On December 13, 2025, Roger Freed will be one of thirteen inducted into the Puerto Rico (PR) Pro Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). Freed was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 2, 1946, and passed away in Chino, California, on June 9, 1996, at 49. He qualified for 2025 induction by virtue of playing five PR seasons—two more than the minimum required for imports—whether Stateside or Cuban ballplayers. Five of the thirteen inductees were imports (Luke Easter, Billy Byrd, Cuban Fernando Díaz Pedroso, Roy Partlow, and Freed).

Freed’s 1970-71 PRWL Debut

Freed alerted the author that Reggie Jackson said, “Roger, you’re driving in too many and not leaving anyone on base for me.” A late-season injury kept Freed from hitting 10+ HR. His 165 AB/40 RBI equaled 4.13 AB per RBI, versus Reggie’s 4.7 AB/RBI (221 AB/47 RBI). Jackson’s 20 HR led the loop. The Top Five RBI leaders were: Caguas’s Bob Oliver (52), Jackson (47), Freed (40), San Juan’s (SJ) Ken Singleton (38), and Caguas’s Willie Montañez (35). Santurce (37-32) finished third, won the playoffs, and represented PR in the February 1971 Caribbean Series at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Don Baylor (9 HR, 30 RBI, 231 AB) was Santurce’s CF, with Freed (LF) and Reggie (RF), until Terín Andino replaced Freed (9 HR). Tony Pérez (8 HR, 24 RBI, 115 AB) joined the team at the halfway mark. Elrod Hendricks (8 HR, 34 RBI, 219 AB) also furnished power for skipper Frank Robinson.

A 1972-73 Phillies-Caguas Connection

Phillies hitting coach Billy DeMars managed the 1972-73 Caguas Criollos, as Bob Boone, Freed, and Mike Schmidt reinforced the Criollos. Willie Montañez, a Caguas fixture, was another Phillies player. Caguas GM José “Ronquito” García brought in Montreal Expos prospects like RHP Steve Rogers. “Montreal sent me down to work on my slider,” noted Rogers. “It was helpful.” Schmidt struggled and played some shortstop. Freed hit clean-up and played LF. Caguas’s Game 4 semi-final series line-up, versus Ponce: Jerry Morales-CF, Félix Millán-2B, Montañez-1B, Freed-LF, Otto Vélez-3B, Boone-C, Bombo Rivera-RF, Schmidt-SS, and Domingo Figueroa-P. In Game 5, Iván de Jesús Sr. replaced Schmidt at SS. Fred Beene (8-2, 2.09 ERA) was Caguas’s ace. “I was Roger’s teammate with Santurce, Caguas, and Bayamón,” stated Beene. “He was a super individual and talented hitter.”

Santurce Crabbers RHP Paul Hartzell Remembers Freed from 1976-77

On Tuesday, November 23, 1976, thirty-year-old Freed was Ponce’s 1B and clean-up hitter facing Paul Hartzell, Santurce’s ace with a 5-0-mark, 1.14 ERA in 47.2 innings. The 13-10 Crabbers had Sandy Alomar Sr.-2B, Manuel “Nolín” Ruíz-SS, Danny Walton-DH, Tony Solaita-1B, Juan José Beníquez-CF, Ismael Oquendo-RF, Luis García-3B, Elrod Hendricks-C, and Luis Delgado-LF. The 13-9 Lions featured: Pedro “Chicken” García-2B, Gil Flores-CF, Cirilo Cruz-LF, Freed-1B, Otto Vélez-RF, Luis “Torito” Meléndez-DH, Kevin Bell-3B, Rick Cerone-C, and David Roselló-SS. Ponce’s lefty ace Ken Reynolds (4-0) took the mound at the Lions’ Den. Per Hartzell’s December 9, 2025, e-mail:

Hello Tom. Yes, I remember Roger very well. Our team had Danny Walton, who, like Roger, had unlimited power but limited utility in the field. I think you should be able to find a game played at Ponce, where I was pitching against Ken Reynolds. Both of us had good records, and the stadium was packed, as I remember. Jack McKeon was our manager, and he always went over the lineups with me, as I had only played a few months of “A” ball and then my [1976] rookie year with the Angels and had never faced any of the players on the Ponce team. When we got to Roger, his words stuck with me – “don’t let Freed extend his arms. Keep the sinker inside and down and use your slider to miss outside and get him to lean over the plate and then go back inside.” I did that pretty well, and I don’t recall Roger getting any damaging hits against me. I do recall he hit a long and very high fly ball that our Juan Beníquez ran down, and Roger gave me the “I just missed that one” look, to which I laughed at him, and I don’t think that made him happy! I remember watching him play for the Phillies when I was in high school. I think so, I knew enough to know that Jack was right!

Hartzell’s (6-0) two-hour-and-15-minute CG win (4-2) showed 9 IP, 9 hits, 2 runs, 1 ER, 5 SO, 0 BB. Reynolds (4-1) in 7.2 frames, allowed 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 9 SO, 7 BB. Mike Barlow pitched 1.1 innings. Sandy Alomar’s three-run HR in the second brought in Hendricks and Delgado. Beníquez scored an unearned run in the third. Freed went 1-for-4 (single), and Cirilo Cruz (3-for-4) scored once with Ponce’s only RBI. Paid attendance was 3,340. Six days earlier, Hartzell—the winning starter—witnessed Hendricks’s 100^th Puerto Rico Winter League (PRWL) career HR, in Santurce’s 13-2 romp over Caguas and ex-1969 AL Cy Young Winner Mike Cuéllar. Hendricks will be inducted into the PR Professional Baseball Hall of Fame with Freed. Alomar Sr., Beníquez, and Cuéllar have been previously inducted.

