If Prince Fielder never wants to be compared to his father
again, he's coming back to the wrong place.
Fielder has agreed to a $214-million, free-agent deal to play the next nine
seasons in Detroit, where he grew up watching his dad, Cecil, hammer home runs
for the Tigers from 1990-96.
How many questions will it take during his introductory news conference before
Prince is asked about Cecil?
Detroit fans watched this inseparable father-son duo hanging out together at
the ballpark day after day a couple decades ago, but it's a relationship that
took a very ugly turn back in the late '90s.
Back when Prince Fielder was a minor league player in the Milwaukee Brewers'
system he was once quoted, "My father is dead to me."
Talk about a family feud.
They reportedly have been estranged since 2004. Prince rarely answers questions
from the media about his father. Cecil, meanwhile, often is interviewed on the
subject and has made it clear he expects the bitterness between them to end one
day.
Prince's ill will toward his father goes back to a nasty divorce between his
parents. According to a Detroit News story in 2004, Cecil Fielder squandered
the family fortune — he had made $47 million during his baseball career in
salary alone — because of a gambling addiction and poor business decisions.
Prince also accused his dad of taking $200,000 from his signing bonus when he
was 18 years old.
Some thought Prince would never consider signing with a team that his father
played for, simply because he despises being mentioned in the same sentence
with Cecil.
Cecil has frequently defended himself during his highly publicized dispute with
his son.
"Can't anybody say I didn't give my son everything in the world,"
Cecil Fielder said in an interview last summer with the Yuma (Ariz.) Sun.
"My son was a gifted child, but he had some difficulties that he had to
overcome. No. 1 was weight. He was an obese kid. Without his dad paying for a
trainer to come over there six days a week, he would have been an obese kid to
this day."
Prince Fielder weighed 305 pounds as a sophomore in high school. Many scouts
thought he was too fat and too undisciplined to become the type of major league
star that he's become.
Prince and Cecil are the only father-son combo to both hit at least 50 home
runs in a season. Cecil hit 51 for the Tigers in 1990. Prince hit 50 for the
Brewers in 2007.
Prince has admitted in the past that he wants to hit 52, one more than his
dad's career best. "Then he can't say anything," Prince said.
The duo is also the only father and son to both win home run titles. When asked
about the possibility during that '07 season, Prince told USA Today, "That
would be cool to be the home run champ, but not because he did it. That
wouldn't mean anything. Not a thing. Now, if it were me and one of my sons,
that would be cool."
Cecil has responded to some of Prince's comments with fighting words over the
years.
"I wanted to drop a right on him instead of talking to
him," Cecil once said. "I let him know, at the end of the day, if you
ever talk to me like that again, you're going to see me in front of 40,000
people trying to get after you," Cecil vowed another time.
For anyone who remembers seeing Prince follow his father around Tiger Stadium
all those years ago, it's sad to see what's happened to them. Maybe a return to
Detroit will help bring back those good father-son memories and help encourage
a reunion.
Cecil Fielder said during an interview Tuesday on MLB Network Radio that
they've taken some steps in the right direction lately.
"We're having a few chats," Cecil said. "We're doing a lot
better than we were. Time heals all wounds. Everybody has to come back together
at some point."
Cecil said he was "shocked" by the news that Prince would be wearing
the Old English D, just like he once did.
"He's going to come full circle," Cecil said during the radio
interview. "He was there in Detroit most of his young life. I think he'll get
comfortable in that place. I know Mr. Ilitch (Tigers owner Mike Ilitch) is
probably excited because he's been wanting that kid since he was a little kid
so he probably got his wish."
