Reexamining the Prince Fielder Era in Detroit

Think back to the year 2012…

The Avengers was dominating the box office, everybody had Olympic fever, and Prince Fielder was manning 1st base for the Detroit Tigers.

Over two seasons in Detroit, Fielder racked up 55 home runs, 214 RBI’s, and was named to two All Star teams. That sounds like a quality tenure on the surface, but Tigers fans know all too well that Fielder’s tenure in the Motor City was far from glamorous.

For a short bit, the robust “Prince of Detroit” had everybody excited for summertime; but he seemed to exasperate his welcome pretty quickly. But why was that? Why were so may people fed up with their once beloved slugger? Looking back, it’s pretty easy to see why.

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Between his carelessness, failure to own up to his low productivity, and bad-mouthing of fans, Prince Fielder punched his ticket to Texas before the plane even landed in Detroit. During his first season, the Tigers made it to the World Series, and it was exhilarating. What wasn’t exciting was the fact that Fielder went 1-for-14 in the October Classic and began to draw criticism. This is where problems arose. As soon as criticism began to heat up, Prince showed us all he couldn’t handle opposition all too well.

In 2013, his batting average dropped from .313 to .279, while his he hit fifteen home runs less than he did in 2012. Prince was incredibly brief in his interviews, and when people were looking for answers, he would put up a shroud and hide.

But perhaps what really did it for Prince Fielder was that he simply did not care about what happened on the field. As I’m sure everybody is aware, that doesn’t fly in the Motown.

Perhaps you recall this being said after the Tigers lost the 2013 ALCS to the Boston Red Sox:

“You have to be a man about it,” he added. “I have kids. If I’m sitting around pouting about it, how am I going to tell them to keep their chins or keep their heads up when something doesn’t go their way? It’s over.“It isn’t really tough, man, for me [to move on]. It’s over. I have kids I have to take care of, so, for me it’s over, bro.”Told fans may be upset to hear him shake off a disappointing loss so quickly, Fielder said: “They don’t play.”

That was the final nail in the coffin, and quite possibly the reason he was shipped to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Ian Kinsler.

It was fun for a bit, but let’s all be glad the Prince Fielder era is over.

Next: V-Mart expectations, Rod Allen's new role, K-Rod

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