the MVP voting; he and Carl Yastrzemski were the only players to finish in the top ten of the voting in both 1967 and 1968, and only Yastrzemski reached base more often in 1968. He capped his season by recording the final out of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, retiring Tim McCarver on a popup. He also made a pivotal play in Game 5, with the Cardinals leading the Series 3-1 and the game 3-2. In the fifth inning, Lou Brock – whom Freehan had thrown out on an attempted steal in the third inning – doubled with one out and attempted to score on Julian Javier's single, but Freehan held on to the ball even though Brock came in standing up in an attempt to knock the ball loose. Detroit won by scoring three runs in the seventh inning, and went on to take the last two games.
Although his later seasons rarely approached the brilliance of those two campaigns, he continued to turn out All-Star years for the Tigers. In 1971 he batted .277 with 21 home runs, and he hit .262 for the 1972 Eastern Division champions. He missed the first two games (both losses) of the 1972 American League Championship Series against the Oakland Athletics while recovering from a hairline fracture of his thumb, then doubled and homered in a 3-0 Game 3 win, in which Joe Coleman set an LCS record with 14 strikeouts. Freehan drove in the first of three runs in the tenth inning of Game 4 in a memorable 4-3 come-from-behind victory which tied the series; he also drove in Detroit's only run in the 2-1 Game 5 loss. In 1974, playing primarily at first base, he finished fifth in the AL in slugging average with a .479 mark. He moved back behind the plate the following year to earn his eleventh All-Star berth. In 1973 and 1974 he surpassed Berra to become the AL's all-time leader in putouts and total chances; he broke Johnny Roseboro's major league marks in 1975. Bob Boone broke his major league mark for career total chances in 1987, and Boone and Gary Carter surpassed his putouts total in 1988; Carlton Fisk broke his AL records in 1989 (total chances) and 1990 (putouts). Freehan ended his career in 1976, batting .270.
Over the course of his career, Freehan was a .262 hitter with 241 doubles and 758 RBI in 1774 games. In addition to his HRs and total bases, his .412 slugging average and totals of 1591 hits, 706 runs and 476 extra base hits all put him among the top five AL catchers to that time. His batting totals are particularly remarkable in light of the fact that offense was at a low throughout the sport during his career, with a decided advantage toward pitchers. He also ranked sixth in AL history with 114 times being hit by a pitch.
After retiring, he coached Tigers catcher Lance Parrish on the fine points of playing his position. He returned to the University of Michigan as head coach of the baseball team from 1989 to 1995.
