Detroit Tigers Newsletter: Welcome to the 7,000 Club, Miguel Cabrera (yes, really)

It’s finally time, after what seemed like months (if not years) of waiting, to congratulate Miguel Cabrera on his momentous achievement — one reached by notable Detroit Tigers such as Ty Cobb, Al Kaline and Rusty Staub.

Yes, that’s right: Cabrera has joined that trio (as well as Johnny Damon, Pudge Rodriguez, but not Gary Sheffield) in the hallowed “7,000-Out Club” (population 55, according to baseball-reference.com).

We weren’t going to mention it — apparently he reached some other milestone on Saturday? — but in recorded congratulations for hit No. 3,000 (less than half of 7,000, yawwwnnnn), Kansas City Royals legend George Brett brought it up.

“Congratulations on getting No. 3,000,” Brett said to begin his section of the tribute video compiled by the Tigers. “It’s a great club, very, very, very happy you joined it. On top of that — on top of that, though, it’s another great club to be able to say you made 7,000 outs. Congrats, I’ll see you in Cooperstown soon, pal.”

7,000 outs? That’s a lot, right? Which made us wonder: Did he actually join that club? And when?

Hello, and welcome to the Tigers Mr. 7,135 Newsletter

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He actually did, it turns out, and he reached it last year.

Saturday’s doubleheader — in which he went 3-for-8 (that's five outs right there) — left him at 6,670 outs.

Whoops, hahaha, Brett was wrong!

Or not. Cabrera also has 96 sac flies and five sac bunts (none as a Tiger and only once since his rookie season of 2003), bringing him to 6,771 outs. And then there’s 21 outs from getting caught stealing: 6,792, 208 short.

Take that, Mr. “The Pride of El Segundo, California”!

But there’s one final category: Double plays. Cabrera has 343 of those (which is a lot, but still 71 fewer than the record-holder, Albert Pujols at 414). Add an extra out to Cabrera’s total for each of those, and we get to 7,135.

Of course, only 34 of those outs (32 “normal outs,” one sac fly and one DP) came this year, meaning Cabrera joined the 7,000-out club last season … on a groundout to third off Angels righty Aaron Slegers in the fourth inning on Aug. 19 at Comerica Park. If you were one of the 20,847 in attendance on that sunny Thursday afternoon for the Tigers’ 13-10 loss ... well, we hope you saved/screenshotted/printed out the ticket stub for your scrapbook. (Though considering the Tigers blew a 10-2 lead by allowing 11 unanswered runs, perhaps it’s best we never speak of this again.)

Look, we didn’t go through all this to point out Cabrera’s failures. It’s baseball — everybody fails. But we’re talking massive quantities of outs — 7,000 is equivalent to 259 full games plus another 2⅓ innings — to highlight just how impressive 3,000 hits really is. After all there are 29 players in big-league history (including fellow Venezuelans Omar Vizquel and Luis Aparicio) who made 7,000 outs without getting to 3,000 hits. And thousands more who didn’t make the 7K cut (like Sheffield, who finished 13 outs shy) at all.

Getting to 3,000 hits (and 7,000 outs) is a triumph of nearly everything we prize in baseball: talent, consistency, health and, most of all, resiliency after failing nearly seven out of every 10 times at the plate. After all, only three players in major-league history have gotten to 3,000 hits and 500 home runs while hitting .300 or better: Cabrera, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

At least, we think that’s the point Brett (who had 7,673 outs) was making. We’re just happy that, for once, he wasn’t charging from a dugout to make it.

‘Miggy’ & ‘Mr. Tiger’

OK, enough talking about hits. This was a weekend for hits, as Cabrera picked up No. 3,000 on a first-inning single of Rockies righty Antonio Senzatela on Saturday afternoon, after rain pushed Friday’s scheduled series opener back a day. (You can read all about the game here from the Freep’s Evan Petzold, in case you were really embracing the pursuit of failure and watching the Wings play.)

And after Aaron (Expletive) Boone (to borrow a phrase from Red Sox fans two decades ago) intentionally walked Cabrera in the Tigers’ win Thursday afternoon. (You can read all about that here from the Freep’s Jeff Seidel.)

But those are in the past, and Cabrera is in the 3,000-hit club along with Cobb and, of course, “Mr. Tiger.” But that milestone isn’t the only connection Cabrera had with Al Kaline, who died two years ago this month. Our Man Seidel looks back today on the pair’s bond while wearing the Old English D; click here to find out why Kaline used to tell Cabrera, “You are the greatest hitter in Tigers history.”

Mound’s-eye view

Kaline wasn’t the only one who didn’t hesitate to sing Cabrera’s praises. As No. 3,000 approached, Our Man Petzold tracked down several of the more than 1,500 pitchers — from Cy Young winners (Zack Greinke) to Hall of Famers (Tom Glavine) to current teammates (Michael Pineda) — who faced Cabrera the most over his 20-season career, wondering what made Cabrera so feared as a hitter — and so beloved as a peer. Set aside some time and head here to find out which pitcher said of Cabrera: “Take any pitcher in their prime on their best day, Miggy's winning that battle.”

