Fielder was always big. He weighed almost 50 pounds when he was just a year old. He always had a huge appetite.

"You'd see the kid running around holding a package of raw hot dogs," says Kash Beauchamp. Kash lived with the Fielders in a trailer in the early 1980s, when he and Cecil played for the Single-A Kinston Blue Jays. "He'd eat every one of them, then still eat a meal."

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

He got hooked on baseball hanging around big league clubhouses.

"Ken Griffey Jr. is my favorite player, other than my Dad," Prince said when he was a youngster. "He can help his team in so many ways. Dave Justice is another guy I imitate."

Prince also liked Tony Phillips, Rob Deer, and Pete Incaviglia. In fact, when he was just four years old, he did a TV commercial with Cecil soon after they moved to Detroit. "He was getting dumped in garbage cans and was wrestling with Tony Phillips," Cecil said. "He's seen it all."

Prince says his father never pushed him into baseball.

"If I need information, he'll just tell me if I ask. He's a good person to go to," he said. "When I first started in Little League, I felt like I had to hit eight home runs every game," he said. "My Mom (Stacey) got me out of that. My Dad, too. They told me, 'Just be yourself.' Every now and then, I feel like I have to play the best, but I get no pressure from my teammates or my parents."

In his very first game as a professional, on June 19, 2002, playing for the Ogden Raptors in front of 4,864 fans, Prince came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, Ogden trailing 9-5, but had the bases loaded. Two pitches later, Fielder reached out and deposited a fastball over the left-field wall and into a shopping center parking lot across the street.

"To play in your first pro game and hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to tie it up, that's like video game stuff," Fielder said. "It was great. I've tied games up before (with home runs), but I've never hit a grand slam to tie it up."

Ogden won an inning later when outfielder Mario Mendez hit a walk-off, three-run homer.

Entering the 2004 season, Baseball America had Prince ranked as the #2 prospect in the Brewer organization (behind only Rickie Weeks). And before 2005 spring training, the magazine again had Fielder second in the Milwaukee system, behind Rickie Weeks.

Before 2006 spring camp opened, Fielder was rated the #1 prospect in the Brewers organization by Baseball America.

In May 2004, Fielder was suspended for three games for his role in a bench-clearing brawl while he was with the Huntsville Stars (SL-Brewers).

The incident started after Fielder was conked on the helmet by a fastball from Mobile BayBears (Padres) P Chris Rojas. Fielder and Rojas went at each other, touching off a bench-clearing melee. Fielder was tackled from behind by Mobile catcher Nick Trzesniak, who was suspended for three games. Rojas was also suspended.

Prince has had to overcome tough times while his father battles a serious gambling problem. Cecil was living with Prince with creditors beating down the door and his parents in the midst of a messsy divorce. That is part of why Prince may have had a drop-off in his numbers in 2004. It is not that easy to stay focused with so much negativism going on within your family.

The young man left the Mexican Winter League in November, returning to the United States to work through the family issues. According to Prince, his father skimmed $200,000 off his $2.4 million signing bonus.

Brewers Farm Director Reid Nichols said the younger Fielder is getting help from the Brewers' employee assistance program. "It's a tough thing for a 20-year-old to go through," Nichols said. "He is dealing with some tough personal issues."

Prince's son, Jadyn, was born August 17, 2004. "I homered that day," Fielder said. Jadyn's godfather is Fielder's former teammate Rickie Weeks. Jadyn 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.

"Rickie will get on me every now and then and say I'm not being serious or not doing something right," Fielder said. "He'll tell me to get it right. We're honest with each other. We're not 'yes men' with each other. Every now and then I'll get to laughing too much and he'll say, 'All right, that's enough.' But off the field, he's not as serious. That kind of helps me."

That bond grew deeper last fall when Fielder asked Weeks to be the godfather of his newborn son, Jadyn. It was a responsibility that Weeks did not take lightly.

"That meant a lot to me," Weeks said. "It shows you how close we are." (Tom Haudricourt-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-5/15/05)

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

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."

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.

“Last year fans 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.’”

But by 2011, Prince said he had dropped out of the vegetarian lifestyle.

"No more of that anymore," Fielder said. "It was OK, but as far as the schedule and all that and trying to eat like that, that's a lot of work and something you have to map out. I still eat good, though."

"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's 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, 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.

Prince was asked what guys he has enjoyed watching play, since he'd been around the game all of his life.

