Today, one of the game’s prominent future Hall of Famers, the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera, achieved a second statistical benchmark that has traditionally ensured a plaque in Cooperstown. Cabrera, now a 20-year MLB veteran, has 502 Home Runs and 3,000 Hits, putting him into the ultra-exclusive club of players with 500 taters and 3,000 knocks. Cabrera hit his 500th home run in 2021 and rapped his 3,000th hit this afternoon.

With the exception of players linked to Performing Enhancing Drugs, every eligible player who has reached 500 career homers has made it into the Hall of Fame. Similarly, all eligible players not linked to PEDs or a gambling scandal (Pete Rose) who have logged 3,000 or more hits have been inducted into the Hall.

Only six other players in Major League Baseball history have reached both milestones: Hank Aaron, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Willie Mays, Rafael Palmeiro, and Eddie Murray. Cabrera, who turned 39 on April 18th, was aware of his proximity to that sacred club. He joked about it Thursday night when New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone intentionally walked him in the bottom of the 8th inning of a game the Tigers won 3-0, denying the Comerica Park fans their last chance that night to see the historic moment.

“My on-base percentage went up! And we scored two runs. That’s the beauty of baseball. … I would rather go 0-for-3 and see my team win.”

— Miguel Cabrera (April 21, 2022)

Last night, Cabrera’s chase for 3,000 was put on hold again when the Tigers’ game against the Colorado Rockies was rained out and, again, he freely shared his desire to reach the milestone. “I was dreaming of this moment,” Cabrera said. “When I was in the dugout, I was thinking like, ‘Wow.”’

Today, Cabrera gave the fans at Comerica Park what they were looking for in the first inning, stroking a fastball by Colorado’s Antonio Senzatela into right field for a base hit. (Senzatela is the 997th pitcher off whom Cabrera has collected a hit). Three batters later, Miggy scored the 1,511th run of his career when rookie first baseman Spencer Torkelson hit the third home run of his young career.

In a moving tribute, after the end of the first inning, the Tigers showed the fans and TV viewers a taped a video clip of several members of the 3,000 hit club (Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, George Brett, Adrian Beltre, and Albert Pujols) congratulating Miggy on his notable accomplishment.

Cabrera reached the first of the two milestones last August in Toronto, swatting his 500th career home run off Steven Matz, a signature blast to the opposite field.

At his best, Cabrera was a joy to watch hit. He was a hitter with seemingly no weaknesses. In 2013, Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson paid the right-handed-hitting star the ultimate compliment, comparing his hitting style to a young Henry Aaron, based on Miggy’s penchant to hit the ball to the opposite field. In today’s video tribute, Carew noted that “you used the whole field to hit and were very successful doing it.”

Yesterday in The AthleticHall of Fame writer Jayson Stark put Miggy’s statistical accomplishments into perspective, noting what extraordinarily exclusive clubs he’s joining, besides becoming the 7th player to swat 500 home runs and log 3,000 hits:

  • 3,000 Hits, 500 HR, and a .300+ career batting average: Aaron, Mays, Cabrera
  • 3,000 Hits, 500 HR, 600 Doubles: Aaron, Pujols, Cabrera
  • 3,000 Hits, 500 HR, 2 MVP Awards: Mays, Pujols, A-Rod, and Cabrera

Stark noted that Cabrera and Aaron are the only players to win multiple batting and home run titles while also hitting 500 HR with 3,000 Hits. Finally, Cabrera is also now the only Triple Crown winner in baseball history to also reach those magic career milestones.

Cabrera, who leads all active players with his career .310 BA (minimum 3,000 plate appearances), has two years left (including this year) on the eight-year, $248 million contract extension he signed in March 2014. Assuming he completes his contract and then retires at the age of 40, we can expect to see Miggy giving a speech on stage in Cooperstown, New York in the summer of 2029.