Opening the history books

Yes, Cabrera is officially among the ranks of baseball all-times — doubly so, we guess, after last year’s homer No. 500 — after hit No. 3,000. Y’know, every member of the 3,000-hit club has a story; we rounded up every one of them here, including the one called by Bob Boone (son of former Tiger Ray Boone), the first triple, and the one where the fans came “to boo the hell out of Shohei Ohtani.” (You can probably guess whose story that is.) Each of Cabrera’s 3,000 hits has a story, too; we didn’t get all of them, but we looked back on the 12 biggest milestones of his career here, including some homers on the round numbers.

But, you might be asking, how does Cabrera rank among the group of 32 MLBers with 3,000 hits? We broke down the leaders and his place in the rankings and found yet another connection with the other great hitter of his generation, Albert Pujols. Click here to find out what it is.

And if you’re still up for a deeper dive into the numbers, we broke down the whole lot of them and discovered a surprise: In a week of celebrating Cabrera’s success against pitchers of all sorts, there was one who owned him completely, contributing 12 of those 7,135 outs without allowing a hit. Click here to find out who.

A day of joy

But before we lose ourselves in the numbers — hey, they’re right there on the wall in left-center at Comerica Park — we should remember that Cabrera’s milestone Saturday was all about the joy. Just ask Our Man Seidel, who observed Miggy celebrating with an exuberance from his younger days.

Or Our Man Petzold, who captured here how Cabrera’s teammates were excited to see him reach one of baseball’s most cherished marks. Just as they were excited for the chase, according to Our Man Seidel here. Or the Freep’s Tony Garcia, who was there to see former teammate Jose Iglesias race to be the first to hug Miggy, and then talked to a notable Detroiter (you might recognize him more recently from his AT&T commercials) who dropped by for the afternoon.

All rise

Cabrera wasn’t the only super slugger making the rounds in Metro Detroit last week. Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge got in some extra swings on Monday at a baseball facility in Waterford. Our Man Seidel has the scoop here on why Judge — who’s looking for his own Cabrera-sized long-term contract — and some of his teammates were hanging in the ’burbs this week.

Mark your calendar

It’s the Tigers’ turn to hit the road now, though, with three games against the Twins in Minneapolis from Tuesday-Thursday followed by three games against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Friday-Sunday. It’ll be “Late Night With The Tigers” for two of those games, with 10:10 p.m. starts for the first two games. Just remember to switch over from Lions draft coverage — speaking of the pursuit of failure — on Friday night. That will likely be the second start for Tigers pitching prospect Beau Brieske, who had a hard-luck debut in Saturday’s second game. Still, Brieske lived up to the hype of a 27th-round draft pick making his debut less than three years after the draft, according to Our Man Garcia. Find out here what he thinks will be different in start No. 2.

Three to watch

Yes, there are still players not named Miggy on the roster:

THE BULLPEN: Tigers relievers entered Sunday fifth in the majors in ERA, then moved up to fourth despite the loss to the Rockies.

JEIMER CANDELARIO: With most of MLB slumping in April, the third baseman isn’t worried.

MICHAEL PINEDA: After a gem in his Tigers debut Thursday, start No. 2 comes against his old Twins teammates.

Happy birthday, Casey!

Casey Mize, the Tigers’ No. 1 overall pick in 2018 turns the big 2-5 on Sunday, but he won’t be celebrating with Tigers teammates. The righty, who went on the 10-day injured list April 15 with a sprained elbow after posting a 5.40 ERA in two starts, is headed to Lakeland, Florida, to start throwing again under the watchful eye of the Tigers’ training staff. (So the “Cinco de Mize-O viewing parties may have to wait for a bit.) Our Man Garcia has the story on the rehab timetables for him and fellow righty Matt Manning here (scroll down to the second item).

Other Tigers birthdays this week: Daniel Norris (29 on Monday), Jacque Jones (47 on Monday); Tony Phillips (would have been 63 on Monday; died in 2016), Nomar Mazara (27 on Tuesday), Felipe Lira (50 on Tuesday), Virgil Trucks (would have been 105 on Tuesday; died in 2013).

TL;DR

We spent most of this newsletter looking to the past and Cabrera’s milestone(s). So let’s wrap things up with a look to the future and five players who might be the next to 3,000 hits:

Robinson Cano? Of the three active players sitting between 2K and 3K, the Mets second baseman is the closest, with 339 hits to go. But he’s also six months OLDER than Cabrera and has just 341 hits since his most recent All-Star appearance — in 2017.

Manny Machado? He’s No. 20 among active players, with 1,446, and he’s still just 29. But he hasn’t ever hit. 300 or topped 188 hits in a season; if he averages 160 hits a season, it will take him another full decade, when he’ll be 39.

Mike Trout? He entered Sunday just 13 hits behind Machado, but he’s 11 months older. His 1,040 hits through his age-25 season (2017) were the right pace, but injuries have kept him well below 150 games in every season (including a pro-rated 2020) since then.

Bryce Harper? He’s also just 29 — but at 1,287 hits, he needs essentially a decade of seasons like his MVP campaign of 2015, when he set career highs by hitting .330 with 172 hits, to reach the mark. His contract runs another nine years, so there’s some motivation

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? Yes, we’re reaching here, considering he’s eight hits away from 400. But he just turned 23 last month and appears to have the high-hit tool needed for 3,000. (If you wanted to argue for fellow 23-year-olds Ronald Acuna Jr. or Juan Soto instead, we wouldn’t quibble, though.)

Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers Newsletter: Welcome to the 7,000 Club, Miguel Cabrera