Sad to learn that Bill Freehan - a member of the 1968 Detroit Tigers World Series championship team - has died.
I was too young to remember that victory, and never met the man, but my dad did. I'm not sure how exactly it transpired, but my dad took Freehan and fellow '68 Tigers alum Jim Northrup on a fishing trip. Not long after, he came home with a baseball that was covered in autographs. According to my father, Freehan wanted to repay him for a successful adventure, and asked "do your sons like baseball?" He went down to Tiger Stadium, and had the entire team sign a ball for us. Mind you, this was in 1976, before autographed baseballs became a hot commodity. The stand out signatures were from legendary manager Ralph Houk, and this young rookie named Mark Fidrych...who went on to have an epic season with the Tigers.
A few years ago I was doing a recording session with Bob Uecker, and talked to him about Freehan and the '68 Tigers. He knew all those guys.
I wonder what ever happened to that baseball...