Prince Fielder’s High School Coach on His Passion, Career

Prince Fielder retires from MLB / Tom Hagerty

Watching Prince Fielder battling through tears while announcing his retirement from baseball, emotions ran deep for many, including his former high school baseball coach at Florida Air Academy, Wayne Tyson. Fielder played three years for Tyson from 1999-2001, drawing a close relationship with his coach during his tenure there. The news of Fielder’s struggle tremendously pained Tyson. 

“He worked so hard at it and that’s something that I will always appreciate,” Tyson said. “It broke my heart to hear that his career was going to be over. … I think this has to crush him because it has mattered [so much] to him.” 

Bashing home runs out of Tiger Stadium at the age of 12, Fielder entered high school with a skill set that was well above a typical freshman. Despite his advanced talents, Fielder was Tyson’s hardest worker and most energetic player. 

“He just continued to work at his game just like any player, but he worked at it very hard,” he said. “He did have a talent level that was above most obviously. In the batting cage, you would be out there working in the cage with him and he’d say, ‘Gimme one more.’ You would throw him one more and it’s a bullet off the back of the cage and he says, ‘I mean a bucket.’ He wanted one more bucket! That’s the way he was. He never shied away from doing anything we did in practice. He did everything with energy; that includes base running and fielding. Everything he did, he did with a great energy. I had other guys that played at the same time with him that wouldn’t give me the same juice.” 

Fielder had his coming of age moment on the field during his freshman year that reinforced his major league prospects. Tyson remembers his first high school home run signaling that Fielder had arrived. 

“We knew his freshman year,” he said. “His first home run was hit in John Carroll high school in Fort Pierce against a wind that was going from the left field foul pole to the right field foul pole. He hit it out to left-center at about the 375 mark; it was a screaming line drive, as a freshman! He hit that home run and I said, ‘That’s a big league bat.’ You knew it. [He did it] in a game situation, a competitive tight game that went extra innings. That was amazing.” 

As Fielder progressed through high school, Tyson noticed how Fielder’s growing leadership helped to reinforce the culture that Tyson was trying to create. His actions on the field and his interactions with his teammates took some of the weight off of Tyson’s shoulders to police the dugout. 

“He became very vocal in the right way,” he said. “He was kind of a quiet leader as a freshman in his own way. Even as a freshman, he had something that stood out. By his sophomore year, he started to really take the bull by the horns, by his junior year, my gosh! You didn’t need to run the dugout. He brought the energy; he knew how to pick a guy up and hold a guy accountable in the right way.” 

The same vibe that Fielder possessed on the field and in the dugout as a high schooler hasn’t changed in Tyson’s eyes over the past 15 years. Watching him on the major league stage, Fielder’s core personality remains unchanged. 

“I can tell you his love for the game has never changed, it’s never flagged,” he said. “He had a tremendous passion [back then] and he has a tremendous passion now. He always has something good to say about someone else. That hasn’t changed. He was instilled with some good qualities growing up and he has a wonderful personality and persona to be a team leader. 

“He was coachable, he befriended his teammates. He was never bigger than them in his own eyes. You knew he had big league talent, but he didn’t big league anybody.” 

* - This article was originally published in The Sports Post on August 12, 2016.

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Book Review: 'Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer'

At age 90, Ransom Jackson still considers his entry into the major leagues an accident; however, after reading his new book, “Handsome Ransom Jackson: Accidental Big Leaguer," (2016, Rowman & Littlefield) one will discover that there was no error in Jackson carving a 10-year career that included selections to two All-Star games and a World Series appearance.

Accidental Big Leaguer / Ransom Jackson and Gaylon H. White

Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jackson pursed golf and track as high school did not field a football team. It wasn’t until he enrolled at Texas Christian University during World War II where he was urged onto the football team by legendary coach “Dutch” Meyer due to a shortage of male students that his athleticism came to the forefront. Jackson immediately became a star running back on the gridiron despite having no formal playing experience. Seeking to double down on his investment, Meyer recruited Jackson for his baseball nine. Relying on his natural abilities, Jackson excelled on the diamond, batting .500 his freshman year. Quickly, a star was born.

Partnering with journalist Gaylon H. White, Jackson recreates a landscape of major league baseball that has long escaped with witty anecdotes and never-before seen photos from Jackson’s personal collection. The stunning images provide a sense of intimacy from a time in baseball’s history that was far removed from the reaches of social media, where players could maintain a sense of privacy while still being accessible to the fans.