Cooperstown Cred: Miguel Cabrera (1B)

  • Florida Marlins (2003-07), Detroit Tigers (2008-22)
  • Career: .310 BA, 502 HR, 1,807 RBI, 3,000 Hits
  • Career: 144 OPS+, 68.8 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
  • 2-time A.L. MVP (2012-13)
  • 7 times in the top 5 of his league’s MVP voting
  • Won the A.L. Triple Crown in 2012 (.330 BA, 44 HR, 139 RBI)
  • 4-time League batting champion
  • 11 straight seasons with at least 100 RBI (2004-14)
  • .310 career BA is best among all active MLB players (min. 3,000 PA)
  • 11-time All-Star, 7-time Silver Slugger Award winner

(cover photo: Rick Ostentoski, USA Today Sports)

Miguel Cabrera: Career Highlights

Jose Miguel Torres Cabrera was born on April 18, 1983, in Maracay, Venezuela. His parents, Miguel and Gregoria, met on a baseball diamond; Gregoria was the shortstop on the Venezuelan national softball team for 14 years. Young Miguel loved baseball throughout his childhood, dreaming of being the next Dave Concepcion, the shortstop for the great Cincinnati Reds teams of the 1970s who was also a native of Maracay. Miggy, of course, would eventually become a much different type of player, a slugger at the corner positions and one of the game’s great hitters.

Cabrera was 16 years old when he was signed by the Florida Marlins, for a whopping $1.8 million. Al Avila, who would later become the General Manager of the Detroit Tigers, was an assistant to Marlins General Manager Dave Dombrowski at the time and it is he who inked the young prospect. Miggy spent only two full seasons in the minor leagues before getting a call to the majors in June 2003, just two months after his 20th birthday. Cabrera was promoted to the Marlins while hitting a mere .365 (with a 1.038 OPS) for the AA-ball Raleigh Mudcats.

In his first game in Major League Baseball, Marlins manager Jack McKeon started Cabrera and put him in the 8th spot in the lineup for a Friday night game at Pro Player Stadium, an interleague contest against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Cabrera was hitless in his first four MLB at bats before ending his debut game in dramatic style, stroking a two-run, walk-off home run to straightaway center field, a blast estimated at 419 feet.

McKeon kept his young slugger in the lineup for all but three of the team’s remaining 87 games, alternating him between left field and third base. When Miggy joined the Marlins, the team had a record of 35-39, putting them in 4th place in the N.L. East, 13 games behind the Atlanta Braves. By season’s end, the team had a 91-71 record, putting them in 2nd place in the East and into the postseason as the National League’s Wild Card team. Cabrera had a decent rookie campaign with the bat (.268 BA, .325 OBP, .468 SLG) but his numbers were far short of the standards he would set in the years that followed.

2003 Postseason

Unlike the 1997 Marlins team (a veteran squad that won the World Series), this playoff edition of the franchise was primarily led by young players, including ace starters Josh Beckett and rookie Dontrelle Willis. The squad’s leading veteran presence was embodied in catcher Ivan Rodriguez; the future Hall of Famer had signed a one-year free-agent deal with Florida after 12 superb seasons in Texas. The 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera finished the season with a hot bat, slashing .333/.390/.547 in his last 21 games. As a result, he was a crucial presence in McKeon’s October lineups, hitting either 4th or 5th.

For the National League Division Series, the Marlins were matched up against the defending N.L. champion San Francisco Giants. The Giants, led by MVP Barry Bonds, won the N.L. West easily (with 100 wins) and were heavily favored in the NLDS. The Marlins were shut out in Game 1 (by a 2-0 score) but won the next two games in the series, taking Game 3 on a walk-off single by Rodriguez. (Having gone 0 for 8 in the first two games, Miggy started Game 3 on the bench and went 0 for 1 with a walk).

Cabrera was back in the lineup for Game 4, and his bat came alive; he went 4 for 5 with 2 doubles in 3 RBI, including an RBI single in the bottom of the 8th inning to break a 5-5 tie and help send Florida to the NLCS.

Matched up against the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS, the teams split the first six games, with Miggy hitting solo blasts in Games 1 and 2. His 3rd-inning tater in Game 1 tied the game and was his first postseason home run. Overall, in the first six games, Cabrera slashed a robust .360/.429/.600.

Hitting cleanup in Game 7, Cabrera got Florida off to a fast start with a three-run homer off flamethrower Kerry Wood in the game’s opening frame. He added a game-tying RBI groundout in the top of the 5th, helping Florida to a 9-6 win and a World Series date with the New York Yankees. Cabrera didn’t hit much in the Fall Classic (.167/.200/.292) but did have a key moment in the first inning of Game 4 when he hit a two-run tater off 41-year-old Roger Clemens, who everyone assumed was destined for a plaque in Cooperstown.

