A big payday, but then a bigger collapse
Detroit Tigers first baseman Cecil Fielder becomes baseball’s highest-paid player 32 years ago today as he signs a five-year, $36 million contract with the Detroit Tigers.
Of course, that distinction only is temporary as baseball’s salaries – just as they are today – continue to spike with each subsequent signing of an All-Star like Fielder.
Fielder’s new annual average pay in 1993 is $7.2 million, which back then is a great payday for a player coming off a three-year span in which he hits 130 home runs, while also leading the major leagues with 389 runs batted in.
Fielder’s production, though, slips over the next three seasons from 1993-95 as he produces a modest – by his standards anyway – 89 homers and 289 RBIs.
Detroit then flips Fielder to the New York Yankees midway through the 1996 season for onetime All-Star but now underproducing outfielder-designated hitter Ruben Sierra and minor league pitcher Matt Drews.
Fielder remains with the Yankees through 1997, batting .260 in 151 games for them with 26 homers and 98 RBIs as he finishes out the final season-plus of the initial five-year, $36 million contract he signs 32 years ago today with Detroit.
Cecil Fielder with the Yankees
Fielder, a free agent after the 1997 season, does not fare as well on his next deal, signing a one-year, $2.8 million contract with the Anaheim Angels in what turns out to be his last season in the majors.
He hits 17 homers in his final season with the Angels before playing his last game just eight days before his 35th birthday in 1998.
For his career, Cecil Fielder earns $46.9 million, a seemingly nice sum of money if not for what happens next as his life rapidly unravels after he stops playing.
His homelife falls apart.
His marriage ends in divorce.
His son – future All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder – stops talking with him for years.
His gambling debts go up as his investments go bad.
His creditors chase him from coast to coast.
He eventually loses the 50-room mansion he owns in Melbourne, Fla.
“This isn’t the same Cecil,” Fielder’s ex-wife, Stacey, later tells the Detroit News. “I never saw any of this coming.”
Apparently, few – if anyone – did.
“(He) never showed that side around me or any of his friends,” former All-Star second baseman, onetime Tigers coach and longtime Fielder friend Juan Samuel told the Detroit News. “A lot of times it starts small, a little bet here and there, maybe even in the clubhouse. Before you know, things get out of hand.''