Prince attended Florida Air Academy in Melbourne, Florida for his first three high school years. At Florida Air, Fielder had a composite .442 batting average with a total of 24 doubles, three triples, 29 home runs, and 108 RBI. He then transferred to Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne for his senior year.

Then he signed a letter of intent with Arizona State. But the Brewers were able to sign Fielder. Tom McNamara and Jack Zduriencik signed him.

SON OF A MAJOR LEAGUER

Prince's son, Jadyn, was born August 17, 2004. "I homered that day," Fielder said. Jadyn's godfather is Fielder's minor league teammate and fellow top prospect, Rickie Weeks. Jadin weighed less than 8 pounds at birth, but he has since caught up to his big-boned lineage.

Prince and Rickie Weeks are close teammates. They  first crossed paths as youngsters, when they played on the same AAU team in Orlando, Fla., managed by former big leaguer Chet Lemon. After that, they lost track of each other for a few years.

When Fielder was selected by Milwaukee out of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Fla., in the first round of the 2002 draft, Weeks was already setting school and NCAA records as an All-American second baseman at Southern University. In 2003, Weeks followed in Fielder's footsteps as a first-round pick by the Brewers.

Prince married Chanel in a clubhouse ceremony in Nashville during the Triple-A All-Star game in July 2005.

A few weeks into the Arizona Fall League season, on October 17, 2005, Fielder was allowed to leave and attend to wife, Chanel, who was pregnant and having some health issues.

Prince and Chanel celebrated the birth of their second child, Haven Cole, March 21, 2006.

Early in the 2007 season it was obvious that Prince was becoming a more vocal leader on the Brewers. But when he was asked if he was planning to become more assertive, Fielder said, "I'm not trying to. I just want to win. All these guys are my friends. I want us to have fun, and the only way to have a good time is to win games. That's what we're all here for."

March 2, 2008: The Brewers renewed Prince's contract for 2008. Fielder was slated to earn $675,000.

"The fact I've had to be renewed two years in a row. I'm not happy about it because there's a lot of guys who have the same amount of [Major League service] time that I do, who have done a lot less and are getting paid a lot more," Fielder said.

"But my time is going to come. It's going to come quick, too."

Brewers GM Doug Melvin, who on Sunday defended the club's handling of Fielder's contract and argued that the player, not the team, chooses a renewal, pointed out Monday that the Marlins' Hanley Ramirez was renewed at $439,000, or $236,000 less than Fielder. Ramirez, the 2006 National League Rookie of the Year, batted .332 last season with 29 home runs and 81 RBIs.

Early in 2008 spring training, Fielder announced that he was a vegetarian. He cut out some former diet staples completely and replaced them with green leafs and soy, wheatgrass, tofu, among several other ingredients that are beyond pronouncing.  The change in diet came from reading unappealing facts about the meat processing industry from a book his wife gave him.

“Fans last year were yelling at me, ‘Hey Prince, eat a salad!’ ” Fielder said during dinner at a Milwaukee restaurant in April 2008. “This year they’re saying, ‘Eat a steak!’ I feel like going: ‘Keep yelling, buddy. You’re still in the stands.’ ”

"He can be mean to people," righthander Carlos Villanueva said. "You see him laugh all the time, but my locker is right beside his in Milwaukee, and I've seen people try to talk to him when he's locked and he'll be—even with friends on the team—he'll be like, 'Not now.'"

Better to leave him alone.

"I try to just step away," Villanueva said, smiling. "I don't even want to know what would happen. I just go."

"He could be the most intense player I've ever seen or been around." Yost said. "To be the leader of a team and the heart and soul of a team at his age is unusual. To be a guy who is feared around the league is unusual. There are only a few hitters in the league that really intimidate teams and managers, and he's one of them at such a young age."(April 2008 Adam McCalvy MLB)

June 19, 2008: Brewers slugger Prince Fielder owes more than $400,000 in unpaid taxes, according to a published report.

Fielder declined comment on the report through a team spokesman before a game against Toronto. An IRS spokesman told The Associated Press that Fielder could have made payments or even paid off the debt, but that it might not be recorded yet.

The Detroit News' Tax Watchdog blog published a copy of the IRS's Notice of Federal Tax Lien filed against Fielder on Oct. 6, 2005. It was addressed to a residence in his name in Melbourne, Fla., and noted he owed a total of $409,149.14, assessed on Sept. 13, 2004, and Feb. 7, 2005.

In September 2009, Prince upset the baseball purists with a celebratory act against the Giants. Fielder untucked his shirt after a game-winning homer, then stomped on home plate as teammates fell around him like bowling pins.

TRANSACTIONS

June 2002: The Brewers made Fielder their first round pick, out of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Fla.

January 20, 2009: Prince and the Brewers filed for salary arbitration. Fielder asked for $8 million, while the team countered with a $6 million offer.

And, on January 22, Fielder and the Brewers reached agreement on a 2-year, $18 million contract.

"(The key) is just trying not to do too much, not over-swinging, staying under control with his approach; it all starts with his approach," Brewers hitting coach Jim Skaalen said. "Just staying easy and being in proper rhythm. When he does that, he sees the ball so very well and stays on the ball so well.

"You'll still see him (overswing) from time to time," Skaalen said. "But then you watch him, and he'll just step out and he slows himself down in his mind. He goes through the checklist items that he has mentally. I can see him refreshing it, restoring it in his memory bank and gets back in there and generally makes a pretty good adjustment."

Some left-handed batters have a difficult time picking up the ball from lefty pitchers, but Brewers manager Ned Yost said Fielder's fearless approach at the plate and his pitch recognition never waver, no matter whom he faces.

"He doesn't change his approach, and that's why he has been so consistent," Brewers hitting coach Jim Skaalen said. "He does the same thing every time, and then it becomes a game of pitch selection. When you do that, your plan has a chance of working."

Prince has molded a reputation as one of baseball's most intimidating hitters, a la Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols.

Fielder waves his 35-inch, 32-ounce bat like it is a fly rod, the muscles and tendons in his tattooed forearms twisting like steel cables. He settles into his lefthanded stance, weight slightly on his back foot. Then, as the pitcher begins to move forward in his motion, Prince rocks back a little bit and taps his right foot lightly down in the dirt.

Prince provides some of the fiercest bat speed ever witnessed in the Major Leagues. And he is never off balance and is nearly impossible for a pitcher to fool. (Jeff Bradley-ESPN the Magazine-8/13/07)

"I never want to be considered just a slugger," Fielder says. "I want to be a guy who hits for a high average, hits a lot of doubls and walks a lot, too."

Some teams emply an infield shift against Fielder, playing to his tendency to pull the ball. He doesn't want to mess with his swing in response to the defense because he knows that is exactly what the defense is trying to get him to do. Prince refuses to try to push a dinky little grounder through a hole just because the hole is there.

Fielder admits he still swings hard at most pitches but said he has learned that tape-measure homers don't count extra.

"I realized less is more," he said. "I still swing hard but now I'm not thinking so hard.

"I've never known how to swing easy. That's always been my approach. Now, I'm thinking I'm going to hit it hard but right up the middle, not 17,000 rows (into the stands)."

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