Featured story: Prince Fielder, circa 2004, Helps Us Consider Home Plate Collisions

[Mass Haas]

Revisiting a Memorable Home Plate Collision

by Jim Goulart

Forum.Brewerfan.net

 

The image.

 

We've been chronicling the daily game exploits of every single Brewers affiliate since 2001 in what our readers have come to know as the "Link Report".

 

The Link Report looks to promote every aspect of the Brewers' minor league system, and in particular, encourages fans to tune in to the broadcasts with convenient schedule information and media links. Postgames, we link to and highlight all local coverage of the action, and we've been blessed to have excellent web-based insights from the vast majority of affiliate outposts over the years.

 

Thirteen years. Approximately 800 games a year. Nearly 10,000 individual games detailed during the life of the Brewerfan Link Report thus far.

 

Yet one specific view would invariably pull me back in time...

 

The image.

 

It always stood out in my mind, and I'd privately harken back to it occasionally, over nearly ten years now. But today, given the timeliness of the recent rule change concerning home plate collisions, it's time to re-visit it in all its glory in public.

 

The image -- Prince Fielder, April 29th, 2004

 

http://images.chattanoogan.com/photo_images/photo_4633_large.jpg

 

That is a teenage Prince Fielder (he would turn 20 years old ten days later), in his first month as a member of the AA Huntsville Stars. This would be Prince's third pro season.

 

This game took place in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the Brewers defeated the then-Cincinnati affiliate by a score of 8-3.

 

Below you will read the recollections of and see additional remarkable photo work of the play by the veteran photographer on the scene, Tim Evearitt of the Chattanoogan. You'll read how Larry Ward, the longtime Director of Broadcasting for the Lookouts, remembers the play. Most importantly, you'll meet Brian Peterson, the then 25-year-old Chattanooga catcher, who not only survived that play, but is still playing professional baseball today at age 35. And here's hoping that @RealPFielder28 gets to see this and reflect as well.

 

Let's set the scene for you -- this text (via the Link Report) is from the Huntsville site postgame summary, written by the then-Voice of the Stars, Robert Portnoy --

 

They say you can hear the echoes in an old ballpark, like historic Engels Stadium in Chattanooga. The city's new venue, five-year-old Bell South Park, will resonate with the sounds of Thursday night. One of Huntsville's shining Stars, first baseman Prince Fielder, delivered a pair of blows for the ages in the Stars' 8-3 win over the Lookouts (12-9) at Bell South Park. The Stars (11-8) pushed one game in front of Birmingham atop the Southern League West.

 

With the bases loaded and one out in the first, Fielder tried to score from second on Brad Nelson's drive to right. All three runners had to wait, as Lookout Andrew Beattie had the ball graze his glove in the rightfield corner. Ryan Knox scored from third, and Fielder trailed behind him. The relay throw almost beat Fielder to the plate, but the ball never quite made it to catcher Brian Peterson's glove before impact. Fielder leveled Peterson with a clean hit, one of the hardest anyone will ever see on a baseball diamond. A testament to toughness and courage, Peterson withstood the blow and remained in the game.

 

With Huntsville up 6-2 in the seventh, Fielder delivered again, this time with his bat. One of those rare players who draw a crowd on the road, Fielder gave the fans what they paid to see. With father Cecil Fiedler watching from the front row, Prince launched a monstrous two-run homer, just to the right of the batter's eye in dead centerfield, his fifth of the season and first at Bell South Park.

 

***

 

Tim Evearitt has been a photojournalist covering the Lookouts and Atlanta Braves for The Chattanoogan since 2000. He was for 25 years, Dr. Tim Evearitt, a professor of education at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He retired from that post in 2004.

 

"I was standing in my usual spot next to the Stars' dugout down the third base line when I noticed Fielder racing full-speed toward third base with no intention of slowing down. I positioned myself to get a photo of Fielder and turned to capture the train wreck at home where Brian Peterson was set up to block the plate. I thought to myself, "Poor Peterson is about to get run over." As I recall, Fielder arrived just before the ball and looked like an NFL linebacker when he sent Peterson flying. Peterson ended up on his rear end wondering what happened. Fortunately, he was not injured.

 

I talked about the play with fellow reporters but had no idea that the sequence of photos was anything special."

