Monday, April 8, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The time Cecil Fielder spent at UNLV was short, but it was a learning experience. Even if it wasn't in the classroom.
Now the highest-paid player in baseball, the Detroit Tigers first baseman spent the 1981 fall semester at UNLV, but left before playing an official game.
Rumors abound about the reason Fielder, one of baseball's most prolific home run and RBI men, left. Some say he had a gambling problem when he arrived on campus, others say academic life forced him to expedite his professional career.
Fielder rarely talks about his brief stay in Las Vegas, but he opened up prior to the Tigers' final game with the Oakland A's at Cashman Field Sunday.
"You know what I think it was?" Fielder said. "It was a mixture of things, really."
He went on to mention keg parties, women, poor grades.
"Not being from Vegas," said Fielder, shaking his head with a wide smile on his face, "not knowing what I was getting into ... Being wide-eyed and bushy-tailed ..."
Fielder came to UNLV after getting drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of Nogales High in Los Angeles. But when the Orioles realized he was asking for too much money, they contacted Rick Downs, then UNLV's hitting coach.
"Baltimore knew they couldn't offer enough money to sign him so they told us about him," said Dallimore, who threw out the first pitch before Sunday's game. "They guaranteed me he could play, that he was a big-time player. That's when we started to recruit him."
After enrolling at UNLV, where he roomed with current Kansas City Royal Bip Roberts, Fielder ripped the ball during fall games, but felt Dallimore's grind was too harsh.
"He was rough on me," said Fielder, who will make $9.2 million this year. "He was real rough on me."
Fielder, listed at 250 pounds today, weighed 222 when he arrived on campus.
"I wanted him to maximize his physical potential," Dallimore said. "He had a weight problem, so I made him do a lot of extra running. I did work him hard. I worked everybody hard. I still do.
"He was more interested in a professional baseball career and wanted to enter the draft. He honestly felt he was ready to move on and play. That's why he made the decision after only one semester."
Fielder admits his priorities were skewed toward turning pro rather than earning a degree.
"My numbers (in fall games) were a lot better than in the classroom," he said.
"He wasn't much on school, the academic aspect of it," Dallimore said. "He wanted to go down to the gym and shoot hoops."
Fielder also wanted to gamble.
"He likes to play, but that's his personal life," Dallimore said. "Even though he was underage, because of his size, everybody in the casinos thought he was old enough. I would get calls from people saying they saw him in the casinos."
Said Fielder: "It was being a young kid away from home from the inner city. I knew it wasn't going to work out and that's why I told my mother I didn't want to go to school. I wanted to sign a professional contract."
Fielder was drafted by the Royals in June of 1982. A year later he was traded to Toronto, where he battled with Fred McGriff and John Olerud for playing time.
He left the Jays for Japan in 1989 and returned stateside to sign with Detroit in 1990. That year, Fielder hit 51 home runs with 132 RBI. Until then UNLV didn't claim Fielder as an all-time letterman in its media guides.
"It was a brief association, but a good one," Dallimore said. "I wish I had him three more years like (San Francisco Giant and former Rebel) Matty Williams."
While Dallimore considers Fielder a friend, one gets the impression Fielder doesn't feel the same.
"I think the best way to handle it is to let it die down," Fielder said. "Freddy isn't a bad person, but between he and I it just wasn't going to work out. I don't want to embarrass Dallimore. It's over. It's 15 years ago. You know?"
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