Miguel Cabrera has joined a small, but growing group of home run hitters
There’s not a lot missing from Miguel Cabrera’s sure-to-be Hall of Fame résumé.
A home run against his former franchise, the Miami Marlins, was one of the rare milestones he’d yet to cross off the list. But that changed during Detroit’s 7-5 win against Miami on Tuesday, when Cabrera smacked a three-run shot. In doing so, Cabrera actually joined an elite group of home run hitters, becoming just the ninth active player to homer against all 30 active MLB teams.
Of course, Cabrera’s opportunities against the Marlins have been very limited. He was signed by the then-Florida Marlins as an amateur free agent in 1999. He went on to spend his first five MLB seasons (2003-07) with the Marlins, before signing with Detroit prior to the 2008 season.
Following this week’s short two-game series, Cabrera has played only six total games against the Marlins. Worth noting, he added a home run in Wednesday’s 10-3 win, meaning he’s now homered against every franchise twice, with the exception of one. That being his current team, the Tigers, whom he homered against once during a three-game interleague series in 2004.
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Overall, a total of 50 players have homered against all 30 teams. That number will surely rise in the future, given that interleague play has become so prominent and once-rare matchups now take place at least every four or five years. Frequent player movement also adds to the likelihood of more future occurrences.
Still, it’s impressive that Cabrera was able to pull it off given how few his opportunities have been against Miami and Detroit. To pull it off, it requires being in the right place. Beyond that, it takes executing and producing, and that’s something Cabrera has always done at an elite level.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
