Former Detroit Tigers slugger Cecil Fielder attended Friday night’s game between the Tigers and Marlins in Miami and shook hands with his son, Prince, next to the dugout before the game.
FOX Sports Detroit cameras caught the happy reunion. The father and son haven't seen eye-to-eye in recent years, and Cecil told me last year that he wouldn’t be going to Detroit’s games because Prince, who signed with the Tigers in 2012, once had him removed from a stadium.
When I spoke to Prince recently about his consecutive-games streak -- now up to 503 -- he credited his work ethic to his dad but wouldn’t make much of the baseball card of his father that he recently stuck into his clubhouse name plate.
Cecil told me last year that he wouldn’t attend any Tigers games because Prince “throws me out of the damned stadium.” Cecil said that happened several years ago when he entered a family room at Turner Field in Atlanta after watching Prince play for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Reports say that Cecil’s bitter divorce from Prince’s mother and gambling problems led to the father-son difficulties. Cecil said that it “hurt” to deal with the situation; however, it was evident on Friday night that the son welcomed his father, who won two American League home run crowns in Detroit.
The Tigers lost, 3-2, to the Marlins. Fielder walked in the second inning and was removed for pinch-runner Don Kelly. Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he wanted to rest Fielder with the Central Division crown already clinched.
Prince is batting .281 with 25 homers and 106 RBIs.
The Fielders have combined for 604 homers. Cecil hit 245 of his 319 homers for the Tigers, and his son has connected for 55 of his 285 homers for Detroit.
Bobby (332) and Barry Bonds (762) hold the father-son record with 1,094.
MOONWALKER UPDATE
Leyland told FOX Sports Detroit’s John Keating on Friday that the moonwalk he displayed in the clubhouse celebration Wednesday night was nothing new.
“I did it several times this year,” said Leyland, noting that he saved it for after big wins.
The hand gestures made the skipper’s moonwalk, a Michael Jackson staple, that much funnier.
“No gloves on, buddy, but I had the fingers out there,” Leyland added.
