Miguel Cabrera hit his 500th career home run against the Toronto Blue Jays Sunday afternoon. This made him the 28th player to reach the milestone. To get there, Cabrera hit a home run off Steven Matz in the top of the sixth. Fans of the Detroit Tigers began to keep a close eye on the future Hall of Famer, who homered twice on July 29 to reach No. 498. He came close to hitting two more the following day. The Toronto fans gave a prolonged ovation after the blast, prompting Cabrera to take a curtain call.
At 38 years old, he’s been plagued by injuries the last several years. It’s been a while since he resembled the player who is a two-time AL MVP winner. The last impressive season Cabrera had was in 2016, when he hit .316 with 38 home runs. He is putting up a decent season with the up-and-coming Tigers. Cabrera was hitting .253 (89-for-360) after his historic home run, with the game still in progress as of this writing.
So far in 2021, Cabrera has 13 home runs to become the first player to reach the milestone while playing for the Tigers. The last two players to reach 500 home runs were David Ortiz and Albert Pujols. Both players are the only players to hit both 499 and 500 in the same game. However, Harmon Killebrew and Mark McGwire hit their 500th and 501st home runs in the same game.
Along with hitting 500 home runs, there’s the possibility of Cabrera joining another exclusive club. The first baseman currently has 2,955 hits and ranks 35th on the all-time hit leaders list. He is on his way to pass Sam Crawford and Sam Rice and perhaps Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline, who has 3,007. Only six players have reached 500 homers and 3,000 hits: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Pujols, and Alex Rodriguez.
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Players mentioned:
Miguel Cabrera, Steven Matz, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Harmon Killebrew, Mark McGwire, Sam Crawford, Sam Rice, Al Kaline, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez
