Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera hits 500th home run in Toronto

Detroit Tigers 1B/DH Miguel Cabrera makes history as he hits his 500th home run in Toronto in a 5-3 victory.

The Detroit Tigers always have had a flair for the dramatics against the Toronto Blue Jays.  In 1987, it was Frank Tanana outdueling Jimmy Key on the last day of the regular season to win the AL East title.  Justin Verlander’s no-hitter on May 7th, 2011 in Toronto.  Now add Miguel Cabrera’s 500th home run to that list.

Future Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer chimes in with Miguel Cabrera

Miguel becomes the first Venezuelan-born player to hit 500 home runs in Major League Baseball history and joins an elite list of ten sluggers. Per MLB Stats, he comes the 10th player in history to hit 500+ home runs and maintain a .300+ batting average.  It is an impressive feat with names like Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Frank Thomas, and Willie Mays.

The home run was his first since August 11th when he went deep off right-hander Matt Harvey in Baltimore. Since the All-Star break, he has hit .260 with six home runs and could pass the next one on the 500 home run list, which would be Eddie Murray, who finished his career with 504 home runs. He is currently ranked number 28.

The Detroit Tigers shared some words on video from former teammate Justin Verlander, among some others who are a part of the 500 home run club, including David Ortiz, who was rocking some early 1900’s threads.

In addition to being his 500th home run, it started scoring the Tigers as they tied the game in the 6th inning.  The bullpen was able to pitch 6.2 innings of two-run ball and kept the best home run team in the majors to just three allowed for the entire weekend, two of which came yesterday.

Miguel Cabrera just needs 38 home runs to pass the team record of 399 set by Al Kaline. With the win, the Tigers improve to 10-9 in August.