By Alfredo Echenique
29 Sep 2023, 17:39 PM EDT
After 21 seasons in the Major Leagues, Venezuelan Miguel Cabrera will retire as a player at the end of this campaign. Sunday will be his last game with the Detroit Tigers, a team with which he played for 16 years.
However, the veteran player, who won the Triple Crown in 2012, will not completely leave the Major Leagues, as the Detroit franchise reported that Cabrera will remain linked to the team as a special assistant in the operations department.
“Miguel Cabrera represents what it means to be a Tiger and I thank him for giving us 16 wonderful seasons representing our city,” Tigers owner Chris Ilitch said in a statement.
Once a Tiger, always a Tiger.
Following Sunday’s game, Miguel Cabrera’s next chapter will be in Detroit as a Special Assistant to the President of Baseball Operations. pic.twitter.com/o0x6UquBZ5
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 29, 2023
“Miguel’s historic accomplishments on the field truly make him one of the best Tigers in franchise history. He has also been a great teammate and is loved by fans and throughout baseball. “My father loved Miggy dearly and made sure he was a Tiger for the rest of his playing career, and we are thrilled to extend our relationship into the next chapter of his life,” the statement continued.
The role of special assistant of the team gives Cabrera the responsibility of helping to improve the team from a sporting point of view. He will also join Hall of Famer Alan Trammell, former Tigers manager Jim Leyland and former Tigers greats Willie Horton, Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish as special assistants.
Miguel himself commented a couple of weeks ago in one of the tributes paid to him, his desire to remain linked to the franchise in another role despite his retirement. “I want to stay on this team and help, do something. I don’t want to be a coach. I want to move. Let’s see what happens. But I want to be around these guys. These guys are special. They are growing right now. They are maturing. I think next year they will be better,” he explained.
Just two games away from closing a long career in the Major Leagues, Cabrera will finish with impressive career numbers. They will surely ensure that he enters the Hall of Fame within five years.
An average of .306, 3,170 hits, 511 home runs, 1,880 RBIs and 5,361 total bases reached, are the statistics left by the 40-year-old Venezuelan throughout his time in the Major Leagues. In addition to two MVP awards of the season, 12 All Star Game, seven Silver Bats and of course the Triple Crown achieved in 2012, a feat that only 27 players have been able to achieve in the more than 120 years of existence of American baseball.
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