I just can't stress enough how remarkable this achievement is and something any baseball fan should not take for granted, and in the age of the "all or nothing" approach to hitting, it sure seems like this milestone did not get the recognition in sports media it deserved. I heard a conversation on an ESPN podcast that Cabrera might very well be the last player to ever reach the 3,000 hit plateau - barring another major change or shift in the game itself - and that is the most unbelievable part of all of this. With the release of Robinson Cano by the Mets last week, the next closest active player to 3,000 hits now falls to Yadier Molina with 2,126. Molina is a soon-to-be 40-year-old catcher whose total is mostly the result of accumulation and not skill, so he will definitely not be collecting another 874 hits. Then comes Votto and Nelson Cruz who are both about 1,000 hits away and also nearing retirement on bad teams, so they're a no. Sidebar: I was surprised to see Brewer newcomer Andrew McCutcheon at 8th on the active hits list with 1,850 (including Pujols and Cabrera). I think you have to start looking down to the players that started their careers as teenagers and are in the middle of massive contracts to find anybody that has a realistic chance - namely, Manny Machado (1,468 age 29), Mike Trout (1,448 age 30), Bryce Harper (1,302 age 29), and I'll throw Juan Soto into that group too since everybody expects him to get the same type of contract next year. This all speaks to taking the milestone for granted. So many of the great players from my era - Pujols, Jeter, Ichiro, A-Rod, Biggio, I could go on - have reached that number that I have just grown accustomed to believing that all great hitters will eventually just stick around long enough to get there. But the reality is that the game is so different now with so little emphasis being placed on the base hit, that we should all take a moment to remember Miguel Cabrera for the great player he was/is, and potentially one of the last of a very exclusive club, not just in baseball but all of sports.
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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