Bill Freehan, a 15-season catcher for the Detroit Tigers who neared the Hall of Fame threshold, died Thursday after a long bout with Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 79.
The Tigers confirmed his death.
He grew up in Royal Oak, played football and baseball at the University of Michigan, then broke in at 19 with the Tigers, helping them to a world championship in 1968 he secured after catching Tim McCarver’s pop-foul for the final out of the seventh-game epic against St. Louis.
Earlier in the series, in Game 5, Freehan made a pivotal block of Lou Brock at the plate to turn the momentum in the Tigers' favor.