Freddie Freeman received a warm welcome during his first Los Angeles Dodgers game since his 3-year-old son, Maximus, suffered a health emergency. Ahead of the team’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, August 5, Freeman’s teammates showed their support for his young son by sporting “#MaxStrong” T-shirts during practice. “Get well soon, Max!” the Dodgers’ official X page captioned pics of players sporting the shirts, one of which Freeman, 34, also wore.
“We’re all rooting for you 💙.” Upon stepping out for his first bat of the game, Freeman was greeted with a standing ovation from attendees. The first baseman appeared to get choked up as he graciously waved to the crowd.
“Right when my walkout song started to play, I could hear the crowd start getting louder and louder. And it means a lot,” Freeman told reporters in a postgame press conference . “It means a lot that the Phillies were respectful of that situation as well.
I wasn’t expecting it, but [it was] very much appreciated from the Dodgers fans.” (The Dodgers beat the Phillies with a score of 5-3.) Freeman continued to share his appreciation for Dodgers fans, joking that their standing ovation made it “really hard” for him to hit the ball.
“I was OK with that. It’s, like, one of the most pleasant strikeouts I’ve ever had in my big league career,” he quipped. A post shared by Chelsea Freeman (@chelseafreeman5) Freddie shared that his wife, Chelsea Freeman , sent him.