The Marlins were down 2 games to 1 before Game 4; Cabrera’s blast helped the team to an eventual 4-3 win in 12 innings. Florida went on to win the next two games and the World Series title. Despite later playing for some powerhouse teams in Detroit, the World Championship of 2003 is the only ring won by Miggy in his brilliant 20-year career.

After the season, Rodriguez was allowed to leave as a free agent (he signed with Detroit), slugging first baseman Derrek Lee was traded, and the Marlins would not return to the postseason until 2020.

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Perennial All-Star & a Trade to Detroit

Miguel Cabrera played for four more seasons with the Marlins and was an All-Star each year. In both 2005 and 2006, he finished 5th in the N.L. MVP voting. He won the Silver Slugger both years, at left field in ’05 and third base in ’06. For those four years, Miggy slashed .318/.396/.551 (for an adjusted OPS+ of 147). He also averaged 32 home runs and 115 RBI for those four campaigns. As it would be throughout his career, Cabrera’s value was almost exclusively with the bat.

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Throughout the relatively brief history of the Marlins, the franchise has gone through multiple cost-cutting fire sales. It would be no different with their young Venezuelan All-Star. Miggy, who made $7.4 million in 2007 and was criticized for putting on weight, was due for a big raise through arbitration. And so, in December, the Marlins dealt Cabrera and Willis (who had made $6.45 million in a mediocre campaign) to the Detroit Tigers. The Marlins did receive a package of six prospects in return, including outfielder Cameron Maybin (Detroit’s #1 draft pick in 2005) and Andrew Miller (the team’s #1 pick in 2006). From Detroit’s perspective, the trade was engineered by General Manager Dave Dombrowski, who had been Florida’s GM when Cabrera signed with the franchise.

With so many transactions in today’s game, player salaries are a decision-making factor. Thus it’s harder to compare the lopsided deals of the 21st century to those of the 20th, such as the Ernie Broglio-Lou Brock deal or the trade of Larry Andersen for Jeff Bagwell.

Still, by any standard, when you trade a 24-year-old star who looks like a possible Hall of Famer in the making, you’d expect to get more value than Florida ultimately received when you get six players in return. Maybin and Miller went on to have decent MLB careers but neither provided any value to the Marlins. Miller was flat-out terrible in Miami (10-20, 5.89 ERA in 3 seasons) before re-inventing himself as an excellent relief pitcher in Boston. Maybin hit .255 (with a lowly 89 OPS+) in parts of three seasons with the Marlins. Both players were traded for players who turned out to bring none to little value to Florida.

Miguel Cabrera in Motown

When Miguel Cabrera joined the Detroit Tigers, he was joining a team that had won 88 games in 2007 and the A.L. pennant in 2006. He joined an already formidable lineup that included three other former Marlins stars (Ivan Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, and Edgar Renteria) along with Magglio Ordonez, Curtis Granderson, and Placido Polanco (who had hit .341 in 2007).

Cabrera reported to training camp 20 pounds lighter and, before the season started, the team inked their new slugger to an eight-year contract worth $153.3 million, at the time the fourth-richest contract in baseball history. Cabrera was signed to be the team’s third baseman but was moved to first base by the end of April, playing there exclusively for the rest of 2008 and most of the seasons to follow. (He spent his two MVP seasons back at the hot corner, with Prince Fielder at first base).

By the lofty standards he had set for himself, Miggy got off to a relatively slow start in Motown: he slashed .281/.350/.459 (with 11 HR and 48 RBI) in his first 81 games in Detroit. As a result, he was not selected to the All-Star team after having represented Florida on the N.L. squad for four straight years. Cabrera found his power stroke in the final three months of the campaign, swatting 26 HR (with 79 RBI) in his final 79 games played. His total of 37 taters led the American League and he finished 13th in the MVP vote.

Starting in 2009, Cabrera went on an eight-year tear in which he was, simply put, the best hitter in all of Major League Baseball. During these years, he won back-to-back MVP Awards (in 2012-13), four batting titles (2011-13 & 2015), and the Triple Crown (in 2012). He also won the “slash line” Triple Crown by leading the league in BA, OBP, and SLG in 2013. Take a look at how Miggy ranked in multiple statistical categories during these eight seasons:

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Besides being the best or 2nd best in these 11 critical statistical categories, Cabrera also ranked #1 in Total Bases, Extra Base Hits, Times on Base, and Runs Created for these eight campaigns. Besides the two MVPs, Miggy also finished 4th in 2009, 2nd in 2010, 5th in 2011, 9th in 2014, 11th in 2015, and 9th in 2016. He made 7 All-Star squads and won 5 Silver Sluggers during these eight years while leading Detroit to the playoffs four times.

The most obvious Hall of Famers have lots of black type on the back of their baseball cards or on their Baseball-Reference pages and Miguel Cabrera had lots of it.

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Miguel Cabrera in October

Despite the presence of Miguel Cabrera in the heart of the lineup and a young ace starter in Justin Verlander, Jim Leyland’s Tigers didn’t make the postseason party in Miggy’s first three seasons with Detroit. In 2011, however, the season in which Verlander was the A.L.’s MVP and Cy Young Award winner (24-5, 2.40 ERA), the Tigers cruised to 95 victories and the A.L. Central title. In October, Detroit defeated the New York Yankees in the ALDS in 5 games despite Cabrera hitting just .200.

The Tigers lost the first two games of the ALCS to the Texas Rangers, with Cabrera going just 2 for 8. In the final four games of the series, Miggy’s bat was sizzling (.500/.647/1.500 with 3 HR and 7 RBI) but the Tigers managed to only split those games, giving the Rangers a 4-to-2 series victory.

In 2012, Miggy’s first MVP campaign, the Tigers won just 88 games but that was good enough for another A.L. Central title. In this season, the team advanced all the way to the World Series before getting swept in the Fall Classic by the San Francisco Giants. Overall, Cabrera slashed .265/.368/.449 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in the team’s 13 postseason contests.

As we have seen, Cabrera won another MVP trophy in 2013 and, in this season, starting pitcher Max Scherzer emerged as another ace on the mound. Mad Max was the league’s Cy Young winner with a 21-3 record (2.90 ERA). The Tigers, with 93 victories, took their third straight A.L. Central crown. In the ALDS, facing the Oakland Athletics, Detroit prevailed in 5 games, with Cabrera delivering a key 2-run tater off Sonny Gray in the 4th inning of Game 5, leading the Tigers to a 3-0 victory behind Verlander’s 8 innings of scoreless ball. Ultimately, the Tigers would fall to the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, with Cabrera hitting just .273 (1 HR, 4 RBI) in the series.

Detroit won the Central again in 2014 but was swept in the ALDS by the Baltimore Orioles. That would be the last postseason appearance for Cabrera.

Best vs. Best: Miguel Cabrera vs. Mariano Rivera

As a baseball fan, my favorite Miguel Caberea moments came in August 2013 when he became the first player ever to hit home runs in consecutive at bats against the Yankees’ Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera in what was the Sandman’s final MLB campaign.

The first of these famous blows came on a Friday night (August 9th) in front of 46,545 fans at Yankee Stadium. Cabrera, in the midst of his second MVP campaign, came into the tilt with a .359 batting average, having also already swatted 33 home runs with 105 RBI (in just 105 games played).

With the Bronx Bombers leading 3-1 after 8 innings, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi (who had previously managed Cabrera in Florida) summoned Rivera in from the bullpen to close out the game. Rivera got two outs, sandwiched around a double by Austin Jackson. Cabrera, in pain after fouling two balls off his left leg, concluded a 7-pitch at bat with a towering two-run, game-tying home run of 420 feet to straightaway center field.

“After a few minutes he limps back in the box, and I fire again on the inner half, and this time he fouls it off his shin. Now he is limping even more. All I want is to get this game over with. I try to get him to go after a pitch that breaks off the outside corner. He doesn’t bite. The seventh pitch of the at-bat is coming.

The way he is swinging at my cutter tells me he could be vulnerable to a two-seam fastball; it’s a hard sinker and if I hit the right spot down and in I think it will get him… I believe I can fool Cabrera by throwing what he’s not expecting. I might’ve, too, except that the ball goes over the heart of the plate, and just sits there. Now he rips away and the minute he makes contact I drop my head on the mound. I know where it’s going to land…

Wow, I say, as Cabrera hobbles around the bases. The wow is as much about what just happened as it is about the gift of hitting Miguel Cabrera has been blessed with. He handled two pitches that usually would’ve ended the game. He extended his at bat. 

And then he beat me.”

— Mariano Rivera (The Closer: My Story).

