Congratulations go out today to former Detroit Tigers’ slugger “Big Daddy” Cecil Fielder, who was named the new manager of the Charlotte County Redfish of the South Coast League. Fielder had previously been the roving hitting instructor for the six-team independent pro league, comprised mostly of former college players based in the Sun Belt of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  

Fielder, whose 13-year career also saw him make stops with the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Anaheim Angels and Cleveland Indians (along with a storied stop in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers) hit a career .255 with 319 home runs and 1008 RBI. Today, he is better known both as the father of Milwaukee Brewers superstar-in-the-making Prince Fielder, as well as his off-the-field troubles with gambling that have reportedly left him broke, divorced fro Prince’s mother and estranged from his son. The rift was never more obvious than on Prince’s recent trip to Comerica Park where his first-place Brew Crew took on the Tigers: no questions about his Dad, thanks, and further, he would only speak after the games.

Here’s hoping Cecil uses this opportunity as a means to turn his life around and – more importantly – reconcile with his son, somehow, someway. The two were frequent batting practice buddies at old Tiger Stadium (including a barely teenage-son Price walloping balls into the historic right field overhang) and Tiger fans everywhere, or at least The Heckler, have a special place in our Tiger hearts for Price and Cecil.

- The Heckler - BaseballBigMouth.com

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 at 8:36 am and is filed under MLB photos, Baseball News and Views, Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.