April 23, 2022: Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera joins the 3,000-hit club

Miguel Cabrera’s list of accolades is long. His manager in 2022, A.J. Hinch, said it best, “I’ve tried to remind our players that we’re playing with a living legend.”1

A native of Maracay, Venezuela, Cabrera was the first Venezuelan and seventh player born outside the continental United States to reach the 3,000-hit plateau.2 He was signed as an international free agent by the Florida Marlins in 1999 and reached the big-league club in the middle of the 2003 season at age 20.

Cabrera made an immediate impact with the Marlins and helped the team win a World Series title during his rookie year. After four All-Star appearances in five seasons in Florida, Cabrera was traded to the Detroit Tigers along with Dontrelle Willis in a blockbuster deal for six prospects in December 2007.

Combining elite power and remarkable consistency, Cabrera helped the Tigers reach the postseason every year from 2011 through 2014. He won the Triple Crown (the first since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967) and the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 2012. The next season, Cabrera took home a second MVP. As of 2022, he had been selected as an All-Star 12 times, earned seven Silver Slugger Awards, and received league MVP votes in 14 different seasons.

From the first game and first hit of his major-league career – a walk-off 11th inning homer in June 2003 – Cabrera relentlessly recorded hits. His 205 safeties in 2012 were second best in baseball, and he averaged 192 hits per year from 2005 through 2014. Cabrera claimed four AL batting titles in five seasons from 2011 through 2015; at the end of the 2022 season, his career batting average stood at .308.

Cabrera reached 1,000 hits with a home run in his 861st game on September 7, 2008. It took him 802 more games to get to 2,000 hits. He reached that milestone with another home run (in a four-hit game) on April 4, 2014. By the end of the 2021 season, his 19th major-league campaign, Cabrera had accumulated 2,987 hits and passed the 500-homer mark.3

After months of uncertainty concerning the 2022 season, the owners and players agreed to a new collective-bargaining agreement on March 10, ending a lockout. The season opened on April 7, a week later than scheduled.

Once play started, Cabrera didn’t waste any time collecting hits. By the Tigers’ 11th game, on April 20, two days after his 39th birthday, Cabrera already had two three-hit games and 12 hits. His sixth-inning single against Chad Green of the New York Yankees that day, his third hit of the game, gave him 2,999 career hits.

Two innings later, Cabrera had his first opportunity for his 3,000th hit but fanned against New York’s Clay Holmes. Three hitless at-bats against the Yankees followed on April 21, with some controversy developing when Yankees manager Aaron Boone elected to intentionally walk Cabrera in his fourth plate appearance, with first base open and the Tigers leading by a run in the eighth inning.4 Tigers fans, hoping to witness Cabrera reach the milestone, reacted by vigorously booing Boone’s decision.

The Colorado Rockies were next in Detroit, but inclement weather postponed the series opener on April 22. The game was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader a day later, which became Cabrera’s next opportunity for the historic hit.

The Tigers entered the first game of the Saturday afternoon twin bill with a 5-7 record, while the Rockies were 8-4. The starting pitcher for Detroit was southpaw Tarik Skubal, who was in his third major-league season (all with the Tigers) and making his third start of the year. Entering the game against the Rockies, he had an 0-1 record and a 3.72 ERA.

Colorado’s starter was Cabrera’s countryman, Antonio Senzatela. Senzatela was in the sixth year of his career (all with the Rockies) and also making his third start of the season. The right-hander had an unblemished record of 1-0 and a 2.16 ERA.

With a crowd of 37,566 looking on, Skubal allowed a one-out single to Randal Grichuk in the top of the first but struck out the next two Rockies to end the inning.

Senzatela yielded a leadoff single to Robbie Grossman, and Austin Meadows followed by hitting into a force at second. This brought Cabrera to the plate for his first chance at the milestone in the game.

The slugger did not waste the opportunity. He sent the third pitch he saw from Senzatela to right field for the 3,000th hit of his career.

The game paused after Cabrera touched the bag.5 Rockies shortstop José Iglesias, a teammate of Cabrera’s in Detroit for five years, was the first person to congratulate him with a big hug. His Tiger teammates followed Iglesias’ example with hugs and handshakes all around, as the crowd stood chanting, “Miggy, Miggy, Miggy.”

Cabrera trotted to home plate, where he received more congratulatory hugs from his family, and then went back to first base where he tipped his cap and put his hand to his heart to recognize how much the reception to his hit meant to him.

When game action continued, Senzatela struck out the next batter before Tigers second baseman Jonathan Schoop singled to score Meadows from first and send Cabrera to second.

Rookie Spencer Torkelson, selected first overall by the Tigers in the June 2020 draft and appearing in his 13th major-league game (it was Cabrera’s 2,600th game), sent Senzatela’s first pitch to him deep down the right-field line for a three-run home run, his third of 2022, to make the score 4-0 in the Tigers’ favor.

Skubal retired the Rockies in order in the top half of the second. In the bottom half, Cabrera followed Meadows’ one-out single by hitting into a double play.

Both pitchers faced the minimum in the third inning. Skubal repeated that feat in the fourth, but Senzatela allowed consecutive singles to open the bottom half of the inning. After a fielder’s choice groundout, Grossman batted with men on the corners.

Grossman’s line drive to center scored another Tiger run, but he was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double. Senzatela got Meadows to ground out to end the inning, but the Tigers led, 5-0.

Both pitchers retired the side in order in the fifth, with Cabrera grounding out to open the home half of the inning. Colorado threatened to get back into the game in the sixth, when three singles loaded the bases for Kris Bryant with one out. But Skubal fanned the dangerous Bryant and got C.J. Cron to pop out, preserving the shutout.

Ty Blach replaced Senzatela on the mound in the bottom of the sixth, and the Tigers broke the game open. Harold Castro doubled with one out. One out later, Akil Badoo drove Castro in with a single to left.

A single and a walk brought Cabrera to the plate with the bases loaded. The slugger singled to left to drive in two runs and increase his career hit total to 3,001. Erick Haase replaced Cabrera at first base, and the man of the hour was finished for this game. Jeimer Candelario’s RBI single made it a four-run inning and a 9-0 Tigers lead.

Detroit racked up its third four-run inning of the game in the seventh to swell its lead to 13-0. Wily Peralta and Angel de Jesus came in from the Tigers bullpen to close out the game with three innings of scoreless relief.6

After the game, Cabrera said, “When I saw the second baseman playing almost behind second base, I thought, OK, you have to shoot the ball there.” He continued, “This one was really special for me, because I wanted to do it here in front of my family, in front of my hometown here in Detroit. I’m happy I hit it here. I’m happy people in Detroit could see it.”7

Cabrera became the 33rd player in major-league history to reach 3,000 hits, four years after Albert Pujols recorded his 3,000th hit. As of the 2022 season, he was one of just seven men with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.8 He was the third player to get his 3,000th hit wearing a Tigers uniform. The other two were Ty Cobb in 1921 and Al Kaline in 1974.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to John Fredland and Gary Belleville for their careful reading, and modifications, of the first draft of this article. The article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, I used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for team, season, and player pages and logs and the box scores and play-by-plays for this game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET202204231.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2022/B04231DET2022.htm

Notes

1 Chris McCoskey, “Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera Delivers 3,000th Hit – and Cements His Place Among MLB’s Greats,” Detroit News, April 22, 2022, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2022/04/22/detroit-tigers-miguel-cabrera-3000th-hit/7393561001/.

2 The other six are Adrián Beltré and Albert Pujols (Dominican Republic), Ichiro Suzuki (Japan), Rafael Palmeiro (Cuba), Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico), and Rod Carew (Panama).

3 Cabrera’s 500th home run was a solo shot off Steven Matz in Toronto on August 22, 2021.   

4 Max Goodman, “Yankees’ Aaron Boone Opens Up About Decision to Intentionally Walk Miguel Cabrera,” SI.com: MLB, April 21, 2022, https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees/news/new-york-yankees-aaron-boone-explains-decision-intentional-walk-detroit-tigers-miguel-cabrera-3000-hit.

5 Action following Cabrera’s 3,000th hit is transcribed from the following: “Miguel Cabrera’s 3,000th Hit!” YouTube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc8a2z4Ui-4, (last accessed October 9, 2022).

6 Cabrera recorded his 3,002nd hit, a first-inning single against Austin Gomber, in Colorado’s 3-2 win in the second game of the doubleheader.

7 Jason Beck, “Milestone for Miggy! Tiger Joins 3K-Hit Club,” MLB.com, April 23, 2022, https://www.mlb.com/news/miguel-cabrera-records-3-000th-hit?partnerId=zh-20220424-590195-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20220424-590195-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=CGl70re8TU2l4hzfPpLxAnjZOkpAERHUjnjUWvYL96obA14R1JUC4lt0hDtFjoEG&bt_ts=1650806925828.

8 The other six are Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Pujols, Eddie Murray, Alex Rodríguez, and Palmiero.