This Prince Fielder-Rickey Henderson Comparison Will Make You Laugh
I always chuckle whenever I think about it.
There’s a stat for just about everything in baseball. It also feels like the only sport that can bring players who appear to be polar opposites together into one conversation.
Case in point: Prince Fielder and Rickey Henderson. They couldn’t be more different on the surface, but Prince has Rickey beat in one statistical category that will confound baseball fans for generations to come.
Henderson is one of MLB’s greatest players ever. The 25-year veteran was known for his speed and ability to steal bases. His 1,406 career steals are the most all-time, and by a wide margin — Lou Brock is in a distant second place with 938 career steals. Henderson led the league in steals 11 times and his 162-game average for his career was 74.
On the other hand, Fielder’s calling card was his raw power at the plate. He stole just 18 bags during his 12-year career but paired it with 319 home runs. The left-handed slugger accumulated nine seasons of 20-plus dingers, including a league-leading (and Milwaukee Brewers record) 50 in 2007.
One category of homers most people likely assume Henderson has Fielder beat in is inside-the-parkers. It makes sense, right? Henderson played for 25 years and slugged 297 homers — he had to have done it a bunch of times with all that speed.
That’s where many are wrong. Henderson hit just one inside-the-park homer during his Hall of Fame career. It happened on July 6, 1980, against the Chicago White Sox. Fielder hit two inside-the-parkers during his career.
To make it even more interesting, both occurrences nearly happened exactly one year apart.
Here is Fielder’s first inside-the-parker, which happened on June 17, 2007, against the Minnesota Twins:
Here is the second occurrence, which took place on June 19, 2008, in Milwaukee:
Fielder received a little extra help in both instances to make it possible. But hey, he still had to motor around the bases before the defense figured out what they were doing.
The first baseman’s 2007 campaign was the start of a three-year stretch where he slugged 30-plus homers with 100-plus RBI. This included that 50-homer campaign in ‘07 and another 46 dingers in 2009. Across those three campaigns, Fielder slashed .288/.393/.575 while averaging 43 homers, 33 doubles, 121 RBI and 99 runs scored.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, he also stole seven bases in 14 attempts during this time.
Nothing like watching chubby guys run hard 🤣