Detroit Tigers All-Time 25-Man Roster
Catcher—Bill Freehan
(with Tigers from 1961, 1963-1976)
44.8 fWAR (FanGraphs WAR), 44.7 bWAR (Baseball-Reference WAR)
.262/.340/.412, 1774 G, 6900 PA, 112 OPS+ (with Tigers)
Bill Freehan was signed as a bonus baby for $125,000 when he was just 19 years old. This was before MLB created the June Amateur Draft. Because he received such a high signing bonus he had to be kept on the major league roster that year. He wasn’t ready to play at that high level, so he was limited to just four games in his first year and was sent to the minors the following year.
He came back up in 1963 and began to establish himself as the team’s catcher and team leader. He really came into his own in 1964 when he hit .300/.350/.462 with 18 homers and 80 RBI. He also made the all-star team for the first of 11 times, including ten in a row from 1964 to 1973. He was also recognized for his skills behind the plate with five straight Gold Glove Awards from 1965 to 1969.
Freehan was the premier catcher in the American League during his career. From the time he became a regular in 1974 until his last season with nearly full-time play, 1975, he was third in all of baseball among catchers with 42.8 WAR (per FanGraphs). Only Joe Torre and Johnny Bench were worth more and Torre stopped playing catcher after the 1970 season.
When the Tigers went to the World Series in 1968, Freehan was a big part of their success. He caught 138 games and appeared in another 21 at first base. At the dish, he hit .263/.366/.454 with career-highs in home runs (25) and RBI (84). He finished second in AL MVP voting behind teammate Denny McClain, who won 31 games.
One of the memorable plays of Freehan’s career came during Game 5 of the 1968 World Series. The speedy Lou Brock was on second when Julian Javier singled to left. Tigers left fielder Willie Horton fired a perfect one-hop throw to Freehan, who caught the ball and made the tag to nail Brock. Many fans of the St. Louis Cardinals insist that Brock was safe on the play. Of course, had he slid instead of gone in upright, he likely would have scored.
The year after the Tigers won the World Series, Freehan kept a diary that would eventually become a book called Behind the Mask. It came out in 1970, the same year as Jim Bouton’s Ball Four. Bouton’s book was much more scandalous at the time, as it revealed the rampant use of amphetamines (greenies) by MLB players, along with their less-than-exemplary activities on the road.
Freehan’s book was not nearly as well known, but it would be in the headlines in 1970 because of the things Freehan wrote about teammate Denny McLain. At the time, McLain was serving a suspension related to a gambling investigation, so Sports Illustrated published excerpts from Behind the Mask that portrayed McLain in a poor light. For example, Freehan wrote that McLain was often allowed to break club rules and the coaching staff did nothing to stop him.
Even though Freehan’s teammates disliked the preferential treatment McLain had often received, they were not happy with Freehan “violating the sanctity of the clubhouse” through his book. Many fans were also not happy with Freehan after the book came out, but they came around when he had a good 1971 season.
As Freehan aged into his 30s, the toll of catching so many games took their toll. He averaged 141 games per year from 1964 to 1971, then just 108 games per year over his last five seasons. Like many of the players on this all-time 25-man roster, Freehan played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers.