Miguel Cabrera now belongs to one of the most exclusive baseball clubs.
Cabrera added an extra dimension to his career by becoming the 28th member in the 500 home run club. He had a six-inning blast for Detroit Tigers against the Blue Jays in Toronto.
Cabrera, 38 years old, connected on a 1-1 pitch by Steven Matz left-hander, sending the ball above the scoreboard in right center field. At 1., the 400-foot homer tied it.
Rogers Centre saw 14,685 people standing to applaud Cabrera as he rounded the bases. After celebrating with his teammates the Tigers slugger emerged from the dugout and accepted a curtain call. He removed his helmet and bowed to the crowd behind Detroit’s dugout.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Cabrera had 31 at-bats between the 499th and 500th home runs. This is the longest stretch of MLB history after Jimmie Foxx (61) or Harmon Killebrew (43)
Cabrera, now in his 19th season, foretold his future greatness when he made his debut major league game on June 20, 2003. He hit a walk off home run to center field for the Florida Marlins in the bottom 11th inning in a 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay.
He was indeed precocious enough to be a hitter as a highly-talked 20-year old. By October that year, he was batting cleanup in the World Series for the Marlins. He is still the youngest player who has ever started at cleanup in a World Series match.
Cabrera has made a slow climb to 500. He had 446 home runs at season's end, after hitting 38 in 2016. This was the 10th consecutive year he had hit 30 home runs. Since then, he hasn't hit 16 home runs in a single season due to injuries and age. He scored his 500th home run in 2021, which was his 13th.
Cabrera is still a great all-around hitter in the 500 home runs club. His career batting average of.311 ranks fifth among 28 players. Only nine other players batted below.300 during their careers. His adjusted career batting is 19.2% higher than the league average. He won the batting title in 2011, 2012,.330, 2013 (.348), 2015 (.338). Manny Ramirez and Henry Aaron are the only right-handed hitters to have 500 home runs and an average of.300. Willie Mays, Frank Thomas, and Frank Thomas are the other.
Miguel Cabrera was the 28th member in the 500 home-run club. He ran 400 feet at Rogers Centre, becoming the 28th. Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Cabrera's four batting victories tie Williams' record for most among 500 home runs club members. Cabrera is also the only member of this club who was born in Venezuela.
Cabrera also has two home run titles. He was the American League's leader with 37 runs in 2008, his first season after a trade with Marlins. In 2012, he won 44. Cabrera won his Triple Crown season that year, and became the first player since Carl Yastrzemski (67) to lead his league's in home runs, RBIs, and batting average. He was able to win his first back-to-back MVP Awards in that season. He beat Mike Trout twice.
Here are some more facts about Cabrera's career in home runs:
He has 41 games of two-homer and two games of three-homer. His three-homer games were against Oakland on May 28, 2010 and Texas on May 19, 2013.
His most victimized team? He has hit 50 home runs in Cleveland.
His most victimized pitcher was Phil Hughes.
He has now hit seven home runs in walk-off fashion, the first of which was against Al Levine.
Cabrera's next challenge is the 3,000 hit club. It has 32 members. Cabrera needed 134 hits to start the season. In spring training, Cabrera stated that he hoped to join both clubs by 2021.
He stated in February that he hoped to reach 500 or 3,000 by the end of this year. It's one my goals for this year. Mentally, it's good. I feel mentally strong. I feel mentally strong.
Cabrera is unlikely to reach that milestone as he has 2,955. Cabrera was on the injured reserve for one game this season, missing 13 games with a biceps strain.
However, he's still signed through 2023 so he should be there by early 2022. Only six players make up the 3,000/500 club: Aaron, Mays and Albert Pujols.
This report was contributed by The Associated Press.