"Mo Vaughn, as far as hitters, was my favorite to watch," Fielder said. "Ken Griffey Jr. as far as all-around. Those two are probably my favorites."

Fielder is family first. He spends time with his family, then shows up ready to play every game, something you can't say about every player.

Teammate Ryan Braun with the Brewers: "I've said it many times. To me, one of the most impressive things is Prince plays every day and he always plays hard. A lot of guys claim to play hard. A lot of great players in this league don't run balls out. Prince runs every single ball out, he plays every single day, he competes every day, he swings as hard as he can every time," Braun said.

"Any young player who comes up to the Milwaukee Brewers and sees a guy like Prince, who isn't a small, lean guy, run out every ball, that encourages other people to play the game the right way and play the game hard," Braun continued.

"His size drives him. I really believe that. That's a perception he can't ever escape because of his body type. It's not for a lack of effort. It probably has more to do with genetics than anything else.

"It's an image people have created about who he is. It's something that motivates him all the time, to prove to people how athletic he really is."

April 2013: "He's in very good shape," Tiger manager Jim Leyland said after Fielder went 2-for-4. "I mean, he worked very hard this winter. He's got a regimen that he does with somebody, but he's in tremendous shape. He was bouncing around real good." 

Fielder said that his offseason workouts focused on footwork.

May 2013: Prince filed for a dissolution of marriage from his wife, Chanel, on May 28, according to online court records from the Orange County Clerk's office in Florida.

The couple have two sons, Haven and Jadyn, and an offseason home in Florida. The two were married during the minor league season in July 2005, when Prince was playing with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds.

The impending divorce was first reported one day after Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter hinted during a radio interview that Fielder had been dealing with a personal issue. Hunter suggested that critics back off the slumping Fielder, saying "a lot of people don't know what's going on" in the first baseman's life.

Despite the impending divorce and his struggles at the plate, Fielder has not missed a game this season for the Tigers. "This guy is a strong guy," Hunter said. "He's out there every day. He won't come out of the lineup, no matter what's going on off the field or on the field. He's a strong guy. As players, we know what's really going on and we appreciate him going out there every day."

June 17, 2013: Prince and Miguel Cabrera, the Detroit Tigers duo, landed on that week's cover of Sports Illustrated, labeled as the "Bash Bros: Baseball's 21st-Century Version of Mantle and Maris."

The Rangers aren't concerned about Prince's weight. There has never been any doubt about Fielder being in shape to play a full season. He has played in at least 157 games in eight straight seasons, including the last 505 consecutive with the Brewers and Tigers, as of the start of the 2014 season, and has also played in 809 of his team's last 810 games. (Sullivan - mlb.com - 02/19/14)  (Editor's note: That streak ended in 2014, Fielder's first year with the Rangers, when he went on the D.L. for the first time in his career and had only 150 at-bats for the season.)

2014 Q&A:

On his favorite city to travel to: "I would have to say L.A. because my wife likes it, so I like it too."

On the best visiting clubhouse: "That's a tough one. I would have to say the Yankees. The Yankees have the best as far as food and everything being top-notch."

On his favorite pregame meal: "Anything I can get down because before the games I guess I get butterflies and a little nervous. I usually try to drink a protein shake or something liquid. I can't for some reason. Clearly, I eat a lot but for some reason before the game I can't get anything down. I can't do it."

On his favorite postgame meal: "I guess anything with chicken or steak in it. Even fish. I like all of it. I have a chef now, so I feel pretty cool. He makes whatever I want, so it depends. Whatever I feel like, he will make."

Prince's walk-up music: He did use Mozart’s “Requiem” as his walk-up music for a while in 2013. Of course, Fielder has also used the commercial jingle for the fictional product Soul Glo from the movie “Coming To America” as his walk-up music, so he’s a veritable Renaissance Man.

June 25, 2015: Fielder clubbed his 300th career homer in the Rangers' series opener against the Blue Jays, but the milestone dinger was bittersweet.

"It's cool," Fielder said. "I'd like to get some more, but yeah, I'm definitely happy about it. Unfortunately, we didn't get to win on it."

Fielder was the 2011 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in Arizona. He won the Gillette Home Run Derby in both 2009 and 2012.

 Fielder has the longest consecutive-games played streak since Cal Ripken, with a 547-game stretch that began on Sept. 14, 2010, and ended May 16, 2014 (as of the start of the 2016 season).

