Harold Capote Fernández | @batesbeisbol
Sunday August 22, 2021 is a date that for centuries and centuries will be special not only for Venezuelan Baseball, it will be so forever for the national sport.
On that day Miguel Cabrera, the best hitter born in this land, the Tigre Mayor, both from Aragua and Detroit, completed the important figure of 500 homers in his great career at the highest level of the ball.
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Those five hundred home runs are not just anything, because the boy from Maracay is the first of our countrymen to reach that number in the Major Leagues, being the 28th in the long history of the Big Top.
That Sunday, his Bengals were in Canadian territory, facing the Blue Jays in the city of Toronto, and the climax came in the sixth inning against left-handed starter Steven Matz. On the count of 1 ball and 1 strike, Cabrerita sent the ball past the center and right field wall.
This marked a new special chapter for the Venezuelan legion in the majors. Here we do a count of some of the four-corner hits given by his Tigre strength.
1st: on his debut day he settled the game in favor of the Florida Marlins. Al Levine, reliever for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, received that hit on June 20, 2003.
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The 50: That connection came on May 3, 2005, when the fish visited the Atlanta Braves. Dominican reliever Román Colón was Miggy’s “victim.”
The first 100: Even with the Marlins shirt, Miguel Cabrera completed this figure against Chris Schroder of the Washington Nationals, in a game held in Miami on August 23, 2006.
Son 150: His 12th homer as a Detroit Tiger is also 150 of his career. That was a game played at Safeco Field in Seattle, against Mariners left-hander Erick Bedard on July 4, 2008.
200: With Bengalis as visitors at the Oakland Coliseum, Cabrera deciphered a shipment from Michael Wuertz on August 23, 2009.
250 completed: the first half, on the way to the eventual 500, takes place in Baltimore City, on April 6, 2011 against Josh Rupe of the Orioles.
300: Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox takes this hit on July 22, 2012 at Comerica Park.
350: Another of the Whitelegs, this time the Colombian left-hander José Quintana, also in Detroit but on July 9, 2013.
The 400: With this Miguel Cabrera surpassed Andrés Galarraga as our top home runner in the Major Leagues. This occurred on May 16, 2015, at Bush Stadium in St. Louis, against the Cardinals’ Tyler Lyons.
450: Corey Kluber of the Indians, in a duel in Motor City, receives that home run on May 2, 2017.
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