At some point in the Tigers' homestand that begins Tuesday night against the Angels and concludes Thursday afternoon, Miguel Cabrera is poised to make baseball history -- and a Tigers fan is poised to be part of it. And assuming Cabrera's 500th home run lands in the stands, the lucky who fan corrals it will decide what happens next.
The fan can return the ball to Cabrera for free. They can choose to keep it for themselves. The Tigers are hopeful that a meet-and-greet with Miggy and perhaps a couple valuable items of memorabilia will be enough for the fan to hand over history -- and this is the standard procedure across baseball in the face of major milestones. But the exchange will not involve cash from either the Tigers or Cabrera himself.
"We've never done that before, we don't want to set the precedent here," Tigers director of authentics and alumni relations Jordan Field told 97.1 The Ticket. "(There is) certainly great value in the baseball and we will authenticate it one way or the other, but the goal would be to arrange a private meet-and-greet and to arrange a trade so that hopefully it ends up in Miguel's personal collection. But there's no plan to offer any type of (monetary) payment for it."
The last big-leaguer to reach 500 homers was David Ortiz at Tampa's Tropicana Field in 2015. The fan who caught the ball returned it to the Red Sox for tickets to that year's All-Star Game and a meeting with Ortiz and a few of his teammates in Boston's clubhouse. The last big-leaguer to reach 500 at home was Gary Sheffield with the Mets in 2009. That fan swapped the ball for autographed jerseys and baseballs from Sheffield, plus a photo op with the nine-time All-Star. The Mets also invited the fan back to throw out a first pitch later that season.
And that's likely how it will go down whenever and wherever Cabrera becomes the 28th player to join the 500 club. The Tigers will authenticate the baseball as soon as it's retrieved and then "make sure the person (that catches it) is safe and secure," said Field.
"We want to make sure that the fan who has that special baseball feels safe, they and their family have a quiet place to go. So we will identify the fan, confirm they have the baseball, we will offer to relocate them probably to a suite, somewhere they can continue to watch the ballgame but somewhere they feel comfortable, and then absolutely we hope that the fan is open to presenting that gift to Miguel.
"Certainly happy to trade items with that fan, but I think most true baseball fans realize that this is a significant part of Miguel's career and the opportunity to catch it and hold and to present it to him after the game is a special opportunity that we hope that fan will be interested in doing, because we know that Miguel is certainly interested in keeping that ball in his personal collection."
And if the fan decides to keep it and perhaps put it up for auction?
"It's the fan's right to keep it," said Field. "Balls hit in the stands, home run balls, foul balls, it's certainly that fan's right to do that. The Tigers are not going to purchase the baseball, Miguel's not going to purchase the baseball. We believe Miguel will hit more home runs after 500, so our hope is that the opportunity to present it to Miggy, the opportunity to meet him after the game and be part of that moment together with the two off them is something special enough.
"I'm certainly happy to trade tickets to future games or autographed items, signed jersey, signed bat -- happy to have that conversation with the fan. But if the fan insists on keeping it, that's certainly within their rights."
This story has been updated to reflect the fact Detroit's homestand is three games in length.
