Fielder Hits Home Run No. 50, Then Adds No. 51

Cecil Fielder became the first American Leaguer to hit 50 home runs since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle did it 29 years ago, connecting Wednesday night in the fourth inning and later adding No. 51 in the final game of the season.

“It was a lot of pressure,” Fielder said. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone in baseball.”

The Detroit first baseman is the 11th player to hit 50 homers and the first since George Foster of the Cincinnati Reds in 1977. The feat has been accomplished 18 times.

Fielder, who walked and lined out in his first two at-bats, sent a 2-and-1 pitch from New York Yankee rookie Steve Adkins into the first row of the upper deck in left field in the fourth. He took four steps out of the batter’s box, watched to see if the ball would hook foul, and when it didn’t, he began jumping up and down and pumping both fists into the air.

“It was a relief,” he said. “I got so excited, I jumped for joy.”

The two-run homer put Detroit ahead, 6-0. After striking out, increasing his major league-leading total to 182, Fielder hit a three-run homer in the eighth off Alan Mills into the lower deck in left.

Fielder led the majors in homers and with 132 RBIs this season. He had gone two for 21 since his last home run; his longest drought of the year without a homer was 45 at-bats.

Fielder went 0 for 4 in each of the first two games of the season-ending series at Yankee Stadium. He struck out five times, popped out twice and grounded to the mound.

For the second consecutive game, Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson moved Fielder from the third spot in the lineup to second, hoping to get him an extra at-bat.

Fielder, 27, who hit 38 home runs last year for Hanshin in Japan’s Central League, finished far ahead of anyone else in the majors. Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs led the National League with 40 homers and Mark McGwire of Oakland was second in the AL with 39.

Of the last five players to hit 50 home runs, four were named most valuable player. The only one who missed out was Mantle, who hit 54 homers to Maris’ record 61 in 1961 in the home run race between Yankee teammates.