Gibby finally met Freddie.
In an emotional pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Thursday night, Freddie Freeman, the hero of the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series championship, and Kirk Gibson, the hero of their 1988 crown, met and hugged on the field, before Gibson threw the ceremonial first pitch to Freeman.
Gibson’s appearance at Dodger Stadium before the Dodgers-Tigers game was a surprise. He came onto the field wearing a Dodgers uniform.
Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series, en route to the Dodgers’ 4-1 series win over the New York Yankees. Thirty-six years earlier, Gibson, hobbling with two bad knees, hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, en route to the Dodgers’ 4-1 series win over the Oakland A’s. The home runs were hit to practically the same spot, over the fence in right field.
“Let’s make this official,” Joe Davis, the Michigan native and Dodgers broadcaster, said during the pregame ceremony Thursday night. “Gibby … meet Freddie!”
Gibson, wearing a No. 23 Dodgers, jersey, walked onto the field to a standing ovation, and Freeman wore a big grin, before the two hugged.
Also as part of the pregame ceremony, the Dodgers raised their World Series banner, and rapper Ice Cube drove the World Series trophy onto the field.
This was the first public appearance for Gibson, 67, since the Tigers and Gibson announced earlier this month that he would not be a part of the Tigers’ television broadcasts this season, after a long run over two separate stints as a color commentator. Gibson has battled Parkinson’s Disease since 2015, and he said he will turn his attention to the opening of his Kirk Gibson Center for Parkinson’s Wellness later this year in Farmington Hills.
“Although I may be leaving the booth, my connection with the Tigers remains strong,” Gibson said in a statement March 17. He has not done interviews on the subject.
Gibson was a Tigers TV analyst from 1998-2002, and again from 2015-24. In between, he had stints on the field, as a coach for the Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks, and then as manager of the Diamondbacks.
Gibson still is an adviser to the Tigers’ front office.
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Gibson played 17 seasons in the major leagues, mostly for his hometown Tigers, with whom he won the 1984 World Series, hitting a memorable and clutch home run in the clinching Game 5 of that series against the San Diego Padres.
He left the Tigers before the 1988 season to join the Dodgers as a free agent, amid a dispute with then-Tigers owner Tom Monaghan. He was Most Valuable Player in the National League that year, leading the Dodgers to their second World Series championship of the decade, first since 1981.
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