The humble third baseman tells his narrative from a reflective position, at times in amazement of his own experiences and accomplishments. His ability to clearly recall detailed stories of how he played in college with Bobby Layne, to playing for Ty Cobb on a semi-pro team, as well as how he handled competing with Jackie Robinson for the third base position with the Brooklyn Dodgers, give his words the proper momentum to seamlessly roll one story right into the next.

As one of the few living Brooklyn Dodgers alumni, Jackson has preserved a great deal of history by putting together his memoirs. Fifty-five years after Jackson took his final major league at-bat, he courageously put himself back in the lineup at the age of 90, showing that a big leaguer never truly loses his feel for the game no matter how long he has stepped away from the spotlight.

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2016 Allen and Ginter - A reminder of the joys of collecting

One of the most anticipated surprises of Topps’ annual baseball calendar is the release of the 2016 Allen and Ginter baseball card set; not necessarily for the baseball players included within, but the non-baseball celebrities and athletes that grace the contents of the checklist. While some fans may not be excited to discover a card of a comedian or broadcaster in between All-Stars, this mix of eclectic personalities with today’s top baseball talents is what sets Allen and Ginter as a distinct release in the baseball card space.

2016 Topps Allen and Ginter / Topps

Familiar non-baseball names include actors Anthony Anderson and George Lopez, Olympians Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps, as well as sportscasters Colin Cowherd and Mike Francesa. Topps also gives a major nod to the growing presence of female on-air sports analysts and personalities with the inclusion of Jessica Mendoza, Jill Martin, Hannah Storm, and Heidi Watney.

Moving aside from the contents of the base set, the classic painted designs give Allen and Ginter a vintage feel while accentuating the photos by leaving room on the borders for the images to stand out. This blueprint has been the hallmark of the Allen and Ginter series and what continues to attract collectors to the product. Collectors will gravitate towards the Baseball Legends insert set, which highlights 25 top Hall of Famers including its newest member, Ken Griffey Jr. Another fun chase is the United States Mayors mini set, featuring 35 different mayors including New York City’s Bill de Blasio.

2016 Topps Allen and Ginter Bill de Blasio

Each box guarantees three hits in the form of a rip card, autograph, relic, or book card. Also included in the hobby box for this review was an oversized box loader card. The box for this review yielded an autograph card as well as two relic cards, a fulfilling output for those looking from hits in the product; however, it did come well short of a complete set, leaving those wanting to build one with many holes to fill.

2016 Allen and Ginter Miguel Cabrera Relic Card

With a diverse list of baseball players and non-sports starts, 2016 Topps Allen and Ginter creates an exciting collecting atmosphere that serves as a reminder that the hobby is to be enjoyed and not just about chasing the next top prospect.

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2016 Topps Factory Set a worthy display of a time honored tradition

Collectors are going to have to make a little bit more room on their shelves as Topps has released a hobby staple, their 2016 Complete Factory Baseball Card Set. The Hobby set provided for this review came complete with all 700 cards from both series, as well as five-card pack of bonus parallels.

2016 Topps Hobby Complete Factory Set

With their 65th anniversary logo emblazoned on the distinctive red box, the factory set's design features many of the rising starts of Major League Baseball including Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa, Jacob deGrom, Clayton Kershaw, Buster Posey, and Mike Trout. As the factory set continues in a long-standing annual hobby tradition, it makes for a wonderful acquisition to any collection and displays nicely whether it is sealed, or opened to put in binder pages to review for years to come.

2016 Topps Factory Set Foil Parallel

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Topps Tier One looking to find a fit in collectors' hands

Topps Tier One Baseball continues in the line of Topps' guaranteed hit products. Boasting two autographs and one relic card inside each neatly packed box, collectors know what they’re getting before they peel away the tightly sealed plastic.

2016 Topps Tier One Box / Topps

While the neatly secured foil wrapper tried to veil the hidden treasures that followed, the suspense was tempered by the guarantee of the contents of the three cards inside. With the advent of products like Tier One, the idea of the hunt has been significantly altered.

For some collectors, Tier One plays right into their collecting desires, as they do not have to wade through packs of base set cards to find their cherished autographed or memorabilia cards. This convenience however comes at a price, with retail boxes going for $90. Unfortunately, as a majority of the autographs selling on the secondary market for $10 each, buyers are going to be hard pressed to find value in this product unless they happen upon a 1/1 cut signature, or dual autographs such as Hank Aaron and Mike Trout, or Sandy Koufax and Clayton Kershaw.

The yield for this box was disappointing, with the Andres Galarraga autograph pictured below as the lone highlight of the three cards. Instead of Topps attempting to lure customers with guaranteed hit products, they could be better served by adding these autographs and jerseys to the staples of their product line.

2016 Topps Tier One Andres Galarrage / Topps

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