"Prince Fielder hits baseballs into the seats.

He also puts seats in the seats.

As quickly as reports floated last week that a spectacular left-handed slugger was coming to Detroit, phone lines at Comerica Park heated like an oven broiler.

Ticket staffers worked as late as 9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and all day Saturday and Sunday, as fans bent on at least asking about season tickets raided the Comerica Park switchboard.

"Interest has been high," Duane McLean, senior vice president for business operations for the Tigers, said Monday. "The call volumes were heavy. We were averaging about 4,000 calls into our ticket department those days when we would typically have a couple of hundred at this particular time of year.""