Cecil & Prince
I love father-son success stories in sports. Genes are a curious thing. If you're Tony Soprano, you hate the fact that your son is miserable like you. But if you're Cecil Fielder, you've got to be pretty happy with how things have turned out. When you name your son Prince, you do it for two reasons -- either you really, really love "Little Red Corvette" (and, really, who doesnt?) or you are looking forward to a professional career for your son, where lazy editors can assign cliche headlines playing on the regality of your son's name.
Plus, Fielder is actually pretty good. As good as Pah Dukes? Here are Cecil's and Prince's career totals, computed down to 162-game averages.
Cecil: 568 AB, 82 runs, 145 hits, 35 home runs, 111 RBI, .255 BA
Prince: 535 AB, 75 runs, 148 hits, 28 home runs, 83 RBI, .276 BA
Pretty comparable numbers, there. Will Prince, in just his third season, evolve past his father, though? To date, the younger Fielder has played 227 games:
749 AB, 105 runs, 207 hits, 39 home runs, 117 RBI, .276 BA
And, through the same number of games for Cecil:
533 AB, 69 runs, 128 hits, 32 home runs, 87 RBI, .240 BA
Cecil batted less to start off the career, but showed a lot more power. This is reflected in the season averages above. At this rate, it appears as if Prince will be a better all-around batter. But Cecil wasn't really known as a five-tool player -- he's basically just got a hammer sittin' in that belt -- so is that really an accomplishment?
