How Freddie Freeman's homer changed him -- and Dodgers fans - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — The image of a triumphant Freddie Freeman from the night of Oct. 25, 2024 — midstroll, face stoic, right hand pointed upward — has been tattooed on body parts all over L.A. County. Freeman himself has signed four of them, three on shins and one on an arm. He used to go practically anywhere in Southern California without getting recognized, even in the areas where he grew up. Now that never happens. Fans approach him everywhere, many recounting precisely where they were when he hit the walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series that helped propel the Los Angeles Dodgers to a championship. Often they just say, Thank you.

«I'm happy about it,» Freeman said. «It means something good happened, right? You don't try and hope for that moment to happen; it just kind of comes to you, and you hope that you're ready for the moment. There's so many times when I failed, and no one really remembers the failures.»

Freeman's home run, the first of four in a World Series that saw him produce a 1.364 OPS and win MVP honors, has been depicted on countless bobbleheads, T-shirts and paintings. It has aired on Dodger Stadium's videoboard before every home game and might continue being played there forever, much like Kirk Gibson's heroics from 36 years earlier.

Freeman is hitting better than he ever has in his age-35 season, even while battling the same ankle injury that plagued him in October. Somehow, he has been more productive in his 30s than he was in his 20s. Reaching 3,000 hits, an almost unimaginable feat during such a pitcher-dominant era, remains a distinct possibility. The Hall of Fame is a near certainty. But one swing on one night will in some ways outshine anything Freeman ever accomplishes, a reality