DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera bid an emotional farewell and thank you to fans in his final Major League game Sunday, capped with a return to the field at first base for one final play.
Cabrera went 0-for-3 with a four-pitch walk in his final plate appearance in the Tigers’ 5-2 win over the Guardians. After being retired on a forceout in the seventh inning, he returned to the dugout and retrieved his glove as he prepared to replace Spencer Torkelson at first base.
Cabrera took the field for the top of the eighth inning and stood by himself for two minutes, greeted by a standing ovation from the sellout crowd. Eventually the rest of the Tigers took the field, and after warming up for his first appearance in the field since 2021, he recorded a putout on a Steven Kwan groundout.
Manager A.J. Hinch — who had been agonizing over how best to send off the future Hall of Famer — emerged from the dugout after the out, accompanied by Cabrera’s children. The rest of the Tigers lined up to give him a hug on his way out, then applauded him from the field as his kids led him off. It was a fitting tribute to close a 21-year career that ends with Cabrera among the greatest hitters in modern history.
Cabrera ends his career with a .306 average, 3,174 hits (16th-most in Major League history), 511 home runs (tied for 25th), 627 doubles (13th), 1,881 RBIs (12th), 1,258 walks, 103 sacrifice flies (tied for 25th) and a .900 OPS.