‘A beautiful story’: NL MVP Freddie Freeman’s family welcomed two new babies this winter – six weeks apart.
Freddie Freeman, as gifted at viewing the big picture as he is with a baseball bat in his hands, will not play the role of bedraggled parent, even with two newborns at home.
He hardly winces when he notes the challenges ahead in the next few years, with a 5-year-old already in tow and now two more boys to join young Charlie, whose swing already befits the progeny of a reigning National League Most Valuable Player.
Nor does Freeman hesitate to embrace the surprising and unusual circumstances that brought Brandon John and Maximus Turner Freeman into this world, envisioning the yarn they’ll spin someday.
“It’s going to be different to tell the story when they’re a little bit older – ‘Yeah, I’m only six weeks younger than my other brother,’” Freeman said Tuesday from Florida, after his first workout with the Atlanta Braves this spring.
“It’s a story to tell, but it’s our story and it’s a beautiful story and it couldn’t be any better for us.”
The story is one of temporary heartbreak but also perseverance, of a family blessed with overwhelming prosperity but also the emptiness of unfulfilled dreams.
Simply, Freeman always wanted a large family and he and his wife, Chelsea, wanted to accomplish that sooner than later. Yet an emergency C-section when Charlie was born diminished their chances to conceive.
At work, Freeman’s production was almost numbingly brilliant: Between 2017-2019, he batted .303, posted a .935 OPS and home-run totals of 35, 44 and 34 and the Braves won NL East titles in ’18 and ’19.
At home, Freddie and Chelsea navigated pangs of grief as their attempts to conceive proved fruitless.
“When having Charlie happened so easily and so fast and then it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen – it takes a toll,” says Freeman. “It takes a toll on Chelsea, a toll on me. I can try to be as comforting as possible, but it was definitely one of the toughest situations I’ve faced in my life, trying to comfort my wife during such an emotional roller-coaster ride she was on.
“I don’t know if it was my fault because I’ve always said I wanted a big family. Obviously, I didn’t try to put that pressure on her, but she knew that’s what I wanted. There’s just so many different dynamics of what was going on.”
And then 2020 arrived.
A year so grim for so many worldwide did not spare the Freemans – Freddie contracted a vicious case of COVID-19 and battled it into July, reporting late to Braves camp. Yet their fortunes were about to turn.
The couple – Freddie is 31, Chelsea 29 – decided to arrange for a surrogate to carry their second child. They were just nine days from the embryo’s transfer, Freddie says, when Chelsea greeted him with stunning but welcome announcement.
Pregnant.
Suddenly, the couple were imbibing in a most unexpected cocktail – two parts euphoria, one part oh-my -gosh-two-newborns-separated-by-just-a-few-weeks.
After years of sleepless nights, the logistics suddenly didn’t seem so hard, not by the time Brandon arrived Dec. 30, and Maximus Turner – the middle name commemorating the site of Freddie’s big league debut – followed him on Valentine’s Day.
“Not something we were expecting at all,” says Freddie, “but it’s everything you want and more.
“It’s just such a crazy situation, really, to try to wrap your mind around it, but when you’re in it, and both boys are here, it’s like the best thing that ever happened. It’s going to be a long couple of years, but it’s going to be awesome when it’s all said and done. We’re having a blast. They’re great babies.”