October 26, 2015:  Fielder picked up his first Comeback Player of the Year Award, this one coming from the Sporting News.The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Awards are selected annually by the players in each league. Fielder received 112 of the 156 votes cast by a panel of AL player of the year. Fielder was also selected by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America as the Texas Rangers' Player of the Year after leading them in batting average, RBIs and home runs in his comeback season.

2016 Spring Training: Fielder was the American League's Comeback Player of the Year in 2015, and he's looking to build on that. So he arrived at the Rangers' spring complex in Surprise with a new training technique that brought to mind another comeback kid: Rocky Balboa. Fielder brought a speed bag and a heavy bag, and he has been doing boxing training while encouraging teammates to do the same. Mitch Moreland, Keone Kela, and others have taken him up on the offer.

"It's just a fun way of doing some cardio and footwork," said Fielder. "Obviously, if you punch somebody and you're not squared up right, you'll be off balance and they could probably hit you back. Thank God the punching bag won't do that, but you try to imagine it."

Fielder said he got some of the inspiration for bringing the bags to camp from his son, Jadyn, who has trained with mixed martial arts and jiu-jitsu.

"He's just really good at it," Fielder said of his son. "It just came natural to him. He'll use a couple elbows. He's pretty good."

Fielder admits that he has been entertained by watching some of his teammates take a crack at the bags, since the workouts are notoriously taxing and the rhythm of the spinning speed bag is tougher than it seems.

"A lot of guys, when you see them punch, you're like, 'Wow. I'm glad you've never been in a fight,'" Fielder said. "I've actually built up endurance for it, but it's a workout, for sure."

Fielder said he's been doing boxing workouts for two years.

"Whenever you hear boxing, it's always about footwork, with the jump-rope stuff they do," Fielder said. "It's just a fun way to burn some calories and get better, using your core. It's better than a treadmill."

Rangers manager Jeff Banister said he has no problems with it.

"If it works for him, I'm good on it," Banister said. "One of the first things my dad ever did in that little bitty garage where we lived—and you couldn't even get a car in there—he put up a speed bag and a body bag and tether ball, and worked with that. It's the hand-eye coordination, it's the hand quickness, it's the balance. I'm OK with it. Plus, I might need him by my side."  (Doug Miller - MLB.com - March 2016)

August 10, 2016: Prince announced he would have to retire, citing back and neck injuries that won't allow him to take the field.

Oct 8, 2016: Ever since the news conference in August announcing he is no longer physically able to play Major League Baseball, Prince Fielder knew that if the Rangers advanced to the postseason, he wanted to be along for the ride.

Fielder was with the team when it clinched the American League West title in Oakland, and he's with the Rangers now, understanding this is the last season he will have any statistical input as a Major League player. "I was part of something, at least, for a couple months," Fielder said after Game 2 of the AL Division Series, a 5-3 loss that put Texas in a 2-0 hole. "I'm going to finish it out."

"I can't play, so all I can be is maybe a comfort to somebody who might be frustrated or just be one of the guys," Fielder said. "Just have fun. I still love it, whether we win or not. You just have to enjoy the moment."

Fielder is still under contract through 2020, during which time he will be on the 60-day disabled list. That status enables him to be in the dugout, in uniform, during games, and that's exactly where he can be found this postseason. It's somewhat bittersweet for the 32-year-old Fielder, who once was one of baseball's premier sluggers, first as a Brewer, then a Tiger, and, finally, a Ranger.

"This is the last year that I put anything in on a possibility of us winning a World Series," he said. "After this, there's no games played. At least now I'm going to support the guys." (A Footer - MLB.com - Oct 8, 2016)

2017: Prince Fielder saw his baseball career come to a sudden end due to his neck issues. He is getting ready to launch his new career with a cooking show that will air on Netflix and Hulu beginning in March, 2017.

TRANSACTIONS

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

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."

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 two-year, $18 million contract.

January 18, 2011: Fielder and the Brewers avoided salary arbitration, agreeing to the the highest single season contract for an arbitration-eligible player, surpassing Mark Teixeira's $12.5 million agreement with Atlanta in 2008, when Prince signed a $15.5 million contract for 2011.

January 24, 2012: Prince and the Tigers agreed on a nine-year, $214 million contract. It's the largest contract in Tigers history, the fourth-largest contract in Major League history, and the fifth-highest annual salary—behind Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, and Albert Pujols.

