Miguel Cairo

Mickey Cochrane, Roger Bresnahan, and Ralph Kiner are enshrined in Cooperstown. Cecil Fielder once swatted 51 home runs in a season; Roger Maris, a still mythical 61. Nomar Garciaparra won consecutive batting titles in the American League. Shoeless Joe Jackson became an all-time great, all-time goat, or both, depending on your viewpoint. Hack Wilson drove in 191 runs in one season. Charles Comiskey had not one, but two ballparks named after him.

Yet none of these men played in more major-league baseball games than Miguel Cairo, who suited up for 1,490 contests over 17 years and for nine franchises, ranking 21st among Venezuelans as of the start of the 2024 season. Cairo logged eight campaigns with 100 or more games played and hung up his spikes with a 77.65 percent stolen-base percentage, a higher rate of success than those enjoyed by Craig Biggio, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Lou Brock during their Hall of Fame careers.

Cairo was born on May 4, 1974, in Anaco, Venezuela. Located in the state of Anzoátegui, the city is supported by the petroleum and natural gas industries. It was a banner year for major-league baseball with the Oakland Athletics three-peating as World Series champions and 185 future players coming into the world, including 12 Venezuelans, the first time the country had produced that many.1

As an international player (not residing in the United States, Puerto Rico, or Canada), Cairo was eligible to sign with any franchise. He agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent on September 20, 1990. Los Angeles had a less than spectacular draft, selecting 63 players, only seven of whom made it to the majors.2

The trek to “The Show” was arduous for Cairo. He logged time in five different minor leagues, appearing in 642 games, and playing second base, third base, and shortstop. (He would play an additional 137 games during rehabilitation assignments after the 1998 season, for a total of 779 minor-league contests.) In 1992 he debuted for the rookie-league Gulf Coast League Dodgers at age 18 and hit .303 in 21 games to earn a promotion to the high Class-A Florida State League. Suiting up for Vero Beach, Cairo was the youngest position player on the team and four birthdays behind his peers. His youth showed as he struggled through 36 games (.224/.285/.224) before a winter of rest helped him produce a .315 line while playing 90 games as an infielder in 1993.

The Dodgers brass kept Cairo at Class A for the 1994 season but shipped him across the nation to the West Coast, where he produced a .291 batting average in 133 games with Bakersfield (California League). He found himself in San Antonio (Double-A Texas League) in 1995, penciled in for 107 games and hitting .278 but the Dodgers traded him and Willis Otáñez to the Seattle Mariners in the offseason for Mike Blowers. Blowers, who had played several years in the majors with the Mariners and the Yankees, would guard the hot corner for a single year with LA before returning to Seattle. Cairo, on the other hand, never suited up in the Northwest, instead being shipped to Toronto on December 18, 1995, as part of a four-player trade. The Blue Jays had lost hope of re-signing future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, so second base was up for grabs in 1996. Tomás Pérez, who had hit a respectable .245 as a 21-year-old in 1995, was Cairo’s competition, though the position saw Domingo Cedeño, Felipe Crespo, and Tilson Brito on the field for the 1996 Jays.

After spending various campaigns in the minors, Cairo did not waste time on April 17, 1996, when he debuted in the majors batting second and playing second for the visiting Blue Jays. Facing the Angels’ Chuck Finley, Cairo lunged at the first pitch and laced a double to left field. Joe Carter later drove him home; while it was the only run of the game for Toronto, it was the first of 504 Cairo would score in the major leagues. His aggressive at-bat set the tone for his career, as he averaged .328 when attacking the first pitch. He played one more game, April 21 at Seattle, hitting another double, before finding himself back in the minors. He played 120 games with Syracuse (Triple-A International League) and hit .277 before returning to the Blue Jays on September 4 against Kansas City once the rosters expanded. For the year, he logged six hits (only singles in September) in 27 at-bats and did not commit an error in 40 chances (22 putouts, 18 assists). After the season he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for Jason Stevenson, a right-handed pitcher who never made the majors. Cairo, on other hand, enjoyed a robust season for Triple-A Iowa (Pacific Coast League), belting 35 doubles and swiping 40 bases while hitting .279 and playing solid defense up the middle. He enjoyed a brief call-up during a series facing Houston, pinch-hitting in all three games. Cairo returned to Iowa but rejoined the Cubs once the rosters expanded, playing in 13 contests, pinch-hitting, pinch-running, handling the middle-infield positions and batting .241. The team’s tandem of Shawon Dunston and Ryne Sandberg, together for more than a decade, would not return in 1998: Sandberg retired and Dunston had been traded to Pittsburgh in late August. In Sandberg’s last home game, Cairo ran for him in the bottom of the fifth and scored on a Mark Grace home run. He enjoyed two at-bats in the game, picking up a single.