 

Well, those photos were special, sir. How you managed to spin near 90 degrees and make each photo an absolute winner is beyond me. And thankfully, the sequence of seven stills is still archived at the Chattanoogan site. I heartily invite you to visit at this link, enjoy, and then return for more on "the image".

 

***

 

Lookouts broadcaster Larry Ward:

 

I do remember a thought at the time Fielder was coming in from third -- "Fielder rounds third..on his way home...Pete waiting for the ball....(collision)....Fielder is safe and Peterson is lucky he's still awake. That is one of the worst collisions I have ever seen!!!!"

 

I have seen other contacts since but not like that one was. I am glad that they are making modifications to the home plate rule. But as players are still players...there will be a collision that may still destroy a career or an injury that shouldn't happen. It's the deliberate contacts that I think need to be stopped.

 

http://www.chattanoogan.com/photos/2004/1/gallery.7458.jpg

 

Longtime follower of Huntsville baseball and then-Link Report contributor David Weiser was listening to this Stars road game. He wrote that night that "you could just hear the groans through the radio".

 

***

 

Brian Peterson's affiliated pro career spanned from 2000, when he signed with the Indians as an undrafted free agent out of Bellevue University (Nebraska), through 2009, including 56 games at the AAA level - seeing time in the Indians, Reds (two stints), Tigers, Astros, Pirates, Orioles, and Yankees systems. Since 2010, he's plied his craft in the independent leagues.

 

Peterson was a Southern League All-Star and was named the league's Best Defensive Catcher in 2004, the year of "the image", posting a nice .805 OPS. Peterson was the 2003 minor league teammate of Dernell Stenson, the rising outfield star in the Reds' system who was murdered while playing in the Arizona Fall League in Phoenix. Please read these two features from J.D. Arney of the Red Reporter (2004) and Corey Brinn (2009) to learn more about Brian and his special (to this day) relationship with the Stenson family (Brian told me he still keeps in touch with Stenson's wife Sara and son Kobe).

 

And now we read Brian Peterson's recollections --

 

http://www.chattanoogan.com/photos/2004/1/gallery.7459.jpg

 

I was kind of surprised that Prince ran me over in that situation, but not mad. I remember looking up at him as he rounded third base. I started to get the feeling he wasn't going to stop. I watched the ball as long as I could and then turned my head at the last second to see where he was. I would say the ball got about 6 inches from my glove when he hit me. I'll be honest. It didn't even hurt when he hit me. I sat down with my elbows on my knees saying, "Really? Really? Well that was just awesome."

 

I got up, finished the inning, and sat down in the dugout. I didn't feel anything from the collision until a couple days later. I went to the gym and laid back on a bench and could feel every bit of it in my lower back. Funny story though.... I actually got to first base the next inning and Prince was there. I looked at him and said, "you all right man?' He replied, "you all right?" I said, "yup, now." We talked for a few minutes in between pitches and that was it.

 

That wasn't even the worst collision I've had. In 2000, my rookie year, I was playing in Bristol, TN for the Burlington Indians. I remember like it was yesterday. I was catching, Carlos D'Frank was pitching, Corey Smith was playing third, and Gerard McCall was running at third for the White Sox. The ball was hit to Smith's left, he fielded, spun, and threw the ball to me at home. McCall went on contact and Corey's throw was high and to the first base side of the plate, a little. I jumped up and caught it. As I came down I jerked my body to the left to try and make a tag. In doing so my mask flew off. I looked up and saw the crown of McCall's helmet, as he lowered it to run me over. His helmet hit me square in the lip/chin. I fell backwards and landed flat on my back. I looked like I was making a snow angel. He was out, but only because I fell with my palms up. Stretcher, ambulance ride, and 27 stitches later, I was back in the lineup two days later.

 

Brian's thoughts on baseball's 2014 rule change --

 

I understand the rule, kind of...nobody likes sliding into catchers because of the risk of a leg/ankle injury. Some guys slide short of home or just peel off. I think it's part of the game. The biggest reason for the rule change is because it was Buster Posey who was injured. Why wasn't it brought up when Mark Teixeira crushed Bobby Wilson (in 2010), putting Bobby out for the season. And that was a situation when Teixeira could have and should have slid. There was a clear view of the plate. The rule of thumb, as I understand it, is if there's plate showing, it's an invite to slide. Some guys go out of their way to initiate contact. Half the time they would have been safe if they had slid. That one was dirty.

