COMMENTARY : Touching ’90 Story: A Fielder of Dreams

It says something about the diminished goals and lowered expectations in baseball that Cecil Fielder’s quest for 50 home runs has received so much attention. It also says something about the New York Yankees that the prime attraction in their final series of the season is an opponent. At least, the site was appropriate to the occasion.

Twenty-nine years ago Monday, Roger Maris drove a Tracy Stallard pitch into the right-field stands at Yankee Stadium and established a standard that looms larger with each season. It was his 61st homer, surpassing Babe Ruth’s one-season record despite Commissioner Ford Frick’s best effort to minimize the achievement. Mickey Mantle, the other half of the Yankees’ celebrated M&M; combination, finished with 54. No American League player in the intervening years has hit as many as 50.

Enter Fielder, who has made at least as much of an impact on the American market as those other upsized Japanese imports, Lexus and Infiniti. Twelve months removed from the lineup of the Hanshin Tigers, Fielder walked into the same historic ballpark Monday evening with a chance to become the league’s first 50-watt slugger in three decades. Not that there was a real comparison, but the name of Maris was raised.

If Fielder was honored or even amused, he didn’t betray any feelings. “I’m just going to go out and do what I can,” he said with total nonchalance. “If it happens, it happens.” Then again, Fielder was born two years after Maris hit his historic homer, one replayed on the video board between the fifth and sixth innings.

For those who remembered, of course, it seemed ironic that Fielder would be required to hit his 50th homer in New York. Only Yankees were supposed to do that. In fact, an opposing player hasn’t reached 50 since 1938 when Hank Greenberg was credited with 58 and Jimmie Foxx with 50. Those are the only two non-Yankees in American League history to arrive at that nice round number.

Although it represents an arbitrary plateau, the figure still gave the announced crowd of 12,125 something to cheer about Monday night. And it drew a larger delegation of media than might have been anticipated for a rescheduled game between lacklustre teams in October. Three camera crews recorded Fielder’s every swing during batting practice. P.S. He hit no offerings over a fence.

But then, he said, he didn’t feel pressured to hit another home run, either before or during a game this week. He already had accomplished his goal of proving he deserved an everyday job in the American major leagues. “You never know what you can do,” the man said, “until you get a chance.”

That chance didn’t come with the Kansas City Royals, who selected him in the fourth round of the June draft in 1982. That chance didn’t come with the Toronto Blue Jays, who used him as a designated hitter, pinch-hitter and part-time first baseman against left-handed pitching in 1987 and 1988. He had to prove himself in Japan before the North American Detroit Tigers would hand him a first baseman’s glove and $1.4 million to play the position on a regular basis.

“Toronto didn’t give him a chance,” noted Jesse Barfield, the Yankee outfielder who was a teammate of Fielder with the Blue Jays. “Japan gave him good money and a chance to show what he could do. It was a risk but definitely one he had to take. It certainly paid off.”

And not just in salary, although Fielder needn’t worry about missing a meal in the near future. The massive first baseman was a revelation in his first season as a starter. His 49 homers, 127 runs batted in and 331 total bases all are league-leading figures. “It’s kind of unbelievable,” he acknowledged. “I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.”

Well, not every moment. He wasn’t thrilled by the prospect of sitting still for another interview. But it comes with the territory which, if not uncharted, at least has not been invaded in quite some time.

“I have three days left, then I’m going home,” he said. “There will be no crowds around me asking questions, taking pictures. I just want to play the last three games and go home.”

He won’t be home for long. The man has been given permission -- after some prolonged deliberation -- by these Tigers to visit the land of his former Tigers as part of an exhibition series between American major-leaguers and their Japanese counterparts.

Barfield also is scheduled to make the tour, which will give the Yankee a chance to observe his former teammate up close and see the Tokyo Dome where Fielder hit the back wall with a drive last season. Roy White, the former Yankee who has played in Japan, pointed to a spot beyond the visitors’ bullpen and just below the facade in left-centerfield. “It would be the equivalent of hitting that Getty sign,” White said.

To tell the truth, Barfield wouldn’t have minded if he hit that sign Monday night. Fielder remains a friend. “I hope he hits 50,” he said, “but I hope we get the W.”

Alas, neither happened, reducing Fielder’s chances to two games, Tuesday night and Wednesday night. He said he wouldn’t be terribly disappointed if he failed to join Greenberg as the only Detroit players to hit 50 home runs in one season. He would do his best, nothing more, nothing less.

“There’s a chance for me to do it,” he said. “I just feel Cecil Fielder has to stay within himself and not worry about the things around me.” Perhaps his three strikeouts in four appearances against lefthander Chuck Cary might have been interpreted as a man pressing if he hadn’t accounted for a league-leading 176 strikeouts entering the series.

Certainly, the Tigers aren’t complaining about his free-swinging ways. He has breathed life into what was a dormant franchise. And this might be just the beginning. “I don’t think,” Barfield said, “this is a fluke.”