BATON ROUGE — Mark Freeman, a former LSU Tiger baseball and basketball player who later pitched in the major leagues, died in Palm Springs on Tuesday at the age of 75.
The former president of American Funds, Freeman was a member of the LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction.
Freeman lettered in baseball and basketball at LSU from 1949-51, coming to Baton Rouge from Memphis, Tenn., where he was a standout prep athlete at Christian Brothers High School.
A rangy right-hander, Freeman broke into the major leagues in 1959 with the Kansas City Athletics and the New York Yankees after several years in the Yankee minor league system. He finished his career with the Chicago Cubs in 1960. Freeman pitched in 30 games for the Cubs in 1960, going 3-3 with 50 strikeouts in 76 innings of work.
Following his major league career, Freeman started selling mutual funds, eventually working his way up to the position of president of American Funds in Los Angeles. Later in life, Freeman was a generous contributor to his alma mater and to other worthy causes.