The Barbs And Boos Started At The Border For Dodgers Star Freddie Freeman

Highlights:

• A customs agent teased Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman about not using his Canadian passport
  
• Coming back to Toronto makes him feel closer to his late mother, who was born and raised in Canada
  
• Freeman has played for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic to honor her
  

The first jab came before Freddie Freeman even reached the team hotel.

 “We flew in last night, and I had my American passport, and the customs agent goes, ‘Why not your Canadian passport? '" the Los Angeles Dodgers' first baseman recalled.

So it started immediately, right there at the border and the Dodgers star knows it’s not going to get any better when the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays begins. 

Still, Freeman laughed it off as he talked to the Canadian media and could not be happier to be here. 

Closer To His Mom

Most baseball fans know by now that Freeman lost his mom when he was just 10 years old.

Coming back to her native country just hits different.

 “When you lose—I lost my mom when I was 10—and you come to the place where she was born and raised and grew up, and was around a lot in Toronto, you just feel a little closer to her. And I think that’s why coming back here is so special for me. I don’t—I really—it just makes me feel like I’m closer to my mom.” 

She loved everything about Canada, Freeman said. And she made sure her son knew it. 

Growing up in Southern California, when the Blue Jays came to play the Angels, they were there chanting, “Go Jays go!”

“If I wasn’t standing up for O Canada, I felt like I was getting ripped up from my seat.” 

That’s the soundtrack he hears when he lands back in Canada.

The Visitor’s Noise

But he understands why he isn’t received as a returning son this weekend. 

He said so. “I understand if I get booed. I do. I get it. I am on the visiting team… but Canada and this country means a lot to my family and me, so I’m very happy to be back.” He can hold that and the noise at the same time—respect for the building, love for the place, and a bat that tends to quiet things if you make a mistake.

Freeman has made sure that the Canadian connection continues.