Although the club had some young talent on its roster (Rey Sánchez, Manny Alexander, José Hernández, and Cairo were all capable of playing up the middle and were younger than 30), the Cubs opted to sign veterans Mickey Morandini and Jeff Blauser as their double-play combination. Sánchez was traded to the Yankees and Cairo was left unprotected during the expansion draft for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Having enjoyed a couple of cups of coffee, Cairo was hungry for the chance to stay in the majors for an entire year. Tampa Bay provided him the opportunity. Chosen eighth in the expansion draft, Cairo spent three years with the team. In 1998 he played at second base in 150 contests and batted a respectable .268. His consistency earned him a spot in the Topps All-Star Rookie Team along fellow Venezuelan Magglio Ordóñez. He had a seven-game hitting streak and finished third in the AL in Defense WAR (2.6). Although he had two stints on the disabled list in 1999 due a strained right hamstring, he upped his offensive contribution, hitting .295, then dropped to .261 in 2000. He enjoyed a highlight game on April 6, 2000, driving home the winning run by singling in Tony Graffanino off Héctor Carrasco. Tampa and Cairo went their separate ways in the postseason, with the now-established major leaguer being released on November 27.

After signing with the Athletics on January 7, 2001, Cairo found himself traded at the end of spring training. Oakland swapped him to the Cubs for former AL Rookie of the Year Eric Hinske on March 28, just before the season began. He slashed .285/.364/.374 in 66 games before being claimed off waivers by St. Louis. The Cardinals finished second in the NL Central Division; St. Louis shared the best record in the senior circuit with Houston, but the Astros earned the top seed via the tiebreaker system. Cairo performed admirably for the Cardinals, playing in 27 games and hitting .333 with a .576 slugging average. His bat turned cold (1-for-5) in the NLDS as the Cardinals lost to the eventual World Series champion Diamondbacks in five hard-fought games. (The Cardinals pitched better, but Arizona won the close games.)

St. Louis valued Cairo’s presence and kept him for two more years, during which he played 200 games and hit .247. He appeared across the infield, both outfield corner spots, as designated hitter, pinch-hitter, and pinch-runner, displaying his versatility. He enjoyed postseason success in 2002, avenging the prior year’s loss to Arizona by going 4-for-4 (three singles, a double, three RBIs, and one hit-by-pitch) in the Division Series and 5-for-13 in the NLCS against San Francisco (four singles, one home run), when the Cardinals were bounced in five games. St. Louis did not reach the postseason in 2003, finishing third in a competitive NL Central.

The 2003 New York Yankees offseason was bizarre, even by the club’s standards. ALCS hero Aaron Boone injured his knee while playing pickup basketball, leaving the Yankees with a hole at third base. The Red Sox, their hated rivals, had aggressively pursued a complex trade with Texas for disgruntled shortstop Alex Rodriguez. However, Boston had its own All-Star playing the position in Garciaparra. A swap sending Rodriguez and White Sox outfielder Ordóñez to Boston, Manny Ramírez to the Rangers, and Garciaparra to Chicago was close but ultimately fell apart. New York sensed the opportunity and shuttled its incumbent middle sacker, Alfonso Soriano, to Texas for A-Rod, creating an opportunity at second base. Cairo signed a free-agent deal with the Yankees on December 19, 2003.

Although Enrique Wilson, a three-year veteran with the team, was chosen to start in 2004, his offensive struggles allowed Cairo to earn more playing time.3 Wilson started 38 of the team’s first 59 games, but his anemic bat (he was under .200 for most of the time) earned him the bench. Cairo seized the opportunity, emboldened by manager Joe Torre: “he knows how to play the game … defensively, offensively, on the basepaths. Right now I’m going to play him for a while because I’m comfortable watching him.”4 He produced a .292/.346/.417 slash line out of the ninth spot and anchored the infield defense. He started all four games of the ALDS against Minnesota, scoring three runs, and delivered a robust line against the Red Sox in the ALCS, reaching base in all but the final game while scoring four runs on a .280/.419/.400 performance. He made a rare appearance in the league leaderboard with 14 times being hit by pitch. Though he found a place in the fans’ hearts, his spot in the roster was taken by Robinson Canó, who had wrapped up a solid season split between Double A and Triple A. On October 28, a day after the Red Sox won the World Series, the Yankees granted Cairo free agency. He has fond memories of his time, telling a 2008 interviewer that “it was amazing. To get to play in a lot of full stadiums and to be a part of that organization, it was fantastic.”5