 

Now a days, I treat plays at the plate as handoffs. I poke my glove in and pull it out. One of my favorites to avoid contact is, setting up behind the plate towards the righty's batter's box. I come up and catch the ball, in motion, while the runner is approaching the plate. By the time I get there, he needs to either stop or try to slide to the front of the plate. They are out every time. They think there is no play because they don't see a catcher set up on the plate. Element of surprise works for me best.

 

***

 

A few thoughts to wrap things up --

 

http://www.chattanoogan.com/photos/2004/1/gallery.7461.jpg

 

Notice the sub-heading on the previously linked Chattanoogan page with Tim Evearitt's photo gallery - "Catcher Brian Peterson Gets His Bell Rung". Today, that "bell rung" comment is so closely associated with concussions that it can't be just summarily tossed around anymore. With the precautions taken today at all levels of baseball, it's hard to imagine any catcher remaining in the game after such a trainwreck -- the runner as well, for that matter...

 

***

 

While Brian Peterson was fortunate enough to survive his home plate collision with Prince Fielder, not everyone has been so lucky. Via Wikipedia --

 

On May 4, 2006, in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Todd Greene, playing for the San Francisco Giants, was seriously injured in a home-plate collision with Brewers' first baseman Prince Fielder (video). While Greene continued to play for the rest of the season, his shoulder had suffered serious structural damage. During spring training the next season, while with the San Diego Padres, Greene tore two muscles in his weakened rotator cuff while attempting a throw to second base. He never returned to professional baseball following the injury.

 

And yes, it would seem both Fielder collisions documented here would be considered "clean" in the context of the rules pre-2014...

 

***

 

The basis of this feature was not to pontificate on the new collision rule one way or another, it certainly has been debated to a great extent in the national media (and in particular by MLB catchers) this spring. Here's audio via MLB Network Radio from a couple of weeks back with the Athletics' John Jaso, and more than anything you can hear the passion Jaso brings in discussing the topic.

 

***

 

Finally, I invite all of you, but particularly Brewer fans, to read the Brewerfan Minor League Link Report from that night. For followers of the Milwaukee farm system in those days, these were mighty times, and much more interesting than the big league club -- Fielder, Weeks, Hart, Hardy, and more within the linked box scores. That being said, other than Huntsville, the other three Brewer affiliates would lose by a combined score of 36-3 on this night!

 

Amazingly, this was the very same night that Brewers AAA first baseman Jeff Liefer somehow got locked inside a dugout bathroom, forcing a 20-minute delay in the game. Yeah, this was an epic evening.

 

My thanks to Tim Evearitt and the Chattanoogan for allowing us to link to their photos, Larry Ward, and of course, Brian Peterson.

[hawing]

Outstanding work, Jim. As usual.

[pitchleague]

Very interesting read! Thanks for writing and sharing all of this. I remember a lot of it from back then but getting quotes from the parties involved was very cool.

 

Sure hope you can get a response from Prince someday!

[jjkoestler]

Great read! Thanks for sharing.

[TooLiveBrew]

While Brian Peterson was fortunate enough to survive his home plate collision with Prince Fielder, not everyone has been so lucky. Via Wikipedia --

 

On May 4, 2006, in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Todd Greene, playing for the San Francisco Giants, was seriously injured in a home-plate collision with Brewers' first baseman Prince Fielder (video). While Greene continued to play for the rest of the season, his shoulder had suffered serious structural damage. During spring training the next season, while with the San Diego Padres, Greene tore two muscles in his weakened rotator cuff while attempting a throw to second base. He never returned to professional baseball following the injury.

 

And yes, it would seem both Fielder collisions documented here would be considered "clean" in the context of the rules pre-2014...

You know, I wonder if this collision played a role in just *how* much SF & their fans hated the 'bowling pin' Fielder walk-off celebration

[topper09er]

This story should be in the Journal Sentinel, nice job

[RobDeer 45]

Why is this thread in the what's hot everyday? Is that just for me?

 

Finally looked at it, good story!