Any discussion of Detroit Tiger legends includes the late number 11, Royal Oak native Bill Freehan, who led the Tigers as a catcher for 15 years. His record for highest career fielding percentage (.9933) wasn’t broken until 2002. When he retired, his 200 home runs as a catcher were only behind other catching legends, Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey, in the American League.

Eleven of those seasons were as an MLB All Star. The five-time Gold Glove Award winner caught legends Denny McLain, the 1968 regular season MVP (Freehan finished second), and Micky Lolich, the 1968 World Series MVP.

But the legend of Freehan begins in Royal Oak at Memorial Park.

Born in 1941, Freehan played in the city’s baseball leagues but it was in the 13-to-16-year-old DiMaggio League where the Freehan legend was created.

John Salter grew up in Royal Oak and played at Memorial Park years after Freehan and heard about the legend. But when he started dating Freehan’s Royal Oak native to be honored at site where it all happened By Mark H. Stowers The Memorable Memorial Park Home Run – Bill Freehan’s Incredible Hit middle daughter, Kelley (whom he later married), he asked about Freehan’s legendary feat: a 502-foot home run blast at field number three – where the Royal Oak Leprechauns and the Royal Oak Sandlot League (ROSL) call home – over the concession stand and into the parking lot.

“I said, ‘You know, Mr. Freehan, I’ve got to ask you. Everybody talks about this home run. That's a mammoth blast.’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, I hit it like that. But there was no concession stand there when I played. Roughly, I hit it there but I didn’t see it. I was rounding the bases. They said the ball rolled into 13 Mile Road,’” Salter recalled.

The deeper-than-normal baseball park’s left field fence is 388 feet.

Freehan was a humble man and his own family didn’t know about the feat as he never told them.

“I even talked to my wife and she never heard the story,” Salter said. “He loved the Royal Oak area and he loved playing in those little leagues there.”

This summer, the ROSL, Royal Oak Leprechauns and the City of Royal Oak will partner to honor the historic home run designating the spot where it first landed. Those plans are in the initial planning stages and will be announced in the coming months.

Freehan’s professional career included playing in 1,774 games tallying 1,591 hits for a .262 career average that included 241 doubles, 200 home runs, 758 RBIs. Upon his retirement, he was a color commentator for the Seattle Mariners from 1979 to 1980 and then worked Tiger games for PASS Sports from 1984-1985. He returned to his alma mater, the University of Michigan, as head baseball coach from 1989 to 1995.

The Royal Oak and MLB legend passed away in August of 2021 due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. But it all began at what’s now known as #TheLuckyCorner – Memorial Park or field number three, where Bill Freehan took one deep – 502 feet in left centerfield.