WHY I THINK CECIL FIELDER SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

WHY I THINK CECIL FIELDER SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

By- Damien 

Photo of my personal baseball card

Cecil Fielder was one of the best pure sluggers of all time. He not only hit a lot of home runs, but he was also known to hit some of the longest, such as one onto the roof of Tiger Stadium, and one out of Milwaukee County Stadium. He was part of the 50 home run club, led the majors in RBI’s for three straight years (Babe Ruth was the only other to do this, and Fielder was often compared with him), won two home run titles, led the AL in slugging once and total bases once, and hit 319 career home runs. Cecil Fielder was such a great, clean slugger that even fans of contact hitting (like myself) think that he should be a Hall of Famer. Fielder was never one to hit for average, as he hit .277 in his best season and a respectable .255 for his career but owned an astounding career home run percentage of 6.2, which is the 33rd highest of all time and higher than those of Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. Fielder started his career in 1985 with the Blue Jays, batting .311 with four home runs in 30 games. After 34 games in 1986, Fielder hit .269 and 14 homers in 82 games in 1987. He slipped to .230 in 74 games in 1988 and took the 1989 season off to play in Japan (he batted .302 with 38 home runs for the Hanshin Tigers) before signing with the Detroit Tigers. Fielder was a huge hit there, becoming the first player to reach 50 or more home runs in a season since the legendary George Foster hit 52 in 1977, blasting homers number 50 and 51 on the last day of the season. After leading baseball in homers and RBI’s again Fielder hit 35 homers and drove in 124 runs, totals that still didn’t match his performance in the previous two seasons. He hit .267 in 1993 with 30 homers and proceeded to hit 28, 31 and 39 longballs before slowing to 13 in 98 games in 1997. Fielder retired after 1998 when he hit “only'' 17 homers. Cecil Fielder was one of the game’s best sluggers, and a player who long should have been inducted into Cooperstown. 

LIFETIME STATISTICS

Games career: 1,470 season high: 162 in 1991 led AL: 162 in 1991 

At Bats career: 5,157 season high: 624 in 1991 

Hits career: 1,313 season high: 163 in 1991 

Doubles career: 200 season high: 25 in 1990 and 1991 

Triples career: 7 season high: 2 in 1994 

Home Runs career: 319 season high: 51 in 1990 led AL: 51 in 1990, 44 in 1991 

Runs career: 744 season high: 104 in 1990 

Runs Batted In career: 1,008 season high: 133 in 1991 led AL: 132 in 1990, 133 in 1991, 124 in 1992 

Stolen Bases career: 2 season high: 2 in 1996 

Walks career: 693 season high: 90 in 1990 and 1993 

Strikeouts career: 1,316 season high: 182 in 1990 led AL: 182 in 1990 

Batting Average career: .255 season high: .277 in 1990 

On Base Percentage career: .345 season high: .377 in 1990 

Slugging Percentage career: .482 season high: .592 in 1990 led AL: .592 in 1990 

Total Bases career: 2,484 season high: 339 in 1990 led AL: 339 in 1990 

Sacrifice Hits career: 0 

Fielding Percentage career: .991 season high: .993 in 1991, 1994 and 1995 

Double Plays career: 742 season high: 137 in 1990 led AL 1B: 137 in 1990 

Putouts career: 7,382 season high: 1,190 in 1990 

Assists career: 694 season high: 111 in 1990 led AL 1B: 108 in 1994 

DID YOU KNOW?

-father of Prince Fielder, and they are the only father and son to reach the 50-homer plateau

-nicknamed “Big Daddy” 

-was a three time all-star (in 1990, 1991 and 1993)

-won two Silver Slugger awards, three Player of the Week awards, one Player of the Month award and even the 1996 AL Babe Ruth Award for the best performance during the postseason

-won a World Series ring in 1996 while with the Yankees, when he batted .391 with a pair of doubles 

-had career totals of 19 games, six runs scored, 18 hits, three doubles, three home runs, 15 RBI’s, seven walks, 13 strikeouts and a .286 batting average in postseason play 

-played two games as a second baseman, seven as a third baseman and one as a leftfielder 

-led the AL in extra-base hits (77) and home run percentage (8.9) in 1990 

-had the highest salary in the AL in 1995 and 1996 

-hit 20 or more doubles in a season five times 

-hit three home runs in one game on three separate occasions 

-finished second in the AL MVP voting in 1990 and 1991, ninth in 1992 and 24th in 1993 

-had the highest salary in the AL in 1995 and 1996 ($9,237,500 for each season)

-actively spoke out against steroid users in baseball, especially Mark McGwire, stating that he was the best first baseman in the league and should have been an all-star more often