Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is closing in on 2,500 career hits, putting him within striking distance of the vaunted 3,000-hit milestone.
But even as Freeman, 36, continues to prove he has plenty left in the tank, the 2024 World Series MVP isn’t convinced he will be playing long enough to get there.
“Obviously, getting 3,000 hits would be very, very cool,” Freeman said in a story published by The Athletic on Tuesday, May 26. “But ever since [my] baby girl came into this world about a month ago, my perspective has changed a little bit on individual stats and how long I would want to play.”
Freeman continued, “I’m missing things for something she’ll never know. She’s not going to know I missed these things either. But it weighs on me and my heart. I think everybody who knows me knows it weighs on me hard.
Freddie and his wife, Chelsea Freeman, welcomed their fourth baby — and first girl — on April 19, two weeks after the 2026 MLB season began.
“London Rosemary Joy Freeman 💕,” the couple wrote via Instagram on April 21, announcing her arrival.
Freddie and Chelsea, 34, also share sons Charlie, 9, Brandon, 5, and Maximus, 5.
“All I ever wanted was a family,” Freddie admitted. “But all I ever wanted to do was play baseball, too. It’s such a hard thing, it really is.”
Freddie is in his 17th MLB season overall and his 10th since Charlie was born. The grind of a 162-game season, plus the playoffs and Spring Training, have meant that the nine-time All-Star has missed much of his kids’ childhoods.
“I don’t like seeing my daughter grow up on a FaceTime call,” Freeman said. “When I’m sitting in a hotel room by myself at night after a game, I’m just like, ‘Oh man, what am I doing?’
He added that he knows he’s not alone in his thinking, saying, “I’m not trying to sound like it’s just me. Believe me, I get it. But when you’ve done a job for as long as I have and achieved almost everything, to be still missing things, that’s what’s hard on older guys in this game.”
Chelsea has commented in the past on the toll that being away has taken on her husband.
“As long as I’ve known him, he said that since he was a little boy, he always knew he wanted to be a dad,” she told ESPN in 2021. “As important as being a baseball player to him is, I think being a dad is even more important.”
