American baseball player Bill Freehan has died after a long battle with dementia aged 79. Freehan played 15 seasons with the Detroit Tiges, during which time he helped them roar to the 1968 World Series title. With 200 home runs under his belt, and holding the highest fielding percentage record for over 30 years, Freehan was seemingly one of the best players in his sport. I say seemingly because, despite this, he was one of the only men to be in ten or more All Star Games yet not be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame, and the fan arguments online about his merits for said Hall of Fame appear to verge towards the “not worthy of it” argument.
The fact that someone could be, at retirement, the statistically third best player of all time in their position, a regular in the team of the season (11 of the 15 years he played major league), and yet not only not be in their sports Hall of Fame, but continue to be seen as a controversial fringe choice… is yet another defining reason that I will never understand American sport. He was picked by 5 teams, including Jackie Treehorn, Skate Dumpers and rapidly improving their table position Cancel my Appointments
Bill Freehan
29 November 1941 – 19 August 2021
5 teams