LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman was in a hurry. It’s not uncommon for players to scurry, particularly on the night before a day game, but the Dodgers first baseman was in a particular rush to get to bed. He had to get up in about six hours to meet his Hall of Fame-bound teammate, Clayton Kershaw.
They were going to take in another baseball game in Toluca Lake, a few miles from where the Dodgers had just reeled off another walk-off win at Dodger Stadium. In the lineup for the next game were Charlie Freeman and Charley Kershaw, the eldest sons of a pair of former MVPs.
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They’re teammates, like their dads.
“Charley, my son, is here with Charlie Freeman a lot,” Kershaw said, basking in the honor of finally earning his first start in his ninth trip to the Midsummer Classic. “They are playing baseball together.”
“(Our) kids playing baseball,” Freeman said, “there’s nothing better than that.”
Once Freddie Freeman inked a six-year, $162 million deal this March after 12 years with the Braves, finding a new youth baseball league came as part of the transition. They wound up with an ideal fit. Charley Kershaw is 5, Charlie Freeman is 6. Each has become a more regular presence in the Dodgers clubhouse, and now are playing the game together.
“You respect them and play against them for so long, and then you become teammates, and then I’ve tried to get my feet settled, and then he’s helping me get my feet settled,” Freeman said. “Then our kids are on the same team, so we’re outside of the field hanging out. So I think that was huge in the process of getting comfortable here.”
Charley and Charlie. pic.twitter.com/OQ9AElg5Yn
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2022
The comfort has been apparent, at least on the field. Freeman was a late addition to the All-Star roster on Sunday despite entering the break leading the majors in hits (114) and trailing only Paul Goldschmidt in the race for the N.L. batting title. Upon receiving the call from Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman on Sunday that Freeman would take Starling Marte’s spot on the roster, Charlie Freeman’s focus shifted.
First, the eldest Freeman son was going to be able to play with the video-game version of his father on the updated National League All-Star team roster in MLB: The Show. Next, he wanted to know where Charley Kershaw was. After all, Clayton was starting the game after another sterling first half, posting a 2.13 ERA in 12 starts and taking two different perfect game attempts through at least seven innings.
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“That’s the fun part,” Freeman said. “When you see those two and how much fun they have every single day together. That’s what makes it so fun for us as dads. Glad I was able to play good enough to even be able to enjoy this again.”
Freddie Freeman and his son, Charlie, climb the stairs from the Braves clubhouse before a Dodgers game in Atlanta on June 25. (David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire)Kershaw last appeared in an All-Star game in 2019, long before Charley or his eldest child, Cali, could remember. Now, the two have two additional siblings.
Freeman got the opportunity to play in last year’s All-Star game, with Charlie notably eager to meet Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. But another appearance means Charlie and his brothers, Brandon and Maximus, are another year older, too, making the experience all the more special.
“I was just trying to hang on a little longer for them to see it,” Kershaw joked about getting to experience this with his children. “It’s just fun to see it through their eyes, and hopefully I get them down here to watch the Home Run Derby and just kind of see it. I think they are starting to understand baseball a little more.
“It’s fun, as you get older, everything gets put into perspective a little more with this game and how special it is. Definitely doesn’t last forever. I’m just trying to enjoy it. I’m just going to enjoy tomorrow, and I think they will, too.”
It’s one of several little moments Kershaw has soaked in this season, at the stage of a career he’s acknowledged will now go year-to-year after re-signing on a one-year deal with Los Angeles in March. He savors the Little League games, too, a tie between two of the game’s best that has helped bridge a gap into a new city and clubhouse for Freeman. It’s also given them yet another thing in common besides baseball greatness: fatherhood.
Freeman made his 6 a.m. alarm. He and Kershaw got to their boys’ game the next morning. Later that day, Kershaw was named to the wave of pitchers and reserves making the original All-Star lists. Freeman originally didn’t, but the first baseman responded by going 4-for-5 with a homer.
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Except, earlier that morning, Charlie Freeman went 6-for-6.
“He beat me,” Freeman joked.
(Top photo of Clayton Kershaw with Charley on May 17: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
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