‘Driven: The Freddie Freeman Story’ premieres Thursday, July 17 on MLB Network
MLB Network is running a Freddie Freeman documentary this week that will first run on Thursday, July 17 at 5 p.m. PT. ‘Driven: The Freddie Freeman Story’ shares the story of the Dodgers and Braves first baseman from his childhood to winning last year’s World Series MVP.
The documentary chronicles Freeman from childhood to now, growing up the youngest of three brothers who lost his mother to skin cancer when he was just 10 years old.
Interviews with Freeman and his father Fred, combined with archival footage, show the clear bond between the two, which was in many ways forged by baseball.
There was Ernie Johnson, the longtime TNT basketball host and announcer, calling Freeman’s major league debut in September 2010.
We see how badly the Dodgers wanted Freeman in free agency after the 2021 season, even though they didn’t think they were going to get him because it seemed obvious he was going to re-sign with Atlanta. Until they traded for Matt Olson, that is.
“The Dodgers pounced on it,” Freeman said of the Dodgers’ post-lockout pursuit, echoing a headline I wrote at the time.
Through the documentary we also see the bond between Freeman and Mookie Betts, another future Hall of Famer the Dodgers pounced on when given the chance. The two stars shared the experience of fitting in with a new team, and formed a connection even if it wasn’t so much spoken in the early going.
Consistency was mentioned multiple times by Betts and by shortstop Dansby Swanson, Freeman’s former teammate with the Braves.
“There’s something to who Freddie is and his body of work that allows for him to be successful just by being out there,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman says during the documentary. “Just the fear of when he’s coming up in the lineup.”
Freeman has been an ironman of the sport for a long time, playing in 99 percent of his team’s games from 2018-23, often only missing time after his teams clinched the division, something his teams have done in each of the last eight seasons.
But the 2024 season brought with it quite a toil for Freeman, both mentally and physically, something chronicled quite well in this documentary with interviews from Freeman, Betts, Friedman, Dave Roberts, Freeman’s father, Tom Verducci and others.
Freeman’s son Max was hospitalized for eight days in intensive care after the All-Star break last season, during which Freeman missed time. He also played through a broken finger, than sprained his right ankle so badly during the final week of the regular season that he eventually got surgery on it in the offseason.
But there was also the broken rib suffered on the eve of the NLDS that made it difficult for Freeman to breathe, let alone swing. It was a very minor part of the doc, but something I adored was Freeman describing suffering the broken rib on “the 13th swing” of his batting practice. For a player so meticulous and hellbent on playing every day, I very much appreciated the beauty of the specificity here.
Of course Freeman would know exactly what swing it was.
Freeman’s October was one to remember, even if it took some time to get there. He had to sit out games to stay healthy in the first two rounds, and even that took some convincing from his father to rest. Just the daily act of getting Freeman ready to play was so daunting that Friedman called it, “One of the greatest acts of determination I’ve ever seen.”
Freeman is someone who wears his emotions on his sleeve, which was shown throughout throughout the doc, from his tearful return to Atlanta in June 2022, to the return press conference last year after his son Max was out of the hospital, to rushing over to find his dad behind home plate after hitting the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, then winning World Series MVP.
“Whatever I feel from the game, I just let it all come out,” Freeman says.
But by us seeing all those emotions and the various lows make the highs that much sweeter to relish. ‘Driven: The Freddie Freeman Story’ does a good job in taking us along for the ride.