Freed’s PRWL Legacy

Freed clouted 64 PRWL HRs, but his HR output might have doubled, to 128, had he played five more seasons. Table I includes his actual stats plus projected ones, had he also played from 1971-72 through 1975-76, plus 1979-80, to complete a decade. His 64 HR in 913 AB is one HR/14.27 AB. In seven documented post-season (semi-finals) games, he went 8-for-25, a .320 BA, with three doubles, four HR, 11 RBI, and a .920 SLG. In five semi-final games versus the 1976-77 Bayamón Cowboys, he outhit Bayamón’s Ken Griffey Sr. and Dan Driessen, members of the 1975/1976 Cincinnati Reds. Freed’s 33 HR with Ponce (1976-78) are the most by any Lions’ import, surpassing 32 hits by Dick Simpson, 1965-68.

Table I: Roger Freed’s PRWL Hitting Stats

>Led league. ^Tied for league lead. #Projected stats 1970-71 to 1979-80, assuming 10 PRWL seasons. !Partial (2 games). BAY=Bayamón; CAG=Caguas; PON=Ponce; SAN=Santurce. Source: https://beisbol101.com/jugador/roger-freed/

Freed Compared to Some Other Top PRWL Career HR Hitters

Bob Thurman clubbed 120 HR in 12 seasons to José “Cheo” Cruz’s 119 in 21 PRWL campaigns. Elrod Hendricks’s 105 HR came in 17 seasons. Santurce’s Willard Brown’s 101 were in 10 winters. Luke Easter’s 38 HR in three PRWL seasons (585 AB)—age 33, 40, and 41—could have become 127 in 10 seasons, had he played pro baseball at an earlier age. Table II positions Freed with a PRWL-best 128 career HR, assuming a full decade of play. Table III favorably compares his five-year PRWL AB per RBI (4.66) to other well-known league hitters such as Luke Easter (4 AB), Willard Brown (4.1), Buster Clarkson (4.48), Josh Gibson (4.58), Reggie Jackson (4.7), Juan González (5.1), Monte Irvin (5.2), Willie Mays (5.2), Orlando Cepeda (5.44), and Tony Pérez (5.5). 

Table II: Roger Freed’s Potential Full Decade PRWL AB per HR Versus Other League Sluggers

^Projected to 10 seasons (5 x 2). >Projected to nine seasons (3 x 3.333). #Gibson was very ill in 1945-46 with zero HR in 116 AB. <Aaron was 19 and a line-drive hitter; he tied Caguas teammate Jim Rivera for the most HR. ##1983-84 MVP. Sources: beisbol101.com, José Crescioni Benítez, and Tom Van Hyning.

Table III: Freed’s PRWL Career AB per RBI Versus Some Others

Sources: beisbol101.com, José Crescioni Benítez, and Tom Van Hyning.

Freed’s 1977 SL Cardinals Season with a .473 weighted On-Base Average (wOBA)

Vern Rapp, 1977 SLC manager, was Freed’s favorite big-league skipper. Freed had a memorable 1977 campaign for SLC: 33/83, two doubles, five HR, 21 RBI, a .398 BA, .463 OBP, .627 SLG, 1.09 OPS, and .473 wOBA. The latter assigns higher weights to extra-base hits than to singles and factors in walks, intentional walks, and HBP. One big league pinch-hitter in the 1960s/1970s with a higher wOBA than Freed (1977) was Gates Brown, the 1968 Detroit Tigers: .503 wOBA, 34/92, seven doubles, two triples, six HR, 15 RBI, .370 BA-.442 OBP-.685 SLG, and 1.13 OPS. Table IV compares Brown’s 1968 and Freed’s 1977 wOBA with some 1968 and 1977 teammates. Brown played in the 1963-64 PRWL for the Mayagüez Indios. A .400 wOBA is excellent, whereas a .350 wOBA is good, and a .300 wOBA is so-so.

Table IV: Gates Brown’s 1968 DET wOBA and Roger Freed’s 1977 SLC wOBA vs. Teammates

Sources: https://www.fangraphs.com/players/roger-freed/ and https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/hittinglogs.php?p=brownga01&y=1968

Postscript

Ponce owner Juan “Yuyo” González ensured that Lions’ imports would live in Ponce, connecting them to the community. “Yuyo was the owner, and he had a Jeep dealership,” recalled Freed. “I drove one of his Jeeps around to get around. He found a nice house to rent for my wife and three children. I enjoyed myself and played hard on the field. People want to see you do the best you can, and that is why I produced and gave 100 percent.” It is fitting that Yuyo González will be inducted alongside Freed on December 13, 2025. Twenty-year-old Bayamón SS Dickie Thon (1978-79), a teammate of Freed’s and a PR Pro Baseball Hall of Famer, recently texted the author, “Roger had a powerful stroke and was very strong.”

Special thanks and appreciation to Roger Freed, Paul Hartzell, Fred Beene, Steve Rogers, and Dickie Thon. Jorge Colón Delgado did the editing and photo placements.