Re: Prince Fielder
When Prince was 12 years old, he was hitting balls into the upper deck of old Tiger Stadium. Early on Mike Illitch, Tigers owner, knew this kid was special. The kid used to bring food up to the owners box for Illitch back in the days when his father was playing for the Tigers. I guess Prince and Cecil are estranged from each other these days. In the 2002 draft, the Tigers selected 8th, and the Brewers 7th. The Tigers had their hopes on Prince, but the Brewers drafted him. Illitch thought about it, and gave the green light to go ahead and get him for whatever the cost, even if he overpaid. $214,000,000 for 9 years is the 4th highest contract ever in baseball. They have Magglio Ordonez's $15M contract coming off the books, and they figure the extra $9M will be recouped in ticket sales, concessions, jerseys, post season play, etc. The move also forces Miggy to move to 3rd base, confirmed by Leyland at yesterday's press conference.