MIAMI — A baseball from 20 years ago helped shape the career of Miami Marlins left-hander Jesús Luzardo.
It came from 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera.
Luzardo and his maternal grandfather, Nicolas Alvarez, attended the 2003 World Series between the Marlins and New York Yankees, which the Marlins won in six games. Before one of the games in Miami, Cabrera signed a baseball and tossed it to Luzardo’s grandfather in the stands.
“I grew up a Marlins fan,” Luzardo said. “Miggy was just shagging (batting practice), and my grandpa had a big Venezuelan flag. We got him to throw the ball to him, and for my grandpa, that was huge. Miguel Cabrera, obviously, is an idol in Venezuela. My grandpa kept that ball for his whole life.”
MIGGY TALKS: Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera opens up in return to Miami, where legendary career began
JEFF SEIDEL: After year of growth, injury, Tigers’ Jackson Jobe ready to ‘dominate every outing’
Back then, Luzardo was 6 years old.
Getting the ball from Cabrera — and watching the Marlins win the 2003 World Series — played a role in the trajectory of his future. Luzardo fell in love with the game of baseball in 2003, became a third-round draft pick out of his Florida high school in 2016 and made his MLB debut in 2019.
“I remember all the emotion and how many fans we had down here,” Luzardo said. “That’s when baseball was huge, huge down here. For me, it meant a lot. I don’t remember all that much because I was 6 years old, but I do remember going (to the World Series), I remember that moment (with Cabrera), and I remember them winning against the Yankees. For me, it was an important part of my baseball memory.”
Luzardo was born in Peru to Venezuelan parents, and his family moved to South Florida when he was 1. A couple decades after that, he pitched for Team Venezuela, as Cabrera’s teammate, in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Still, Luzardo and Cabrera have never faced each other in the big leagues. They’re going to compete for the first time (and the only time) when Luzardo starts for the Marlins in Sunday’s series finale against Detroit Tigers at loanDepot Park. The matchup will take place about two months before Cabrera’s 21-year MLB career concludes.
“He is an idol in Venezuela,” Luzardo said of Cabrera, who played for the Marlins from 2003-07, “and then definitely here. Growing up here, to see him come up as a young superstar and turn into what he was, it was incredible to see his career from beginning to end.”
MIGGY’S DAY: Miguel Cabrera gets multiple standing ovations in Tigers’ 5-0 win over Marlins
In 2023, Luzardo has a 3.22 ERA with 32 walks and 144 strikeouts over 120⅓ innings in 21 starts as the anchor of the Marlins’ starting rotation. The 25-year-old commands a 96.8 mph four-seam fastball and a slider with a 52.1% swing-and-miss rate in the fifth season of his MLB career.
But how will he deal with facing Cabrera?
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Luzardo said. “It probably won’t until after (the game). It’s something super-special, and something I can’t really even put into words. It’s something that I always dreamt about.”
The World Series baseball from the now-40-year-old Cabrera remains with the Luzardo family. His grandfather, Nicolas Alvarez, died last year, but the ball is at his grandfather’s home in North Carolina.
His grandfather, more so than the ball, shaped his baseball journey.
“Him and my dad (Jesús Luzardo Sr.) were the two main sources of me falling in love with baseball,” Luzardo said. “They never pushed it on me, but they definitely wanted me to play it more. His love for the game was something we could relate on. We always talked baseball and watched baseball together.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.