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UCinternational (Crop), Prince Fielder on July 13, 2012, CC BY-SA 2.0
MLB has seen its share of great father-son duos over the years, from Bobby and Barry Bonds to Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. to Felipe and Moises Alou, just to name a few. However, in terms of pure hitting power, perhaps no father and son better exemplified the big basher than father Cecil Fielder and son Prince Fielder. Both powerfully built first basemen, the two were each among the top sluggers of their respective eras and each hit 50+ home runs in a season – moreover, father and son each finished his MLB career with exactly 319 home runs, thus prompting the obvious comparison:
Who was better – Cecil Fielder or Prince Fielder?
The Beginning
Though both Cecil and Prince were high school baseball stars, the former was a middling prospect who struggled to make his mark in MLB, whereas the latter was highly-touted and had an immediate impact at the big league level.
Cecil was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where he was an All-American high school baseball player. From there, he was drafted in the 31st round of the 1981 MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles, but instead went on to play college baseball at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). A year later, he was selected in the fourth round by the Kansas City Royals and signed with the team, though was traded in 1983 to the Toronto Blue Jays for Leon Roberts. He made his major league debut with the Blue Jays in 1985, but was a part-time player in each of his four seasons with the team, never playing in more than 82 games or having more than 175 at-bats; his best season came in 1988, when he hit .269 with 14 home runs, 32 runs batted in, 30 runs scored, a .345 on-base percentage, and a .560 slugging percentage, good for a 133 OPS+ (which measures on-base percentage plus slugging vs. a league-wide average set at 100). Frustrated with the lack of playing time, the elder Fielder signed a lucrative offer to play with the Japanese club Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League for the 1989 season.
Also born in the Los Angeles area, Prince spent his childhood around professional clubhouses with his father, once famously hitting a home run into the upper deck of Tiger Stadium at the age of 12. Originally a right-hander, he converted to lefty for baseball purposes at his father’s insistence; as a high schooler in Florida, he was the All-Space Coast Player of the Year as a senior and committed to play his college baseball at Arizona State. However, Prince was drafted seventh overall in the first round of the 2002 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers and spent a few years in the team’s farm system before being called up to the big leagues midway through the 2005 season. As a full-time rookie in 2006, he hit .271 with 28 home runs, 81 runs batted in, 82 runs scored, a .347 on-base percentage, and a .483 slugging percentage (110 OPS+) to finish seventh for NL Rookie of the Year.
Career Comparison
During their respective primes in the 1990s and late 2000s/early 2010s, Cecil and Prince were each among the most feared sluggers in the game, with 50-home run seasons to their name en route to the exact same career home run total.
Following a standout season in Japan, Cecil returned to MLB with the Detroit Tigers and had a career year in 1990, hitting .277 with a league-leading 51 home runs (also a career-high) and 132 runs batted in, 104 runs scored, a .377 on-base percentage, and a league-high .592 slugging percentage (167 OPS+); not only did he earn the first of three All-Star selections and two Silver Sluggers and finish as AL MVP runner-up to Rickey Henderson, but the elder Fielder also became the first MLB player to hit 50 home runs in a season since George Foster in 1977 and the first AL player to do so since Roger Maris in 1961. As an encore, he once again led the league in both home runs and runs batted in during the 1991 season: .261 batting average with 44 home runs, a career-high 133 runs batted in, 102 runs scored, a .347 on-base percentage, and a .513 slugging percentage, good for a 133 OPS+, another All-Star selection and Silver Slugger, and another MVP runner-up finish, this time to Cal Ripken Jr.
Over the next couple of seasons, father Cecil remained one of the AL’s top sluggers, posting two more consecutive seasons of at least 30 home runs and 100 run batted in (making it four in a row):
- 1992: hit only .244, but with 35 home runs, a league-leading 124 runs batted in (topping the category for a third straight season), 80 runs scored, a .325 on-base percentage, and a .458 slugging percentage (118 OPS+); ninth for MVP
- 1993: .267 batting average with 30 home runs, 117 runs batted in, 80 runs scored, a .368 on-base percentage, and a .464 slugging percentage (124 OPS+); third and final All-Star selection
During the strike-shortened 1994 season, Fielder was well on his way to another 30-100 season, hitting .259 with 28 home runs, 90 runs batted in, 67 runs scored, a .337 on-base percentage, and a .504 slugging percentage (114 OPS+) in 109 games. Despite another 30-home run season in 1995 (31 home runs and 82 runs batted in), he was traded midway through the 1996 season to the New York Yankees for Ruben Sierra and Matt Drews; across the Tigers and Yankees, he had his last great season: .252 batting average with 39 home runs, 117 runs batted in, 85 runs scored, a .350 on-base percentage, and a .484 slugging percentage, good for a 108 OPS+.
