Miguel Cabrera has one of the most impressive hitting resumes of his generation. He’s one of just three hitters all-time with 3,000-plus hits, 500-plus home runs and a career batting average over .300. But amidst all the big hits and runs, he has tried to make just as big of an impact in his communities, from Detroit to Miami to his native Venezuela.
With this month’s selection as the Tigers’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, Cabrera has been up for the honor for at least a decade, a feat that shouldn’t be overlooked among his career feats. From his perspective, however, he’d rather not get a ton of attention for it.
“I don't do this for an award. It's because I want to do it,” Cabrera said recently. “I don't want the people to say, ‘Oh, it's nice for him to do that.’ I want to do it because it's something that's born inside of me.
“It's something that all my family do. It's not only me. I have a lot of people behind me that do a lot of hard work. I think they deserve it more than me.”
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Cabrera and his wife Rosangel established the Miguel Cabrera Foundation shortly after he arrived in Detroit and signed a long-term extension with the Tigers. He was a budding star at age 25 and looking to make an impact.
Initially, the foundation focused on renovating and enhancing youth ballparks to provide kids with opportunities to learn and play the game like he did years ago. The program helped restore ballfields like Clark Park in Detroit a decade ago. He brought Miggy Ball 24 to the Corner Ballpark on the old Tiger Stadium site to help kids showcase and work on their skills.
Soon after, the Cabreras saw a chance to branch out their efforts. Magglio Ordóñez, his friend and teammate from his first few years in Detroit, had started a scholarship fund for deserving students in Southwest Detroit, and there was an opportunity to pick up where he left off. The Cabrera Family Scholarship awards two renewable scholarships to first-generation students in Detroit and South Florida.
“It's a good thing. It's a great thing,” Cabrera said.
Then came an issue in Venezuela, where kids who were studying abroad on scholarship suddenly had their funding removed and needed support. The Cabrera stepped forward and filled the gap.
“That's when we said we need to do these scholarships for these people,” he said.
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In addition, the Cabreras stepped forward to help kids and families in Detroit during the COVID pandemic, helping provide personal protection gear for kids as well as helping parents needing a hand with affordable childcare and technology at a time when kids were at home.
Time will tell if Cabrera is finally recognized with the national Roberto Clemente Award, given out annually to the player who best represents the game of baseball through character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions on and off the field. Fans can vote on the award here until the regular season ends on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
But Cabrera needs only look at the students who have been able to attend college through the scholarship, or play baseball on revived fields, to see the reward. That’s part of his legacy like the base hits, homers and batting titles.
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One of the things Ryan Garko has emphasized in his first full season as the Tigers’ vice president of player development is the value of prospects winning together as a team. So it’s notable that all four of the Tigers’ full-season Minor League affiliates will finish with a winning record this season.
While Triple-A Toledo set a franchise record with a 12-game winning streak that finally ended last week, Double-A Erie sits one game shy of its first-ever Eastern League title after a comeback win over the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, in Game 1 of the finals before a sellout crowd at UPMC Park.
Tigers No. 16 prospect Parker Meadows continued his breakout season with a three-hit, two-run performance, falling a triple shy of the cycle. His solo homer started the SeaWolves’ rally back from an early 2-0 deficit. Gage Workman hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning, then answered a Somerset three-run sixth with a game-tying two-run single.
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Players and coaches in Detroit have taken notice.
“I’m excited for those guys,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “and I’ve been going back and forth with [SeaWolves manager] Gabe [Alvarez] on texts. We’ve had it on in our clubhouse. It’s fun to play for something at any level. When you talk about teams that have won together, they always talk about the experience and the bond it creates and learning how to do it.
“Some of our front-office people have been at these games, and watching these players play under pressure has been fun for them. I love it for them, obviously want it to continue and create a memory but also create an expectation to win. That’s good at every level.”
The Eastern League championship series continues Tuesday at Somerset, where the SeaWolves can clinch the best-of-3 series behind starter Chance Kirby. Game 3, if necessary, would take place on Wednesday.
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TIGERS TRIVIA
Who is the only Tiger to win the Roberto Clemente Award?
A.) Curtis Granderson
B.) Al Kaline
C.) Ron LeFlore
D.) Frank Tanana
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TIGERS VAULT
Wednesday will mark the 26th anniversary of Alan Trammell’s 2,365th and final Major League hit in his last big league at-bat, a 10th-inning single off Brewers reliever Mike Fetters on Sept. 29, 1996, at Tiger Stadium.
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TRIVIA ANSWER
B.) Al Kaline
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Kaline won the award in 1973, the same year Major League Baseball renamed what was originally known as the Commissioner’s Award in honor of Clemente, who passed away on New Year’s Eve in 1972 in a plane crash while he was delivering supplies to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua. Granderson also won the award in 2016, but he was a member of the New York Mets at the time. |
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