Prince Fielder
Fielder retired at 32 with two discs left in his neck, robbing baseball of what should have been 500 home runs. His 319 career bombs in just 12 seasons put him on a Cooperstown trajectory before cervical fusion surgery ended everything.
The numbers tell the story of sustained excellence cut short. Six All-Star selections and three Silver Sluggers anchored by that monster 2011 campaign in Milwaukee — 38 homers, 120 RBIs, and a .981 OPS that ranked among the best in baseball. His 117 career OPS+ proves he was consistently above-average despite playing in an era when offense was down from the steroid peak.
Fielder's legacy lives in the what-ifs. He averaged 35 home runs per 162 games over his career, a pace that would have delivered 500-plus had his body cooperated. Instead, we're left with one of the more heartbreaking early exits in recent memory.
Career · Batting
12 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | MIL | 39 | 59 | 2 | 10 | .288 | .764 | 102 |
| 2006 | MIL | 157 | 569 | 28 | 81 | .271 | .831 | 108 |
| 2007 | MIL | 158 | 573 | 50 | 119 | .288 | 1.013 | 134 |
| 2008 | MIL | 159 | 588 | 34 | 102 | .276 | .879 | 117 |
| 2009 | MIL | 162 | 591 | 46 | 141 | .299 | 1.014 | 135 |
| 2010 | MIL | 161 | 578 | 32 | 83 | .261 | .871 | 120 |
| 2011 | MIL | 162 | 569 | 38 | 120 | .299 | .981 | 136 |
| 2012 | DET | 162 | 581 | 30 | 108 | .313 | .940 | 130 |
| 2013 | DET | 162 | 624 | 25 | 106 | .279 | .819 | 115 |
| 2014 | TEX | 42 | 150 | 3 | 16 | .247 | .720 | 103 |
| 2015 | TEX | 158 | 613 | 23 | 98 | .305 | .841 | 117 |
| 2016 | TEX | 89 | 326 | 8 | 44 | .212 | .626 | 85 |
| Career | 1611 | 5821 | 319 | 1028 | .283 | — | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.