This is cool.
My last "MIA-MIA" 1972 card was of future Hall of Fame member Frank Robinson.
And today I want to present to you all my newest addition to the
thread, Bill Freehan, with a great in-game action shot of him blocking
the plate against who else, Frank Robinson.
Take a look:
Great action shot!
1972 marked a "changing of the guard" in a sense when it came to American League catchers.
Up until then, Freehan was considered by many to be the best A.L.
Backstop, manning the plate in Detroit for about 10 years and being
named to eight-straight All-Star games at the time.
Also the winner of five Gold Gloves, Freehan was pretty much the top of the heap when it came to catchers in the Junior Circuit.
Then in 1970 you had Thurman Munson come along, win the Rookie of
the Year Award, and then was followed by the Boston red Sox young stud
Carlton Fisk, who'd take home the same award two years later.
Coupled with Johnny Bench and Ted Simmons in the National League,
and you can see how the landscape was changing for Major League
catching.
Nevertheless, Freehan was a stalwart behind the plate for the Tigers.
Three times he'd finish in the top-10 for Most Valuable Player
(1964, 1967 & 1968), and he'd play his entire 15-year career in
Motown.
A solid player through and through, he'd retire after the 1976
season with a .262 lifetime average, 200 homers and 758 runs batted in
over 1774 games and 6073 at-bats.
He was named to eleven all-star games, and finished with a .993 fielding percentage while donning the "tools of ignorance".
I can't tell who the Baltimore player is who is watching the play unfold in front of him.
Any ideas?
