ATLANTA – The incessant pressure for Freddie Freeman to emote has mercifully come to an end.
From an on-camera interview moments before the All-Star Game in which Fox Sports asked all the leading questions, to an extra-long lingering over his name during pregame introductions that were otherwise conducted at one and a half times the usual speed, to a mid-inning defensive replacement, Freeman won’t have to think about crying anymore.
Or at least delivering the tears many expected him to shed.
He held it together Tuesday night at Truist Park, eyes occasionally welling but no tears falling and after his one at-bat and subsequent removal, his voice was mildly emotional – but firm.
‘I think time,’ says Freeman, ‘heals everything.’
Freeman’s return to Atlanta after signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers was an emotion-filled journey in 2022, from a press conference he had to cut short after breaking down to an extensive standing ovation during his first game.
Yet Freeman is now a Dodgers World Series champion, four seasons removed from being a Brave, and although he admitted having this return date for the All-Star Game circled, it’s been a minute now.
So when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts interceded with one out in the third inning to insert Pete Alonso as a defensive replacement, it gave Freeman a chance to hug his replacement and his teammates, as if it were Senior Day at Duke or whatnot.
And after all, he did have a flight to catch, back to Los Angeles for an appearance at a cable sports awards show.
‘It’s been four years with the Dodgers. Obviously, held it together this time around,’ says Freeman, who signed a six-year, $162 million contract with Los Angeles after the Braves opted not to re-sign him following their 2021 World Series title. ‘You spend 12 years with Atlanta and pour your heart into it. And now I’ve poured my heart into four years with the Dodgers, still got three more hopefully to go.
‘It’s been a great four years.’
The crowd gave him an ovation and moved on. Perhaps someday the machinery that expects to wring tears out of the All-Star first baseman will, too.
‘I’m OK with crying. That’s just how I am,’ says Freeman. ‘But I didn’t do it today.’