Although the Yankees wound up winning the game in extra innings, Rivera wasn’t done being tortured by Cabrera. Two days later, on a Sunday afternoon, Rivera had another two-run lead to protect. Miggy was leading off the inning and, after four pitches, drove Rivera’s fifth offering to right-field, easily clearing the short porch for another tater off the Great Mariano. (Victor Martinez also homered off Rivera, giving him another blown save but, again, the Yankees eventually won the game).

2017-2022: Miggy’s Decline Phase

In March 2014, after his back-to-back MVP seasons, Dombrowski signed Miguel Cabrera to an eight-year contract extension. Combined with the two years remaining on his existing deal, the Tigers were now committed to their star slugger for 10 years and $292 million. Given that Cabrera was less than a month away from his 31st birthday, the deal was criticized at the time and, although Miggy delivered for the first three of those ten seasons, the last six have been decidedly mediocre.

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In the last five years (2017-21), while making $158 million, Cabrera has delivered an overall WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of -1.1. Because his overall OPS+ was slightly below league-average (98) for those four seasons because he has been playing first base or been the team’s designated hitter. Because he doesn’t add much value in the field or on the bases, WAR is telling us that a man who was, for eight years, the game’s best hitter, has added no value at all since 2016. From 2017-19, injuries were a part of the story; in 2018 Cabrera was limited to just 38 games played.

It’s been a similar scenario in southern California, where Albert Pujols posted a -1.8 WAR (with an OPS+ of 87) for the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers from 2017-to 2021 while collecting $140 million in earnings.

Cabrera and Pujols are two of the greatest right-handed hitters ever to play the game. It’s been sad to watch them as mere shadows of their former selves.

Pujols, with 681 home runs, 2,154 RBI, and 3,308 Hits, reached his milestone numbers during these lean years, giving moments of joy to the Angels faithful even while his continued presence in the lineup contributed in part to keeping one of today’s greatest superstars (Mike Trout) from the stage of October baseball.

The Detroit Tigers have been one of the worst teams in baseball for the last five seasons and remain in a rebuilding mode for the 2022 campaign

Where Does Miguel Cabrera Rank Among Baseball’s All-Time Greats?

Most pieces on Cooperstown Cred that profile players who are not yet in the Hall of Fame feature the pros and cons of that player’s Cooperstown case. In the case of Miguel Cabrera, he will be an obvious first-ballot selection, even as he continues to limp across the finish line.

Cabrera will have the career numbers to justify an easy selection and, additionally, the extraordinary eight-year stretch that we highlighted gives him a peak performance case as well. Add in the black type, the All-Star nods, the Triple Crown, and back-to-back MVPs, and you have a Hall of Fame resume that scores 265 on the Bill James Hall of Fame monitor on a scale in which 100 equals a “likely” Hall of Famer and 130 a cinch.

So, where does Cabrera rank among the all-time greats? There are a few ways to look at that question or, put another way, there are really a few different questions.

  1. Where does Cabrera rank among the all-time great players?
  2. Where does Cabrera rank among the all-time great first basemen?
  3. Where does Cabrera rank among the all-time great hitters?
  4. Where does Cabrera rank among the all-time great right-handed hitters?

Let’s tackle these in order. With a career WAR of 68.8 (76th best among position players), Miggy’s career record is excellent but hardly in the “all-time great” category. WAR isn’t everything, but Cabrera’s number makes sense: he gets pretty much all of his value from his prowess as a batsman. Nobody ever confused him with Adrian Beltre as a defensive third baseman or with Todd Helton as a defensive first sacker. And, as a big man currently listed at 6’4″, 267 pounds, a speed demon he has never been.

Having played the plurality of his games (and nine seasons) at first base, Cabrera’s rank among first sackers is relevant. Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system puts him in 11th place (just behind Jim Thome).

(Also, let’s get this out of the way. In the previous segment, I compared the career arc of Cabrera with the arc of Albert Pujols due to their similar decline phases while earning astronomic salaries. But Cabrera is not in the same league as Pujols. Besides the fact that Pujols was an excellent fielder in the first half of his career, he was an MVP-caliber hitter from the day he set foot on the diamond. Prince Albert, whose career started in 2001, finished 4th in the MVP vote as a rookie and 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the five years to follow).

