Miguel Cabrera reported to spring training this week for the final time of his career. Even his hellos are the beginning of goodbye. At Comerica Park, the Tigers are already advertising a bundle of tickets called the Miggy 4-Game Celebration Pack, an 'opportunity to watch one of the greatest hitters of his generation one last time!' Cabrera reiterated Thursday in an interview with Fox 2 that his 21st year in the big leagues is "going to be my last."
Which puts Cabrera in a spotlight he'd rather avoid. For all his star power, the Big Man has never wanted to be bigger than the team. He was relieved when he reached 3,000 hits last season and 500 homers the season before that -- one of just seven players in MLB history to do both -- because it shifted the story back to winning and losing. But with his own story coming to a close, Cabrera will be the center of attention this season wherever he goes.
The Miggy Farewell Tour: coming to a city near you!
"I don’t expect that," Cabrera said. "I expect to go out there and play baseball. That’s what I want, finish my career strong, try to be healthy the whole year, try to help the team win more games and be a team that can compete every day and have a spot in the playoffs. I don’t think about something they’re going to do for me. I think about playing baseball and focusing on that."
Cabrera means this when he says it. Sure, he might be back to collect the final $32 million of his $248 million contract -- wouldn't you be? -- but he's also here to give it one more honest go, to try to help the Tigers out of this wretched rebuild even if it's been years since he carried them on his aching back. That's the irony about his emphasis on the collective. In his prime, Miggy was one of the few players talented enough to prove himself wrong:
"This game is not about one guy," he said. "It’s about teamwork. You don’t win games by one guy. You win games by all the work the guys do in the field, so I don’t want any distraction for my team. I want everybody focused on winning games, and that’s our goal, try to be a winning team again."
There is no stopping the Miggy Farewell Tour, no matter how sheepishly Miggy resists it. The crowds and the cheers will grow with each month, loudest of all in Detroit. Cabrera will receive a king's welcome when the Tigers visit Miami in July. In Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota and Kansas City, he'll wave to fans he used to torture. Their teams might even bear gifts, like when the Tigers presented Derek Jeter with a pair of seats from Tiger Stadium or Mariano Rivera with dirt from the Tiger Stadium mound. Those guys were first-ballot Hall of Famers. So is Miggy, who might well join Mo as one of the few to be selected unanimously.
Forget fame. Cabrera has always felt too boyish for that. This is the price of being a fan favorite. Miggy is baseball's Big Friendly Giant, a soon-to-be 40-year-old who's never lost sight of the fact that he's playing a game. We'll see how many games he plays this year; Tigers manager A.J. Hinch will use him judiciously to keep him on his feet. He'll try to find the right matchups to maximize whatever Miggy has left.
"We’re going to try to squeeze some more impact out of him, and make decisions along the way that are associated with his performance," said Hinch.
"If I hit," Cabrera grinned, "I think they’re going to play me every day."
Then he broke into a laugh, unable to contain it, and said, "The bat is going to speak. If you’re hitting, 100 percent you’re going to be in the lineup."
Few bats have ever spoken like Miggy's. Amid the crowds and curtain calls of his final big-league season -- encore, encore!! -- hopefully it has a few more things to say.
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