It started with a heartfelt tribute to Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela and ended with a history-making victory. The opening game of the 2024 World Series proved to be a unique victory for Los Angeles.
Freddie Freeman lifted the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory over the New York Yankees when he hit the first walk-off grand slam to end a game in World Series history with two outs in the tenth inning.
As the ball flew into right field, a sold-out Dodger Stadium exploded.
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“Those are the kinds of things, when you’re five years old with your two older brothers and you’re playing Wiffle ball in the backyard — those are the scenarios you dream about,” Freeman told reporters after the game.
With the cheapest tickets sold more than $1,000Dodgers fans packed the stands at Elysian Park Stadium, where a mural honoring legendary player Fernando Valenzuela had just been painted. Some wore sombreros and Valenzuela’s #34 jersey in tribute to the player, born in Etchohuaquila, Sonora, Mexico, who was affectionately known around the baseball world as “El Toro.”
The team announced his death at the age of 63, earlier this week.
During Friday’s game, a video board showed highlights of his legendary eleven-season run with the team, a mariachi performance paid tribute to him and his wife and family members gathered on the field as a moment of silence was held in his honor was held. He is widely credited with increasing the sport’s popularity among Latino fans. As Jaime Jarrín, the Dodgers broadcaster who called games from 1959-2022: said prior to his jersey retirement last year: “He created more baseball fans and Dodger fans than any other player.”
“Because of this kid, people have fallen in love with baseball, especially within the Mexican community,” Jarrín said.
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Valenzuela’s decorated rookie season in 1981 was the last time LA faced the Yankees in the World Series.
On Saturday morning, just hours away from the second game of the series, Dodgers fans still reeling from Friday night’s victory compared Freeman’s walk-off grand slam to another historic moment in Dodgers history from the eighties.
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 15: Kirk Gibson #23 of Los Angeles Dodgers gestures to the crowd after hitting a home run during the World Series against the Oakland Athletics at Dodger Stadium on October 15, 1988 in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are defeated
“It was very magical. It reminded me of Kirk Gibson in ’88,” said fan Anthony Russo, referring to Gibson’s walk-off two-run homer in that year’s World Series Game 1. “And hopefully we get another win tonight and shut those Yankees down.”
Freeman’s father, Fred Freedman, said the first baseman was at a loss for words when he came up to him after the game. “He just headbutted me and screamed,” he said.
“I just couldn’t believe this was my son,” Fred Freeman told KCAL News. ‘I don’t think we had words. It was just yelling at each other.”
The Dodgers will take on the Yankees in World Series Game 2 at Dodger Stadium at 5:08 PM PST.
