Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera hits 500th career home run, becoming 28th player in exclusive club
Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera became the 28th member of Major League Baseball’s 500-homer club Sunday, hitting an opposite-field blast off Steven Matz of the Toronto Blue Jays for the milestone home run.
Cabrera hit a 1-1 changeup from the Jays left-hander that just cleared the outfield fence in right-center field. The home run ended an eight-game homerless streak for the 11-time All-Star after he hit No. 499 in Baltimore on August 11.
Cabrera has hit 362 of his 500 career homers during his 14 seasons as a member of the Tigers, after they acquired him in a trade before the 2008 season.
Now 38, Cabrera debuted as a 20-year-old for the then-Florida Marlins in 2003 and quickly became one of the league’s most feared sluggers. From 2004-16, Cabrera hit .323 with a .968 OPS, averaging 33 home runs and 115 RBI. He won the AL MVP award in 2012 and 2013 and became the first hitter in 45 years to win the Triple Crown (2012).
Next up for Cabrera? 3,000 hits. Only six players in history have 500 career home runs and 3,000 career hits and he has an outside chance to reach the mark before the end of the season. Cabrera’s home run was his 2,955th career hit, leaving him 45 short of the milestone.
Cabrera is signed with the Tigers through 2023.