In his lone full season with the Yankees in 1997, Cecil’s numbers declined to 13 home runs and 61 runs batted in across 98 games played. During the 1998 season, he spent the majority of the year with the Anaheim Angels before finishing up the year with the Cleveland Indians, tallying a total of 17 home runs and 68 runs batted in. Though he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for the 1999 season, Fielder did not make the opening day roster and subsequently retired at age 35.
In contrast, son Prince broke out in his second season in 2007, batting .288 with a league-leading and career-high 50 home runs, 119 runs batted in, a career-best 109 runs scored, a .395 on-base percentage, and a career-high .618 slugging percentage, good for a 157 OPS+, the first of six All-Star selections, a Silver Slugger, and a third-place NL MVP showing; he was not only the youngest player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs in a season, but also joined father Cecil as the only father-son duo to reach the feat. The next year, he still managed 30 home runs (34) and 100 runs batted in (102) before having another monster campaign in 2009: .299 batting average with 46 home runs, a league-leading and career-best 141 runs batted in, 103 runs scored, a .412 on-base percentage, and a .602 slugging percentage (166 OPS+) for another All-Star selection and fourth-place for MVP.
As the 2010s rolled around, the younger Fielder remained an annual 30-home run force in the middle of the Brewers lineup. Though his batting average dropped to .261 in 2010, he still hit 32 home runs and led the league with 114 walks. Nevertheless, he rebounded once again in 2011 with a .299 batting average, 38 home runs, 120 runs batted in, 95 runs scored, a career-high .415 on-base percentage, and a .566 slugging percentage for a 164 OPS+, another All-Star selection and Silver Slugger, and third place for NL MVP again. However, as a free agent in 2012, he joined the Tigers (his father’s old team) with the largest contract in team history. The investment paid immediate dividends, as Prince was an All-Star in each of his first two seasons with Detroit:
- 2012: career-high .313 batting average with 30 home runs, 108 runs batted in, 83 runs scored, a .412 on-base percentage, and a .528 slugging percentage; ninth for AL MVP and final Silver Slugger
- 2013: .279 batting average with 25 home runs, 106 runs batted in, 82 runs scored, a .362 on-base percentage, and a .457 slugging percentage (122 OPS+)
Following just two seasons with the Tigers, Prince was traded to the Texas Rangers for Ian Kinsler and cash, but was limited to just 42 games played in 2014 due to a neck injury. He bounced back in 2015 with a final All-Star season, hitting .305 with 23 home runs, 98 runs batted in, 78 runs scored, a .378 on-base percentage, and a .463 slugging percentage, good for a 126 OPS+. Unfortunately, after struggling to a .212 batting average in 89 games played in 2016, he was diagnosed with a serious neck injury that forced him to retire at the age of 32.
While Cecil technically played one more MLB season compared to Prince (13 vs. 12), the son actually played nearly a season’s worth of additional regular season games and had more career at-bats due to being a starter his entire career. On the whole, other than the same career home run total (exactly 319 apiece), the younger Fielder leads in essentially every major offensive category, both counting statistics and averages. Both father and son compiled six 30-home run seasons (including 40x home runs 2x and 50x home runs 1x apiece) and scored 100+ runs twice, but Prince also hit .300+ 2x and had one more season with 100 runs batted in (6 to 5), resulting in double the number of All-Star selections (6 vs. 3) and an additional Silver Slugger (3x vs. 2x). However, both players were one-dimensional sluggers and that is evidenced by their relatively low career Wins Above Replacement (WAR): 23.8 for Prince vs. 17.2 for Cecil. Overall, while each player had his moments as a major leaguer, neither was consistent enough or had the longevity to warrant serious Hall of Fame consideration.
