TORONTO -- The good-natured Canadian smack talk began before Freddie Freeman even cleared customs late Wednesday night. A citizen of both the United States and Canada, Freeman presented his American passport to the agent at the airport -- which evidently prompted a raised eyebrow.
"The customs agent goes: ‘Why not your Canadian passport?’” Freeman recalled with a laugh. “So it started immediately when I landed.”
Across his 16-year career, Freeman has played in every big-game setting imaginable. He has reached the playoffs in eight straight years, and he’s won two World Series along the way -- with the Braves in ‘21 and with the Dodgers last fall.
A year ago, Freeman etched his name in the history books with the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, en route to winning series MVP honors. In a career that seemingly has him destined for Cooperstown, he’s done just about everything.
But a World Series in Canada? That will offer a different kind of special moment for Freeman, whose parents were both born and raised in Ontario. His father Fred grew up in Windsor, and his mother Rosemary was from Peterborough and spent plenty of time in Toronto.
“I lost my mom when I was 10, and you come to the place where she was born and raised and grew up and was around a lot in Toronto, you just feel a little closer to her,” Freeman said during Thursday’s World Series Media Day at Rogers Centre. “I think that’s why coming back here is so special for me. It just makes me feel like I’m closer to my mom.”
Shortly after they were married in Canada, Fred and Rosemary Freeman moved to Southern California, where Freddie’s grandfather had been transferred for work. They planned to make the drive from Ontario to Orange County together as their honeymoon. But that plan hit a snag when Rosemary was denied entry to the United States because she didn’t have her green card.
With a job waiting for him in Southern California, Fred Sr. couldn’t afford to wait. He made the trek himself, and Rosemary joined him a few months later. The couple would have three sons before Rosemary passed away of melanoma in 2000.
When Freddie looks back, his memories of his mother have a mostly common theme: Canada. When the Blue Jays came to Anaheim to play the Angels, the Freemans were there. Freeman recalled getting “ripped up from my seat,” when he wasn’t standing for ‘O Canada.’ Same when the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs came to town to play the Ducks.
“Anything that was Canadian that was around Southern California, it felt like we were there,” Freeman said. “Just those little moments; those are the wonderful things that I remember. I only got 10 years with her, and only about four years of memories. Those are the little ones I cherish, and it always seemed to be around Canadian things.”
It’s why Freeman has chosen to play for Team Canada in the past two World Baseball Classics despite being born and raised in the United States. He has dual citizenship through his parents and has said numerous times that his choice to play for Canada was meant to honor his mother.
Naturally, Freeman has been warmly received by Blue Jays fans upon past trips to Toronto. But, well, he says there won’t be any hard feelings if it’s not the same this time around. The stakes are higher.
"I understand it if I get booed,” Freeman said. “I get it. I am on the visiting team. But Canada and this country means a lot to my family and I. I’m very happy to be back here.”
Said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “I don’t know what the Blue Jays fans have in store for him, but I don’t think he’ll be fazed by it.”
Certainly not at this point in his career. Freeman has developed a reputation as one of the sport’s most clutch players. Saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of his grand slam in Game 1 against the Yankees. Freeman owns an .871 career postseason OPS, and it’s not a small sample anymore. Friday’s Game 1 at Rogers Centre will be his 73rd career playoff game.
But it’s the first one he’s ever needed a passport for.
"Coming back to play in Toronto ... when we do come back, it’s always special,” Freeman said. “But this one’s a little [more]. This is the biggest stage. Obviously a lot more people are asking about Rosemary Freeman. Like I’ve always said, if people are talking about my mom, we’re doing a good thing of keeping her memory alive.”