Bill Freehan is one of those star players that people forget about. He played in the shadow of guys like Al Kaline and Willie Horton, yet he’s one of the top catchers to ever play and he had a stretch of ten straight seasons in which he made the All Star Game. He never had 100 RBIs in a season nor did he score 100 but year in and year out he was productive from behind the plate in an era where a lot of catchers didn’t hit all that well. In fact, his Runs Created Above Position (RCAP) was better then Killebrew’s.
It’s hard to pick Freehan’s best season because 1967 and 1968 were so similar. In 1967, he hit a solid .282 but he walked 73 vs. only 71 strikeouts so he ended up with a .389 OBP. Throw in 20 homeruns and some gold glove defense, and the net result was a third place finish in the MVP voting behind sluggers Carl Yastrzemski and Harmon Killebrew. The .389 OBP was good for sixth in the American League and his .838 OPS was good for eighth. Freehan also led the league by being hit by 20 pitches.
Freehan mashed left handed pitching in 1967. Nine of his 20 homeruns came against lefties despite having almost 150 less plate appearances against left handed pitching. His final line was .324/.461/.983 vs. lefties while he was only .260/.345/.406 vs. righties.
April and May were Freehan’s best months and he helped get the Tigers off to a good start in 1967. Freehan had nine of his 20 homeruns in those first two months and in April alone, he posted an OPS of 1.110. Even his May OPS of .915 was very good but a rough June and July helped temper his numbers a bit. Part of his decline in the second may have been because he caught 147 games in 1967. So all but fifteen games had Freehan behind the plate, which had to wear the big catcher down.
If you look at the Tigers championship seasons, all but 1945 had a top notch back stop behind the plate. I’d put Bill Freehan just ahead of Lance Parrish but just behind Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane.
Here’s a look at Freehan’s final 1967 numbers
Games 155
AB 517
Runs 66
Hits 146
Doubles 23
Triples 1
Homeruns 20
RBIs 74
Walks 73
Strikeouts 71
Stolen Bases 1
Caught Stealing 2
BA .282
OBA .389
SLG% .447
OPS .835
RC 97
RCAA 37
RCAP 49
RC/G 6.44
ISO .164
