Endangered Species Watch: Vegetarian Power Hitters

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Prince Fielder sounds like the name of a baseball player who’s pretty good with the glove. Indeed, the first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers isn’t too bad at scooping up ground balls or pulling a throw out of the dirt. But he’s best known as a terror at the plate—hitting more than .300 with 22 home runs and knocking in 78 runs in the first half of the Major League Baseball season, earning him a place on the National League All-Star roster.

And last night, the 6-foot, 270-pound first baseman cleaned up at the Home Run Derby that is the warm-up act for tonight’s All-Star Game in St. Louis. He won the competition, besting hometown favorite Albert Pujols of the Cardinals, and hitting the longest drive of the night (estimated at more than 500 feet).

He’s also an ethical vegetarian—converted after his wife shared Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin's bestselling book "Skinny Bitch" with him, and he read about the mistreatment of animals in agriculture.

There was speculation that his conversion to vegetarianism would sap his strength—that his wife’s act of giving him "Skinny Bitch" was like Delilah’s cutting off of Samson’s hair. But the fear proved unfounded, and Fielder has quieted the critics with his towering drives.