08:31 AM
11/21/24
11/21/24
August 23, 2021
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
RIP Bill Freehan, longtime Tigers catcher and honorary scourge of my youth.
In the latter 60's and early 70's, Freehan was an annual fixture in the All Star Game. A few of us boys would get together to watch the game every year and we would bitch and moan when Freehan was introduced. It was a period of time when the NL almost always won the game and we somehow equated that with Freehan's presence. We wanted the AL to win and wanted the league to put some other catchers in there to improve their chances.
We should have been wary of what we asked for. Ray Fosse entered the game in 1970 and got steamrolled by Pete Rose at home plate with the winning run as the NL prevailed yet again. The collision was a major moment of that era of baseball and altered Fosse's career.
By that time, Freehan was in the midst of passing the All Star longevity baton to Johnny Bench, who appeared in even more consecutive midsummer classics than Freehan did.