Cairo’s next team was literally across the city. The Mets offered him a one-year deal on January 10, 2005. He shared second base with Kazuo Matsui and again attained the century mark of games played. Alongside Carlos Beltrán, Mike Piazza, Tom Glavine, and former foe Pedro Martínez, Cairo nurtured the next flag-bearers for the franchise in José Reyes and David Wright. He hit .251 while defending first, second, and third bases as well as the outfield corner spots, although he spent two weeks on the DL due to the nagging hamstring issue.

Cairo’s Big Apple adventures were not yet over. He switched boroughs again, leaving Queens for the Bronx, signing a free-agent contract with the Yankees on January 6, 2006. Though Canó enjoyed a robust year at the plate, hitting .342, injuries limited him to 122 games, giving Cairo an opportunity to play at second base, third base, first base, shortstop, and left field. He hit .239 but allowed the Yankees flexibility across various positions as they won yet another division title. He re-signed on January 26, 2007, and played every infield position and left field but was released on August 15. He joined the Cardinals four days later and played most of the stretch run at first base, second base, and third base. St. Louis finished 78-84, seven games behind the division-winning Cubs. The Cardinals did not offer him a 2008 contract, opting instead to use Aaron Miles, Brendan Ryan, and Felipe López as their bench infielders.

Seattle saw the promise of Cairo as a veteran presence for its crop of young players, signing him on January 8, 2008, to a one-year contract. He mentored 24-year-old second baseman José López and 26-year-old shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt in numerous ways: as a first baseman, given Richie Sexson’s nagging injuries; as a double-play partner when one of them had the night off; or as a quasi-coach from the dugout on games Cairo did not play. Betancourt noted the guidance on and off the field: “He’s a player who has so many years in the league and has the experience in the infield. The things we talk about are learning how to play different hitters and what action needs to be taken.”6 The experiment, while noble, was short-lived as Seattle slumped to 61-101, 27 games off the prior year’s pace. Cairo’s flexibility enabled him to cross the century mark in games played as he hit .249 for the campaign. The Mariners granted him free agency on October 30, 2008, a day after the Phillies won the World Series. (Game Five began on October 27 but was suspended due to rain and completed on October 29.)

Philadelphia had won its second title in franchise history by riding a potent starting lineup but its bench was thin, making Cairo’s versatility and leadership a good match. On February 15, 2009, both parties agreed to a one-year deal. But Cairo played sporadically: He pinch-hit in 19 contests and appeared on the field in eight others. In the postseason Cairo played in the Division Series and the Championship Series, going 0-for-5. When the Phillies returned to the World Series, Cairo was left off the roster.

The Phillies declined to offer Cairo a new contract but the Cincinnati Reds picked him up on January 27, 2010. Originally inked to a one-year deal, Cairo would finish his career with the team after playing three campaigns. In 2010 he hit .290, his highest output since 2004, and produced an OBP of .353, his best mark since 2001. He committed only three errors while playing right field and all four infield positions. The Reds met the Phillies in the 2010 NLDS, with Philadelphia sweeping the three-game set as Cairo went 0-for-3 hitting for the pitcher in each contest. He re-signed during the offseason and delivered a .265 clip in 2011, his last year playing 100 games. He walloped two home runs on August 13 in a 13-1 laugher against San Diego, connecting off Tim Stauffer and Anthony Bass, driving in Jay Bruce both times. Earlier in the summer (June 19) he had homered off Toronto’s Carlos Villanueva to drive in Joey Votto and win the game for the Reds, 2-1.

Cairo spent some time in the minors in 2012, rehabilitating a hamstring injury with the Dayton Dragons. His skipper was Delino DeShields, a former teammate; almost a quarter of his teammates had not been born when he signed his first professional contract. He prepared himself for this next stage of this baseball life, stating, “[W]hen you come back here, you want to make sure the kids watch you work. … I just want to make sure I’m a model for them.”7 In 2012 he slumped to .187, below the Mendoza line,8 but the Reds still employed him in the memorable LDS against the Giants (won by San Francisco in five games after dropping the first two games at home). He pinch-hit twice and replaced Scott Rolen in the bottom of the ninth of the second game. Cairo grounded out on a 0-and-1 pitch from two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum in the sixth inning of Game Four, closing the book on his professional career.

