Farewell young Prince

Texas Rangers DH Prince Fielder explains why he is walking away after a second neck surgery alongside his sons Haven, 10, and Jadyn, 11.

By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Over the years we’re unsure how many major league players we have met, either for a story or in passing.

Hall of Famer Yogi Berra was 82 when we met him inside the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium in 2008. 

Hall of Famer Enos (Country) Slaughter was 83 when we met him in an elevator at the Ostega Hotel in 1999 at Cooperstown, N.Y.

What about the other end of the scale? 

The youngest we ever met who grew up to be a major leauger?

Well, there was a day in September of 1987 when a Toronto Blue Jays DH introduced me to his son in the lobby of the Sheraton Copley Plaza in Boston.

“This is my son,” Cecil Fielder said with a smile, “his name is Prince.”

Prince was three at the time.

It was a simpler, different time in the 1980s. Writers rode charter flights with the team. Writers would share a cab to the park with a player.

(I recall Tim Wallach jumping into a cab in front of the Westin Hotel as we headed for Wrigley Field, an autograph hunter handing him 10 baseball cards, Wallach signed one and returned it to the fan. Why sign only one? What do you think he’s going to do with the other nine? Sell them? Right. OK, understood.)

Writers would stay at the same hotel and young players would gladly introduce his son to a writer.

This was pre-internet, pre-Twiter, pre-Podcast, pre-exit the side door to the private limo. Nowadays the names of player’s children are not mentioned in the media guides.

We thought of that early afternoon meeting in Massachusetts while we watching this week’s coverage of a tearful Prince Fielder seated at a table addressing the media in Arlington, Tex. An emotional Texas Rangers DH, his young sons at his side, faced the cameras to say he would no longer be playing baseball. He was done.

Recovering from his second spinal fusion surgery in the past three years, he spoke in halting tones saying “Doctors told me since I had two spinal fusions, I can’t play Major League Baseball anymore. So I want to thank my teammates and the coaching staff.”

Wearing a neck brace, Fielder said: “I’m going to really miss those guys. They’re a lot a fun. I’ve been in a big league clubhouse since I was their age. To not be able to play is going to be tough.”

To his left sat Haven, 10, and Jadyn, 11. Both had their heads buried in their chests. Jadyn wiped away a tear. They didn’t like the sight of their pop being so emotional.  

Fielder missed one game the previous five seasons before being dealt to Texas by the Detroit Tigers for second baseman Ian Kinsler before the 2014 season.

The next time after that meeting in the downtown Boston hotel lobby we saw Prince Fielder was during an early hitting session. We don’t remember the park. He was a high school student and he was filling the upper deck with line drives.

It was not unlike 1991 when Blue Jays outfielder Mookie Wilson had his step son Preston Wilson a grade 11 student go upper deck, upper deck during early hitting. Meanwhile the Jays second round pick, outfielder Dante Powell a high schooler from Long Beach, had a rough day and had trouble getting the ball out of the infield. Powell wasn’t signed but emerged three years later after attending Cal State Fullerton as a first rounder selected by the San Francisco Giants. 

The next time we spoke with Prince Fielder was spring training 2006 when we were in Arizona to interview Corey Koskie (Anola, Man.) after he was dealt by the Jays to the Milwaukee Brewers, where Fielder played first base.

Waiting for Koskie we chatted with Prince. He recalled the early hitting session in front of Jays, but he did not remember our meeting in Boston ... and we don’t think he got the Canadian humor when I acted in mock shock that he did not recall the meeting.

We thought about Boston, about his early hitting session, talking in Arizona and how much fun he had playing the game both for the Brewers and the Rangers watching that painful presser. 

It was sad.

Sad for Prince.

Sad for Prince’s sons.

Sad for Rangers fans.

John McHale, late Montreal Expos president, used to say how few players retired on their own terms ... not many went out on top the way Ted Williams did.

After 12 seasons Prince Fielder, 32, deserved better than to walk away wearing a neck brace.

We wish him health in his future days.