Anyway, with the acknowledgment that Cabrera’s value was almost exclusively from his time in the batter’s box, how great has he been in comparison to the game’s great hitters? One way to look at is through the statistic on Baseball-Reference “Rbat,” which calculates the raw hitting value that goes into the WAR calculation. Cabrera’s career Rbat is 575.1, which is the 26th best in the entire history of baseball but does put him behind contemporaries such as Thomas, Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Jeff Bagwell, and Thome. That’s still good company: a bunch of Hall of Famers or players who would be if not for PED links.

Another key offensive statistic is OPS+, which combines a player’s ability to get on base and hit for power, adjusted for ballpark effects and the relative ease or difficulty of each distinct MLB season. Among the 87 players in history to log at least 10,000 plate appearances, Miggy’s 144 OPS+ is tied for 16th highest; he’s behind 13 Hall of Famers, Pujols, and Barry Bonds. Of course, Cabrera’s career isn’t over yet and he’s still going backward in this statistic. At the end of 2016, he had a 155 OPS+ (with a .321 BA). Today, it’s down to 144 (and a .310 BA).

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The 2nd Golden Age of Right-Handed Hitters

In baseball history, there’s always been a bias favoring left-handed hitters since most pitchers have thrown right-handed. Many of the greatest legends of the game’s first 80 years (Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Stan Musial) were lefty swingers. Then, in the 1950s and 1960s, we saw a slew of terrific right-handed hitters who were also some of the game’s great all-around players (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente, and Al Kaline).

When I was growing up as a young baseball fan (in the late 1970s and the 1980s), the game’s best hitters (especially for average) were predominantly left-handed. Remember, people didn’t talk much about on-base% or slugging% during these years. The “Triple Crown” stats (BA, HR, RBI) were the measuring sticks for hitting excellence. A significant majority of the batting champions during these years swung the bat left-handed. Rod Carew, George Brett, Wade Boggs, and Tony Gwynn won a combined 23 batting titles. The rarities were hitters like Bill Madlock, who had the N.L.’s top BA four times.

Starting in the 1990s, however, there’s been a parade of right-handed hitters who not only hit for high batting averages but were some of the top overall batsmen in baseball history. The last decade of the 20th century featured the emergence of Thomas, Bagwell, Ramirez, Edgar Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero, and a trio of great-hitting shortstops (Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Nomar Garciaparra).

Continuing this trend, in the first two decades of the 21st century, there have been three truly great right-handed hitters to make their MLB debuts: Pujols, Cabrera, and Trout. Overall, there are no lefty-swingers to match this august trio.

And so, how does Miguel Cabrera rank among the great right-handed hitters in baseball history? Using a minimum of 8,000 plate appearances (a high standard requiring a large body of work), Miggy’s 144 OPS+ is tied for the 15th highest in the Modern Era (since 1901) for righty swingers. Using a minimum standard of 10,000 PA, he’s 7th best, behind Thomas, Mays, Robinson, Mike Schmidt, and Pujols.

That’s pretty darned good company.

Besides collecting his 3,000th hit, we can all hope that Miguel Cabrera has a few other signature moments in his final two seasons in Motown. Barring an unforeseen scandal, Miggy will be going into the Hall of Fame six years after the final year of his prolific career.

Thanks for reading. Please follow Cooperstown Cred on Twitter @cooperstowncred.

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8 thoughts on “Miguel Cabrera Joins The Exclusive 3,000/500 Club”

  1. “… even while (Pujol’s) continued presence in the lineup has contributed in part to keeping today’s greatest superstar (Mike Trout) from the stage of October baseball.”

    Seems a bit harsh …even qualifying the thought with “in part”. If we are to believe in WAR, certainly Pujol’s contribution has not been a stunning collapse to much worse than a “replacement-level player”.

    Apparently your take differs.

    …tom…

  2. Hi Tom, I agree, it’s harsh, and the Angels have a lot of other problems (hence the “in part” qualifier). But, as you know, the problem is not just Albert’s sub replacement level play, it’s also the opportunity cost of the other players that could have been paid with that money.

  3. Yes …good point, one I had not considered. Long-term, big bucks contracts can really handicap an organization.

    …tom…

  4. I think 13 HR is more likely than 133 hits (in 2021 anyway)

    BTW: he had a season when he won the slash line triple crown. How common is that? (In a league not necessarily all of MLB)

  5. Jake Beckley..?? Just behind Cabrera in career total hits (at the page/URL just shared)

    Seriously had to websearch his info. Despite his being a HOF-er and hit machine for nearly two decades.

    …tom…

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