Cairo retired after the 2012 season. Stan Javier, himself an Energizer bunny who appeared in 1,763 games, had once told him: “Miguel, you are going to play until your body tells you can’t.”9 He averaged 3.62 pitches per plate appearance, driven by a tendency to swing at the first pitch (25.7 percent) as he did in his debut. His .328 average when hitting the first pitch was his highest among all situations, though his .327 during 1-and-0 was a close second. He made solid contact (11 percent strikeout percentage) but did not walk much (5.5 percent) and created 3.9 runs per game. His OPS+ was 77 (100 is league average) due to his low patience at the plate and weak power, but he managed better numbers during the postseason (29 games, 82 plate appearances, .282 average with .394 slugging). He hit better against southpaws (.287) than righties (.255) and during the first half (.268) than the second (.259). Cairo cherished using the lumber against the Phillies, White Sox, and Indians (above .300) but could not figure out the Giants and Dodgers (sub-.200). He was sad to see the Kingdome (1.319 OPS) and Veterans Stadium (1.020 OPS) go to ballpark heaven and was giddy with excitement when Hall of Famers John Smoltz (.467) and Randy Johnson (.346) were on the mound. Mike Mussina (.226) and Martínez (.171) gave him fits, as did the half-brothers Orlando and Liván Hernández (a combined 7-for-45). He places 50th among second basemen in fielding percentage (.9841) and 51st in range factor per nine innings, above Alomar and Biggio.

Cairo played in 10 consecutive seasons in the Venezuelan Winter League, participating in four title-winning clubs. From age 19 to 21 he donned the colors of the capital’s Leones before being traded in midseason to the Cardenales of Lara (née Oriente) in 1995-1996. Debuting at age 19, Cairo appeared in 33 games and hit .246.10 The Leones boasted various big leaguers on their roster, as Omar Vizquel, Bobby Abreu, Ugueth Urbina, and Edgar Alfonzo mixed youth and experience on the 1993-1994 club, which lost the finals to the Navegantes of Magallanes. The nucleus returned in 1994-1995, and Cairo appeared in 56 of the 60 regular-season contests, lifting his average to .319 as Caracas won the league title over the Águilas of Zulia. After a slow start in 1995-1996 (14 games, .250 average), he was traded to Lara for Dilson Torres, and regained his stroke with the Cardenales, hitting a personal-high .341 and picking up a Golden Glove Award.

Cairo struggled mightily in 1996-1997, playing 47 games but managing only 43 hits in 187 at-bats for the lowest production in his Venezuelan career. He rebounded the next year, hitting .284 and .257 in 1998-1999 and then took the next year off from the winter competition. (By then, he had become Tampa’s starting second baseman and thus had more mileage.)

Cairo returned to winter ball in 2000-01 with a fine season, earning the MVP award for the final series, claimed in six games by Lara. He played sporadically after that, appearing in 29 games in 2000-2001 and only five in 2002-2003.

For his career, he appeared in 348 games and hit .286 with a .351 OBP. His postseason résumé added 149 games with a .249 batting average. (Walk totals are not complete, making OBP usage less reliable.) Although correlation does not prove causation, Cairo’s teams enjoyed winning records in every one of his campaigns, earning four total championships (1994-1995, 1997-1998, 1998-1999, and 2000-2001). The sole blemish in his credentials was the inability to win the Caribbean Series as Venezuela suffered through a 17-year drought between 1989’s Zulia victory and the 2006 championship of Caracas. He gathered 10 hits in 53 at-bats (nine singles, one home run) and scored five runs in 14 games. He represented the country as part of the 1995 Caracas team, the 2001 Lara club, and as a reinforcement for the 1996 Magallanes roster.

