A star high school player, Freese declined a college baseball scholarship from the University of Missouri.

Needing a break from baseball, he sat out his freshman year of college before feeling a renewed urge to play the game.

Despite suffering his own injuries in the minor leagues and in his first two MLB seasons, Freese batted .297 with 10 home runs and 55 RBIs during 2011, a season capped off by the Cardinals' 2011 World Series championship over the Texas Rangers, in which Freese was named MVP after hitting a walk-off home run in game 6 to send the series to game 7.

Freese authored a 20-game hitting streak in 2013, but back injuries limited his effectiveness, and the Cardinals traded him to the Angels following the season.

Born on April 28, 1983, in Corpus Christi, Texas,[1] Freese was raised in the Greater St. Louis area, in Wildwood, Missouri.

[5][6] Dattoli recommended Freese to Steve Kittrell, the head coach of the Jaguars baseball team at the University of South Alabama.

At South Alabama, opposing teams respected his hitting ability; scouts told their pitchers: "Don't let Freese beat us.

He was named an American Baseball Coaches Association All-American as the top third baseman in NCAA Division I, ahead of Evan Longoria and Pedro Alvarez, among others.

However, South Alabama made the College World Series regional playoffs, which extended their season past the pre-draft signing deadline.

[10] However, the Padres had third basemen Chase Headley and Kevin Kouzmanoff as well, potentially blocking Freese's path to the majors.

[7] He spent the season with the Memphis Redbirds of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL), where he batted .306 with a .361 OBP and .550 SLG, hit 26 home runs and recorded 91 RBIs.

[12] Freese emerged as a potential starter when an injury seemed likely to put Cardinals starting third baseman Troy Glaus on the disabled list at the beginning of the 2009 season.

[14] Freese was expected to be the team's starting third baseman, but was quickly passed over by Brian Barden and Joe Thurston.

[3] Freese was projected to start the 2011 season,[19] and he was named the starter on Opening Day, despite suffering minor ailments during spring training.

With a count of one ball and two strikes, Freese hit a two-run triple off Neftalí Feliz just out of the reach of Nelson Cruz to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

In the 11th inning, again with two strikes, Freese hit a game-winning, walk-off solo home run to deep center field (420 feet), to send the World Series to its first Game 7 since 2002.

[25][26][27] Freese joined Jim Edmonds, the man for whom he was traded, as the only players in Cardinals history to hit an extra-inning walk-off home run in the postseason.

He joined Aaron Boone (2003), and Hall of Famers David Ortiz (2004), Carlton Fisk (1975) and Kirby Puckett (1991) as the only players to hit an extra-inning walk-off home run when their team was facing postseason elimination.

[27] Freese gave the fan an autographed bat and a baseball signed by the Cardinals, for returning the walk-off home run ball.

[28][29] In Game 7 of the World Series, Freese hit a two-run double in the bottom of the first inning, bringing his 2011 postseason RBI total to 21, setting an MLB record that would stand for the next twelve years.

[37] After being injury-plagued in previous years, Freese played in a career-high 144 games in 2012, finishing the season with 79 RBIs, 20 home runs and a .293 batting average.

[38] In the 2012 NLCS against the San Francisco Giants, Freese hit a two-run home run off Madison Bumgarner in Game 1.

Through this point in his postseason career, Freese had played 25 games, batting .386 with 11 doubles, six home runs, 25 RBIs and a .739 slugging percentage in 100 plate appearances.

Unsigned at the beginning of spring training in 2016,[51] Freese signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates worth $3 million on March 11.

[52][53] Due to his leadership skills, the Pirates signed Freese to a two-year contract extension worth $11 million, with a club option for the 2019 season, on August 22, 2016.

[57] On August 31, 2018, the Pirates traded Freese to the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor league infielder Jesus Manuel Valdez.

[54] In November 2002, Freese was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol near Wildwood, and received probation under a plea bargain.

[71] Freese crashed his Range Rover SUV into a tree in Wildwood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, on November 22, 2012.

[73] No financial terms of the deal were announced other than as part of the contract Imo's would also donate $10,000 to a St. Louis area charity in Freese's name.

[54] In 2023, Freese was the top vote-getter for induction into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum, but on June 17, he declined the invite because he did not feel "deserving".