Major League Baseball

Miguel Cabrera's 3,000th hit only part of his lasting legacy

Published Apr. 23, 2022 1:31 p.m. ET

By Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer

There’s nobody like Miggy.

Miguel Cabrera has been, unquestionably, one of the best hitters in baseball history. Full stop. The slugger of a generation. A man who changed the art of hitting forever. The first player to win back-to-back AL MVPs since Frank Thomas did it in the early 1990s. A triple crown winner.

And with Cabrera getting his 3,000th career hit on Saturday, he becomes one of only seven players in MLB history with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. His list of accolades and accomplishments goes on and on.

He’s also the single greatest player in Venezuelan history.

With all due respect to icons such as Bobby Abreu, Luis Aparicio and Dave Concepción, it’s not particularly close. Cabrera is the only Venezuelan with 500 home runs and the only Venezuelan with 3,000 hits. Nobody else has multiple MVPs. Five years after he calls it a career, Cabrera will join Aparicio as the only Venezuelans in the Hall of Fame.

Ans perhaps most importantly, he has been an inspiration, a mentor and a symbol to younger Venezuelan players across the league.

"Coming up, I wanted to be like him," fellow Venezuelan and San Francisco Giants infielder Wilmer Flores told FOX Sports. "When he came up, he was playing left field, third base, and then he got bigger and moved over to first base. I’ve done the same now. His bat has always been there — the best hitter ever from Venezuela."

Since Alex Carrasquel became the first Venezuelan-born big-leaguer in 1939, 442 countrymen have followed in his footsteps. That makes Venezuela the country with the third-most major-league players in history, behind only the United States (17,307 players) and the Dominican Republic (832).

Despite the political upheaval in the country that has uprooted everyday life for many citizens, Venezuela remains a hotbed of baseball talent.

In 2021, 102 Venezuelans appeared in an MLB game. For many of them, including Mets utility infielder Luis Guillorme, Cabrera was one of the main players they grew up watching.

"I moved to the states [from Venezuela] when I was 12," Guillorme said. "But before I came, I would visit my family all the time in Miami. And on vacation we would always try to go to those games, and we would see him play [for the Marlins]."

Miggy’s presence as a Venezuelan playing in South Florida at the beginning of his career cannot be overstated. More than 200,000 Venezuelan-Americans live in Florida, and an overwhelming majority of them are in and around the Miami metro area. Even though he has been a Detroit Tiger since 2008, Cabrera still lives in Miami during the offseason.

And of course, his influence stretches well beyond the Venezuelan MLB community into the larger Latin American baseball community. Mets superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor, who is Puerto Rican, was locked into Cabrera and those old Marlins teams as well.

"My first memory of him was seeing him in the World Series with the Marlins because Pudge [Rodríguez] was on that team," Lindor said. "We were watching Iván, and this young kid comes up and was just crushing it. I appreciate what he's done for the game as a whole and for the Latin community as well."

Cabrera’s larger-than-life personality and superhero status have turned him into more than just a generational hitter. For ballplayers all across the league, Venezuelan or not, he has become an icon. Everyone FOX Sports spoke with could vividly recall their first interaction with Cabrera.

"It was spring training 2016," Giants infielder and Venezuelan Thairo Estrada shared. "It was a great experience and just an honor getting to meet him."

Lindor's first experience with Cabrera was memorable for a few reasons. "Ha, it was my first career hit. I tripped rounding first and fell on my face," Lindor remembered with a smile. "I blamed him for tripping me as a joke. He was like, ‘Easy, easy.’"

For Flores, his first brush with Miggy stuck with him as a testament to the future Hall of Famer’s behind-the-scenes generosity.

"I wasn't even signed yet the first time I met him," Flores said. "I was maybe 15, and I went to a tryout with the Marlins in Florida, and he was there. He knew I was Venezuelan, so afterward, he took me to the clubhouse. I got to meet Hanley Ramírez and all these guys, and he gave me a bunch of bats and other equipment.

"I don't even know if he remembers that, but I definitely do."

As Cabrera reaches yet another remarkable milestone in a career full of them, his countrymen are eager to see him get his flowers.

"He’s had an amazing career. Almost 3,000 hits?" Flores exclaimed. "That’s unbelievable. He really is just one of the best hitters ever."

Jake Mintz is the louder half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan living in New York City, and thus, he leads a lonely existence most Octobers. If he’s not watching baseball, he’s almost certainly riding his bike. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Mintz.