How Prince Fielder ended up in Detroit

January, 25, 2012

1/25/12

11:41

AM ET

By Jim Bowden | ESPN.com

While Cecil Fielder launched home runs for the Detroit Tigers from 1990-96, legend has it his 12-year-old son, Prince, hit a home run into the upper deck of cavernous Tiger Stadium.

Of course, legends are embellished, and Prince’s shot merely went over the fence and not into the upper deck. However, after signing a reported nine-year deal with the Tigers worth $214 million yesterday (remarkably close to our projections), it’s time a new legend of Prince began in Detroit.

It was a deal that came together quickly, not unlike how the Los Angeles Angels rocked baseball’s winter meetings by signing the top free-agent hitter in Albert Pujols and the top free-agent pitcher in C.J. Wilson.

It also was a deal that might never have happened were it not for Victor Martinez.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Jim Bowden

Bowden, who served as the senior vice president and GM for the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals, is an analyst for ESPN.com. In 1992, Bowden became the youngest GM in MLB history when the Reds hired him at age 31. The Reds finished in first place twice during his 10 years as GM, and he was named MLB Executive of the Year by Baseball America in 1999. After working for ESPN in 2004, Bowden became the first GM of the Washington Nationals when the franchise relocated from Montreal to Washington, D.C., in 2005, working in that role until the 2009 season. Bowden co-hosts the "Inside Pitch" radio show on Sirius XM satellite radio. Follow on Twitter: @JimBowdenESPNxm.