40 Years of Mark Light Shakes and an Opening Day Birthday for Mitch Freedman
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Choose a flavor. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, buffalo wings, a cannoli, or even a lobster tail. If you attend a Miami Hurricanes baseball game, you must stop by the concession stand to get a taste of what comes next.
After decades of reinvigorating a classic sweet treat, Mitch Freedman celebrates two achievements when the Hurricanes open on Feb. 14 to commence a new baseball season.
Mark Light Shakes is celebrating year 40 of being one of college baseball's greatest treats and a legendary staple for the Miami Hurricanes. Moreover, he also celebrates his 75th birthday.
"It's unbelievable really," Freedman said. "You know, when you start, you never know where you're gonna end up, but it's been quite a ride and I'm very appreciative of the fan support at Mark Light. As far as being 75, you can have that. No, it's great."
The goal remains the same for Freedman. He wants everyone to be satisfied, no matter if it is your first or next shake.
"I really like watching someone who's having their first shake because the expression on their face is usually priceless and it's very heartwarming to me," Freedman said. "Then there are people who have gotten the same shake almost the same inning at every game, the whole time, and we've honored them by naming a shake after them."
Memories and moments can be created with just one simple shake. Freedman has been making them for so long that he has endless stories of people coming from near and far to get a sip. He highlighted one special moment when he created the first of many named shakes.
"One of my highlights is the first name shake was to a gentleman named Nestor Leon. He was an FPNL employee and his side hustle was being an usher at Cane's baseball games. He used to get a coffee shake every game and one game he said 'You know what? Throw some hot fudge in there.' So we started making his shake coffee shake with hot fudge, it became the Nestor Special. and that was the first named Shake.
Now flash forward 20 years or so, and his son, who was bringing his son to the game, came to his first game and saw his dad's name up on the menu board and it brought a tear to his eye," Freedman said. "It was really quite moving."
Moments like this sparked a motto that Freedmen has had since he started to make people smile at Mark Light.
"We have an old saying that every fan at Mark Light is VIP," Freedman said. "We try to live up to that. It's really one big family, and so when you're working with your family, it's fun usually."
It also highlighted why Freedman always wanted to stay close to the game. He played in college and always knew he wanted to be involved somehow no matter where he was in the ballpark.
"Well, I played myself in a long, long ago in a galaxy far far away," Freedman said. " Right at the University of Rochester in New York. And I always wanted to stay close to the game so here I am. Fortunately, things worked out so that I could be in concessions and close to the game at the same time."
Now kick starts year 40 and another season of baseball. Moreover, this season is in store for a few surprises.
"We're kicking off with quite a few tributes and accolades," Freedman said. Opening night, of course, is Valentine's Day, so we're gonna have something there. And then Sunday, one of the cast members from the movie Captain America: Brave New World is going to be in the stand of handing out shakes. The following Sunday, I'm gonna be throwing out the first pitch on the 23rd and we'll go from there."
The Hurricanes will start the 2025 season at Mark Light Field against Niagara, with the first pitch commencing Friday at 7 p.m. Thanks to Purple Eagles coming, buffalo wing shakes will be the first of many specialty shakes Freedman crafts this season for each visiting team coming into town.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at justice.sandle111@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@Justice_News5.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.