Originally published by DodgerBlue.com
Hours before the Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up the exhibition Freeway Series, Freddie Freeman made his way down to Orange County for a special event at El Modena High School.
Freeman, his wife Chelsea, their sons Charlie, Brandon and Maximus, and his father and more family members were on hand for the unveiling of the Freddie Freeman clubhouse. In August 2022, Freddie and Chelsea made a $500,000 donation that contributed to the development of a new baseball clubhouse that includes a locker room and coach’s office.
“I’ve been coming back here for six years now during the offseason. This is where I train and get ready for the season. This whole conversation and this project started a couple years ago,” Freddie Freeman recalled.
“I had a talk with my dad and was like, ‘I really want to help and give back to El Mo because it’s been such a special place to me.’ That kind of started the conversation.
“Coach (Josh) Kliner obviously was very thrilled with it. To see it all done, this whole offseason I was hitting here and there was construction going on, so to see the excitement building up and to see it done, it’s special.”
Freeman’s emotional connection to El Modena stems from how the school supported his older brother, Andrew, when their mother passed away. Freeman at the time was just 10 years old but having witnessed how El Modena staff members and then-baseball coach Steve Bernard rallied around the family, it inspired his decision to go out of district in order to attend that high school.
That family environment resonated with Freeman and was an impetus behind helping the school build a new clubhouse.
“The same group of family members — I had about 20 here — is usually how it was when I was here in high school. My family came out and supported me every time I played,” Freeman said.
“Now having my kids here, seeing where dad went to high school and played, Charlie kind of gets it a little bit, but my 3-year-olds don’t really get what’s going on. They just see grass and want to run.
“But for Charlie to be able to potentially remember this as he gets older, that’s what it’s all about for me. As you guys know, family is everything to me. To be able to create a family environment at the high school I went to, makes everything a little better.”
Freddie Freeman trains at El Modena
Since deciding to permanently make his offseason home in Southern California, Freeman has returned to El Modena High School every year for hitting workouts.
That afforded him an opportunity to track the progress of the clubhouse construction throughout the winter, but he did not step foot inside it until Monday. The finished product quickly impressed Freeman and struck him with how far conditions have come for the team.
“It’s like a cargo shipment thing. It’s maybe 100 square feet. Or not even 100 feet, I would say,” Freeman said of the old baseball clubhouse.
“It’s small, but we thought it was amazing back then. When you see this, it’s just amazing something like this could come out of it for the kids. You never know if you’re going to play beyond high school, so to give them something like this is what it’s all about.”
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