Cairo had barely donned his uniform for the last time before the Cincinnati Reds named him assistant to general manager Walt Jocketty.11 The organization had recognized his efforts in the past, nominating him to the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association’s Heart and Hustle Award, given to the player who “best demonstrates a passion for the game of baseball and best embodies the values, spirit, and traditions of the game.”12 Jocketty announced the news on February 14, 2013, declaring, “Miguel expressed an interest in retiring as a player and becoming involved with the baseball operations side of the game. … Our younger players will benefit from his work ethic and experience.”13

After five seasons, the last of which saw Cincinnati fail to achieve 70 wins, Cairo rejoined the Yankees organization, accepting a role as a minor-league infield coordinator prior to the 2018 campaign.14

The 2019 season brought another milestone for Cairo. His son, Christian, was rated 83rd among the top 300 draft prospects by Baseball America.15 A shortstop accepted into LSU’s powerhouse baseball program, he credited his father for his talent and attitude: “He taught me how to be a man and how to have a work ethic. From day one to the end of the season you have to grind and be all in every game.”16 On June 4, 2019, Christian was drafted by the Cleveland Indians with the 130th pick in the fourth round of the amateur draft.17 He finished the 2023 season with the Class-A Lake County Captains.

Last revised: January 31, 2026

Acknowledgments

•  JJ Montilla, Venezuelan sportswriter, for sharing the Venezuelan Baseball reference site “Pelota Binaria,” which includes winter league statistics.
• Lorenzo “Tony” Piña Cámpora, adviser to the Caribbean Baseball Association, for providing Caribbean Series statistics.
• Pete Palmer and Jim Wheeler for detailed disabled list records.

Photo credit: Jerry Coli / Dreamstime.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied extensively on Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/baseball_births.php?y=1974.

2 https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?team_ID=LAD&year_ID=1990&draft_type=junreg&query_type=franch_year&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0.

3 Matt Klassen, “The Legend of the Legendary Miguel Cairo,” Fangraphs, February 15, 2013. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-legend-of-the-legendary-miguel-cairo/.

4 Mike Bernandino, “Cairo a Strange Fit in New York,” South Florida Sun Sentinel, May 16, 2004.  https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2004-05-16-0405160260-story.html.

5 Associated Press, “Mariners Look to Miguel Cairo as Player-Coach,” TDN.com, March 10, 2008. https://tdn.com/sports/mariners-look-to-miguel-cairo-as-player-coach/article_0ca0e441-4032-589f-a31d-a2fbbf19816d.html.

6 “Mariners Look to Miguel Cairo.”

7 David Jablonksi, “Reds’ Cairo a Model for Young Dragons,” Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, March 3, 2012. https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/sports/baseball/reds-cairo-model-for-young-dragons/wuNg7x8Cy6QHvSGpL9E3iN/.

8 The Mendoza Line is a term coined by a teammate of Mario Mendoza on the 1979 Mariners – usually credited to Tom Paciorek or Bruce Bochte – as a joke on the light-hitting shortstop, who typically carried an average around .200. (Though he actually finished with a career mark of .215.) http://m.mlb.com/glossary/idioms/mendoza-line.

9 “Mariners Look to Miguel Cairo.”

10 http://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/mostrar.php?ID=cairmig001. Statistics provided via e-mail by Lorenzo “Tony” Piña Cámpora, researcher for the Dominican Republic Baseball League and adviser to the Caribbean Baseball Association.

11 Blaine Blontz, “Miguel Cairo Joins Reds’ Front Office,” SB Nation MLB Daily Dish, February 14, 2013. https://www.mlbdailydish.com/2013/2/14/3989334/miguel-cairo-reds-front-office.

12 https://www.mlb.com/mlbpaa/events/heart-and-hustle-award.

13 “Miguel Cairo Joins Baseball Operations Staff,” MLB.com, February 14, 2013. https://www.mlb.com/news/miguel-cairo-joins-baseball-operations-staff/c-41637894.

14 Robert Pimpsner, “Miguel Cairo Joins Yankees as Minor League Infield Coordinator,” February 17, 2018. https://pinstripedprospects.com/miguel-cairo-joins-yankees-minor-league-infield-coordinator-29831/.

15 Joel Poley, “Instinctual Florida SS Christian Cairo Ready for the Next Level,” Baseball America, April 11, 2019. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/instinctual-florida-ss-christian-cairo-ready-for-the-next-level/.

16 Poley.

17 Rodney Page, “Calvary Christian Shortstop Christian Cairo Drafted in Fourth Round by Cleveland Indians.” Tampa Bay Times, June 4, 2019. https://www.tampabay.com/sports/high-schools/2019/06/04/calvary-christian-shortstop-christian-cairo-drafted-in-fourth-round-by-cleveland-indians/.