Regular Season Statistics
| Cecil Fielder | Player | Prince Fielder |
| 13 (1985-1988, 1990-1998) | Seasons | 12 (2005-2016) |
| 1,470 | Games Played | 1,611 |
| 5,157 | At-Bats | 5,821 |
| 1,313 | Hits | 1,645 |
| 744 | Runs | 862 |
| 319 | Home Runs | 319 |
| 1,008 | Runs Batted In | 1,028 |
| 693 | Walks | 847 |
| 2 | Stolen Bases | 18 |
| .255 | Batting Average | .283 |
| .345 | On-Base Percentage | .382 |
| .482 | Slugging Percentage | .506 |
| 119 | OPS+ | 134 |
| 17.2 | Wins Above Replacement | 23.8 |
| 3x | All-Star Games | 6x |
| – | MVP | – |
| 1x | World Series Titles | – |
| 2x Silver Slugger | Other Awards | 3x Silver Slugger |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
In contrast to their similar regular season profiles, Cecil had his moments in the playoffs and came away with a World Series ring later on in his career, whereas Prince generally struggled in the postseason.
After playing sparingly in one playoff series with the Blue Jays early in his career, the elder Fielder made the postseason in three straight seasons with the Yankees. Most notably, he was an integral piece of the 1996 World Series-winning team: after hitting .364 in the ALDS, he batted just .167 in the ALCS, but had 2 home runs and 8 runs batted in; finally, Cecil hit .391 (9 hits in 23 at-bats, including a pair of doubles) in a six-game World Series victory vs. the Atlanta Braves and their stellar pitching led by Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz.
On the other hand, the younger Fielder played in the postseason 5x in the prime of his career between 2008 and 2015 with the Brewers, Tigers, and Rangers. His best postseason run came in 2012, when an upstart Detroit team made it all the way to the World Series before being swept by the San Francisco Giants; however, he struggled individually, batting just .190, .235, and .071 (1 hit in 14 at-bats), respectively, across each successive postseason round.
Playoff Statistics
| Cecil Fielder | Player | Prince Fielder |
| 19 | Games Played | 44 |
| 63 | At-Bats | 164 |
| 18 | Hits | 31 |
| 6 | Runs | 13 |
| 3 | Home Runs | 5 |
| 15 | Runs Batted In | 12 |
| 7 | Walks | 15 |
| – | Stolen Bases | – |
| .286 | Batting Average | .189 |
| .357 | On-Base Percentage | .276 |
| .476 | Slugging Percentage | .311 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Cecil needed a season in Japan before establishing himself as a full-time major league player, while Prince’s career was prematurely ended by a serious injury. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Cecil Fielder | Player | Prince Fielder |
| 1987, 1990-1998 | Decade of Dominance | 2006-2013, 2015-2016 |
| 1,332 | Games Played | 1,530 |
| 4,826 | At-Bats | 5,612 |
| 1,237 | Hits | 1,591 |
| 707 | Runs | 841 |
| 302 | Home Runs | 314 |
| 956 | Runs Batted In | 1,002 |
| 667 | Walks | 820 |
| 2 | Stolen Bases | 18 |
| .256 | Batting Average | .284 |
| .349 | On-Base Percentage | .383 |
| .485 | Slugging Percentage | .510 |
| 17.4 | Wins Above Replacement | 24.0 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
For both Cecil and Prince, their respective decades of dominance cover the vast majority of their total career games and at-bats; as a result, the trends here are similar, with Prince coming out slightly ahead in pretty much every offensive category.
My Thoughts
Even with the explosion of home runs in the past few decades due to steroids, smaller ballparks, more lively baseballs, etc., hitting 50 home runs remains one of the game’s most difficult feats; as it stands (and will likely stand for a long time), Cecil and Prince Fielder are the only father and son duo to ever accomplish this feat. Put them side-by-side, either physically or based on their career numbers, and the pair are a study in similarities – one-dimensional, but boy, was that one dimension a doozy! Other than the similarities of a 50-home run season and 319 career long balls, I think the matchup clearly favors the son here – better overall hitter, better eye at the plate, etc. Between his slow start and later decline, Cecil was really only a full-time force for about half-a-dozen seasons in the 1990s and clearly used up everything in the tank by the time he retired. In contrast, Prince was a star from the very beginning and was an extremely consistent and durable player – in nine of his 12 seasons, he played at least 157 out of 162 games (including all 162 games 4x) and finished 13th for AL MVP in his second-to-last campaign, i.e. his last full season. In fact, this is somewhat reminiscent of the comparison between Don Mattingly and Kirby Puckett, two contemporaries with similar career numbers, but very different career arcs; in this case of the Fielders, the father was a shell of himself at the end of his career (like Mattingly), whereas the son likely had many more productive seasons left had he not been befallen by a career-ending injury (like Puckett).
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Prince Fielder
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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