Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera’s most memorable moments

Miguel Cabrera’s pursuit of history is likely to be the dominant Detroit Tigers storyline over the final two months of the season. And it should be.

Yes, the Detroit Tigers have some exciting young players. And yes, they are flirting with relevance for the first time in five years. But the hole they dug in April was so deep they would have to play .750 baseball over their final 50 games to even threaten the playoffs.

So we celebrate Miguel Cabrera, one of the greatest hitters the sport has ever seen. Tigers fans have had the pleasure of watching him hit for the past 14 years, but prolonged exposure to greatness can sometimes lead us to take it for granted.

As such, we think it’s useful to reiterate the spectacular nature of Miguel Cabrera’s accomplishments. Right now he stands two home runs away from 500, a feat achieved by just 27 players in MLB History. And he’s 55 knocks away from becoming the 33rd member of the 3,000 hit club.

Just six players have managed both 500 home runs and 3,000 hits: Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Pujols, and Alex Rodriguez. Miguel Cabrera will be the seventh.

Cabrera is about to join other “clubs” that aren’t as famous, too. He’s 22 RBIs away from 1,800, something only 21 players have done, and he’s 10 doubles shy of 600, which has been done just 17 times.

Aaron and Pujols are the only other members of the 500/3000/1800/600 club, such as it is. But perhaps the best indication of Miguel Cabrera’s greatness as a hitter is how few current players project to join ANY of these clubs, let alone all four of them.

It’s possible the game’s brightest young stars — Ronald Acuña Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto — will one day own career stats that rival Miguel Cabrera. All they have to do is spend the next 15 years producing at their current level. No sweat.

So let’s celebrate some of Miguel Cabrera’s most memorable moments. Originally this piece was simply going to recall his most memorable home runs, but the dastardly Jason Beck beat us to it. He did a great job capturing most of Miggy’s big blasts, but he didn’t get them all, so let’s start there.

Miguel Cabrera Home Runs

These days you can find videos for everything in games, from homers, to wild pitches, to animals on the field, but it’s a bit harder to find official videos from 10-12 years ago, so please forgive us if we can’t embed video of each homer.

Game 163

The stretch run of the 2009 season probably doesn’t conjure many great memories for the Detroit Tigers, their fans, or Miguel Cabrera. Miggy’s personal life became far too public, the Tigers blew a three-game division lead with just four games to play, and then they lost a thrilling tiebreaker in heart-breaking fashion. But Miguel Cabrera did his best to help the Tigers win game 163, lacing a double in his first at-bat, and then blasting a 2-run homer to put Detroit up 3-0. At the time it gave Detroit a 77% chance to win, and it felt a bit like redemption for both Cabrera and the team. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Comeback Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera has been a key part of some remarkable comebacks in his career. Beck’s list (shakes fist at sky) included Cabrera’s famous walk-off blast against Cleveland closer Chris Perez to complete a five-run comeback in the 10th inning. But earlier that year Cabrera hit a huge 3-run shot in the 9th against Boston to send the game to extra innings, before Alex Avila capped off the win in the the 11th. And there was the time in 2016 when Cabrera singled in the 9th to help the Tigers score eight runs and beat Tampa Bay 10-7.

But let’s go back to 2011, when the Tigers spent most of the year fending off Chicago and Cleveland in the AL Central. Detroit had 12 important games against their division rivals in September, and they won ALL of them. But it sure looked like they were destined to lose on September 3rd, when they fell behind the White Sox 8-1 in the 5th inning. But the Tigers chipped away, and Ryan Raburn tied the game with a 2-run blast in the 9th. That set the stage for Miguel Cabrera:

Return to Center

One of the most impressive aspects of Miguel Cabrera as a hitter is his power to all fields. Of his 498 career home runs, 106 have gone to the opposite field. That’s the most oppo shots by any right-handed batter since at least 1988.

But Cabrera’s most common spot to hit a home run, at least according to Baseball Reference, is center field. And he has a penchant for doing so on milestone homers. His first career home run was a walk-off shot to center field. His 100th career home run was to left-center. His 200th career blast was to deep right center. His 400th career homer went to dead center and made him Venezeula’s all-time home run leader. And yes, his 300th career home run was a mammoth blast to center that nearly killed the camera operator at Comerica Park.

Snowmerica

No list of Miguel Cabrera home runs would be complete without his blast from opening day, 2021. It was the first home run in the Majors this year, it came off reigning Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, and it happened in the middle of a snowstorm. And Miguel slid into second base for good measure. That’s quality entertainment.

Miguel Cabrera the Ballplayer

Miguel Cabrera isn’t a great defensive player, at least by MLB standards, but that’s almost entirely because of his sheer size. He’s a heck of a lot more athletic than he looks, with good hands, a very strong arm, and terrific instincts. And of course his enthusiasm. Miguel Cabrera would play shortstop today if they let him, and he’d probably make 3-4 diving attempts.

There probably isn’t one signature play for Cabrera on defense, but it’s worth looking back at some of his finer efforts to remind us how talented he is as an overall ballplayer.

This is just a small sample, of course. We can scrub Baseball Savant, but it’s hard to find video of Cabrera’s best defensive plays prior to 2016. However, some kind soul put together a collection of his

top defensive efforts from 2014

, if you’re so inclined.

Miggy the Speed Demon

Miguel Cabrera is one of the slowest runners in baseball, but he’ll get you if you aren’t paying attention. Maybe it’s because he fancies himself a speedster, or maybe it’s just hard for a freight train to hit the brakes, but no one blows through a stop sign as frequently as Miggy.

Miguel Cabrera has 39 stolen bases in his career, but just one since 2015. He’s also 3-for-3 on steal attempts in the postseason. It’s possible he won’t steal another base as a big leaguer, so let’s enjoy his last swipe, from September of last year: