STANDING ALONE
To stand alone in one’s place of work, or sport, leaves an incredible challenge for all those who follow. Miguel Cabrera, first baseman and DH (Designated Hitter) for the Detroit Tigers, is approaching a nearly untouchable plateau.
The 38-year-old surely will pass the 3,000 hit mark within another playing season, good health permitting. Not many have hit that goal in their playing careers.
Achieving that mark by itself won’t make Cabrera a stand alone batsman. Others have done it. Pete Rose and Ty Cobb smashed over 4,000 hits in their times on the diamond.
Popping his 500th home run into the bullpen in Toronto Sunday afternoon (August 22, 2021) put Cabrera at the doorstep of unique. When he gets his 3,000th hit, he will be the only man in baseball history to have earned a Triple Crown trophy (which he won in 2012) and career statistics that include 500 homers and 3,000 hits.
TRIPLE CROWN WINNERS with CAREER 500 HOME RUNS:
Miguel Cabrera
Triple Crown 2012 – Detroit Tigers – Third Baseman
Batting Average – .330 — Home Runs – 44 — Runs Batted In – 139
Career and Counting HR – 501 — Hits – 2,956
Jimmy Foxx
TC 1933 – Philadelphia Athletics – First Baseman
BA – .356 — HR – 48 — RBI – 163
(played – 1925-’45)
Career:
Batting Average – .325
Hits – 2,646
Home Runs – 534
Runs Batted In – 1,921
Stolen Bases – 88
Ted Williams
TC 1942 – Boston Red Sox – Left Fielder
BA – .356 — HR – 36 — RBI – 137
TC 1947 – Boston Red Sox – Left Fielder
BA – .343 — HR – 32 — RBI – 114
(played – 1939-’42 and 1946-’60 // served in WW II three years – 1943′-45)
Career:
BA – .344
H – 2,654
HR – 521
RBI – 1,839
SB – 24
Mickey Mantle
TC 1956 – New York Yankees – Center Fielder
BA – .353 — HR – 52 — RBI -130
(played – 1951-’68)
Career:
BA – .298
H – 2,415
HR – 536
RBI – 1,509
SB – 153
Frank Robinson
TC 1966 – Baltimore Orioles – Right Fielder
BA – .316 — HR – 49 — RBI – 122
(played – 1956-’76)
Career:
BA – .294
H – 2,943
HR – 586
RBI – 1,812
SB – 204
The incomparable batting average king Ted Williams didn’t reach 3,000 hits. Frank Robinson didn’t do it. Even Jimmy Foxx didn’t do it, and Mickey Mantle didn’t do it. All baseball Hall of Fame members, these four men are the only players in baseball history to win Triple Crown titles with 500, or more, home runs in their career resumes. But all of them fell short of the career 3,000-hit level.
“Miggie” will be in rarified air as the only TC champion with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits in his unique career.
FEW ARE UNIQUE: A Sampling
Baseball history has few really unique positions to brag of in terms of standing alone and probably remaining untouchable:
— Joe DiMaggio’s consecutive hitting streak in 56 games in 1941 still stands.
— Williams is the only one in all the Triple Crown club to win the award twice. He did it in 1942 and repeated the feat in 1947.
— Robinson is the only player in baseball history ever to win MVP (most valuable player) awards in both leagues. With the Cincinnati Reds in 1961, he captured the National League MVP. Traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 1966, Robinson won the Triple Crown that year and was named American League MVP.
— In his career, Cobb hit the baseball safely 4,191 times while stealing an amazing 892 bases. It’s an unapproachable duet.
— Eddie Murray is in the unique position of being one of just two players (Hank Aaron) to reach the 500-3,000 level without having won a Triple Crown.
— Hank Aaron, the home run artist first to break Babe Ruth’s long-standing career homers total of 715, didn’t win a Triple Crown. But he blasted 755 home runs, sliced 3,771 hits, and drove in 2,297 runs (still a record), completing the best ever across the board career stat sheet.
— Paul Molitor stands unique in a career that included slugging — 234 home runs — and base-stealing, 504.
— Rickey Henderson shattered Cobb’s stolen base record, and that of Lou Brock (938.) Henderson’s achievement rattles the brain. His base thefts total 1,406! He also holds the single-season number of thefts with 130.
When Miguel Cabrera rings the bell on his 3,000 career hit, he, too, will stand alone and unique in the baseball Hall of Fame.
Champions In Sport 