November 20, 2013: The Rangers sent Ian Kinsler to the Tigers, acquiring Fielder and cash considerations ($30 million). Prince still had $168 million due him for 2014 through 2020 (seven seasons), so the Rangers will owe $168 million to Fielder.

Prince's lefthanded swing has been described as short and violent. Unlike his Dad, who was a right-handed pull hitter, Prince bats from the left side and uses the entire field, making him more difficult to pitch to. He can hit home runs out of any part of the yard. He can catch up to any fastball with that short stroke. His bat speed is tremendous. He is able to push his hands in and constantly get the barrel of his bat squarely on the ball.

When Fielder is going well with the bat, the key for him is keeping his head down and watching the ball hit the bat. Think about the Little League drill where kids bite the collar of their shirts while swinging. When Fielder is going bad, he is taking violent cuts and ends his swing looking somewhere near the first-base dugout, which makes it appear he is trying to hit the ball into the next county every time. (2008)

Prince now trusts his hands to hit breaking pitches that stay in the strike zone. Fielder always says he wasn't born to take "easy swings," but there is a difference between easy and controlled.

"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 Skaalensaid. "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 lefthanded 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 doubles, and walks a lot."

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.

In 2007, Prince led the National League with 50 home runs and a .618 slugging percentage. He finished with 354 total bases, 109 runs scored, 119 runs batted in and a .288 average. He also drew 90 walks (21 intentional) and had an impressive .395 on-base percentage.

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)."

On May 11, 2011, when Prince hit his 200th home run, he became the 15th-youngest player in Major League history to reach that plateau.

Fielder finished the 2012 season with 85 walks and 84 strikeouts, the second straight year he accumulated more walks than K's.

Cecil's longest dinger was measured over 500 feet, while Prince reportedly smacked one 611 feet during the 2012 spring. It's hard to think that Prince could lose to anybody in a long-distance contest, but then there's this clip of Cecil homering onto Tiger Stadium's roof back in '93. He's also one of just a few players (Harmon Killebrew, Mark McGwire) to clear the 94-foot high structure. A home run contest between Prince and Cecil in their power-hitting primes would be extraordinary.

Fielder got rid of his batting gloves early in the 2015 season, deciding to go au naturale.

On April 29, 2016, Prince delivered the 1,000th RBI in his career. It's a notable milestone for any Major League player. And his 1,000th RBI and his 839th career run scored were both big plays in the Rangers 4-2 victory over the Angels at Globe Life Park.

Prince is much quicker and more mobile around the first base bag than people might think by just observing the large body he inherited from his Dad, Cecil Fielder. 

But overall, Fielder will never be more than adequate at first base. He will never have much lateral movement, lacking quickness and thus, range.

In 2003, Brewers roving infield instructor Eddie Romero worked with Fielder, as did Don Money, his manager at Beloit.

"We're trying to get his hands a little softer and his footwork a little better," Romero said in 2003. "He's a good enough athlete to do it. Like anything else, it takes a lot of repetition and experience. There's no doubt in my mind he has the ability to do it. We just want to make him the best possible defensive player he can be."

Fielder has become an excellent first baseman. He plays more games than most first baseman, and he goes after more balls than most do, so he tends to make a few more errors because of both of those factors.

But he might be the most instinctive and cerebral first baseman of all. He has an uncanny game sense, knowing what the opposition is going to do an positioning himself accordingly. So he gets more assists than most first baseman. (October 2012)

May 27, 2014: Fielder underwent surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck and miss the rest of the season. He went on the 60-day D.L. The repair was to C5 and C6 disc in his neck.

The The surgery is designed to keep the disk from pinching a nerve, causing Fielder's left arm weakness. Typical recovery is three to four months.

March 9, 2016: Fielder returned to Texas to take part in a sleep study after having trouble getting rest during spring training. The star first baseman and designated hitter had been having problems sleeping since arriving at camp in Arizona.

March 11, 2016:  Fielder was back with the Rangers, sleeping soundly and ready to go.  Fielder was given a mask to wear at night when he goes to bed. Fielder said he had a good night's sleep the first time he wore the mask and he could tell it has made a big difference.

Prince was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea.

Fielder, 32, had surgery for a C4/C5 herniation in his neck on July 29, ending his season. He also underwent a similar procedure in 2014. He is not retiring; he is medically disabled and doctors will not clear him to play, sources told MLB Network Insider Ken Rosenthal.