Rockies’ Kyle Freeland wears his heart for Colorado tattooed on his arm
Every picture on Kyle Freeland’s right arm tells a story.
A pocket watch on his bicep commemorates a defining moment in his professional life. His wife, Ashley, their dogs, and his beloved grandmother are also celebrated in ink.
Love for his native state is tattooed up and down his arm. A columbine celebrates the state flower. The numbers 303 and 5,280 need no explanation for any Colorado native.
“I was born and raised here and I’m proud of that,” the Rockies’ left-hander said. “And there are so many elements about Colorado that you can incorporate in your tattoos. The mountains, the beautiful summers, the state flower, the snow, all of that, including the Mile High City.”
Freeland, 29, was born and raised in Denver and attended Holm Elementary, Hamilton Middle School and Thomas Jefferson High School. He grew up snowboarding at Keystone and will spend this month’s all-star break chilling out in Vail.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland’s tattoo honoring the mountains of his home state.
He’s a huge fan of the Stanley Cup champion Avalanche, Broncos and Nuggets. Last month, Freeland took a detour on his way to pitch against Miami against the Marlins. He made a special trip to Tampa Bay on his night off to support the Avs by attending Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena.
During the offseason, Freeland lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., so that he can get in a lot of his baseball work in a warm climate. But the Centennial State will always be home.
“I love Colorado,” he said, acknowledging that being able to play for the team he grew up watching was a big reason why he signed a five-year, $64.5 million contract extension in April.
Freeland’s primary artist is Josh Lucero of Love N Hate Tattoo Studio in Lakewood.
“I’ll consult with Josh about what’s going to come next,” Freeland said. “We still have some places to fill in.”
Lucero has done tattoos for a number of other Colorado athletes, so he said he didn’t “get the jitters” working on Freeland.
“Plus, Kyle is a pretty cool, easy-going guy,” Lucero said.
Freeland got his first tattoo as a junior at the University of Evansville. The tattoo runs across his back.
“It says, ‘Repetition is the father of learning.’ It’s something I have tried to live by over the years,” Freeland said. “It’s how I approach my job, every day. I think it’s helped me keep on track.”
It’s on the right sleeve where Freeland wears his heart. It’s worth a tour.
The first tattoo he got on his arm begins with a lyric from “Victory Music,” a song by rapper Machine Gun Kelly: “My city told me they needed me, so I’m grindin’ for that.” The script then morphs into a Colorado-inspired mountain range.
The centerpiece of Freeland’s body art is the pocket watch. The hands are set at 8:14.
“That’s pretty important to me,” Freeland said. “That’s when the Rockies drafted me. I was the eighth pick in 2014.”
The exact date was June 6, 2014. Freeland was sitting down on the couch when Commissioner Bud Selig announced his name, and Freeland, overcome with emotion, tumbled into his dad’s arms as friends and family celebrated wildly around him.
“Leading up to it, I didn’t know how I was going to react,” Freeland told The Post at the time. “But it was a roller coaster of emotions when they called my name. I just had to grab my dad (Don) and give him a hug.”
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland’s tattoo of a clock marking the date of his draft.
Lucero said the pocket watch is his favorite Freeland tattoo.
“I think it came out pretty nice,” he said.
A ticket stub tattoo, with a stamp of 040717, commemorates another career milestone: April 7, 2017, the day Freeland made his big-league debut, beating the Dodgers, 2-1, in Colorado’s home-opener at Coors Field. Freeland pitched six innings, allowing one run on four hits, struck out six, and walked two. He also got his first big-league hit, singling off Hyun Jin Ryu in the fifth inning.
A columbine is inked on his shoulder and further down the arm are gardenias in full bloom. Hovering near the flowers is a bee.
“Gardenias were my grandmother’s favorite flower,” Freeland said. “Her name was Beatrice Moss, so that’s what the bee is for. We called her ‘Grandma B.’ ”
Above the bee, near the crook of Freeland’s arm, are the letters AKB. The A stands for his wife, the K is for Kona, their golden retriever, and the B is for Benny, their black German shepherd.
Freeland’s personal canvas also includes a sunflower (Ashley’s favorite flower), a snowflake on the elbow, and Colorado evergreens covering his tricep.
Freeland has only one tattoo on his left arm — a small 60-6 on his wrist — for 60 feet, six inches, the distance from the pitching rubber to home plate. The rest of his throwing arm is ink-free.
“I’m a little cautious about that,” he said. “You hear stories about an artist striking a nerve when they are doing shading or tattooing. I doubt it would ever happen. But I didn’t want to risk the possibility of striking a nerve. At least not right now.”
When Freeland gets up in the morning, takes a shower, or pulls on his Rockies jersey, he looks over his tattoos.
“Yep, every day,” he said. “It reminds me what I have and where I come from.”
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland’s tattoo honors the mountains of his home state.
