One who always said yes to the call of the Venezuelan national team in the World Classic was Miguel Cabrera, even now that he is in the twilight of a career that has been legendary and that will surely land him in the Hall of Fame years after his retirement.
Read also: Luis Arráez: I know we have a good team
His commitment to Venezuela and the sport that has given him so much is to such an extent that he gave up his health insurance to be able to attend the event and be the Captain of the Venezuelan team led by Omar López, who will go into action this Saturday from loanDepot Park, where they share Group D with the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua and Israel. And having the mission of being able to transcend, and why not, improve that third place of 2009, this being the last great participation of Venezuela in a WBC.
Cabrera goes to his fifth Clásico
Now, the "Tiger Mayor" of Aragua, Detroit and all of Venezuela is the only position player; and one of two players; the other being the Mexican Óliver Pérez, who have seen action in each of the four World Classics prior to this one, so if they got to play in this edition of the World Cup tournament, they would become the first baseball players with five participations in the tournament of the orb.
This represents an achievement of enormous merit in any professional sport, since we are talking about appointments that take place every three or four years, and in the case of "Miggy", this marks once again; and without a doubt, what has been a fairly long, fruitful and consistent career, which despite the physical problems he has had in recent years, has allowed him to remain current in an industry as demanding as baseball. Big leagues.
The only one with a home run in all the Clásicos
At the same time, playing in four planetary jousts of this type has allowed Miguel Cabrera to hit a home run in each of them, being the only one of that race. And once again, the maracayero could make history if he manages to hit a full circle, since he would reach five World Cup appointments taking the ball out of the park, in what would be a rather difficult milestone to emulate, since three things must be combined: consistency , contact and power; characteristics that have been present throughout his career and that have led him to success.
It should be noted that the Venezuelan currently has six full-turn hits, behind Alfredo Despaigne (7) in the all-time WBC lead. So he could also be reaching the top of that list, that and as long as the veteran Cuban outfielder doesn't hit more than the Venezuelan.
But the milestones for Miguel do not end, since he is the Venezuelan with the most matches played in the World Classics, with a total of 23, and he is the only one born in the country with more than two dozen matches in the maximum fair.
However, José Miguel Cabrera Torres is also líder Venezuela's lifetime in runs scored (13), bases hit (44), runs produced (15) and walks (11). In addition, he has the second highest number of doubles in the national team (5), only surpassed by José Celestino López (6).
The oldest to play with Venezuela
Another point to highlight about this participation of Miguel Cabrera, is that once he plays he will become; At 41 years old, he is the oldest player to play a commitment with Venezuela in a CMB, leaving behind Víctor Martínez (2017), Omar Vizquel and Giovanni Carrara; both in 2006, who were 38 years old each when they played in the aforementioned tournaments.
Additionally, it must be noted that Miguel's 44 total bases represent; together with Yuli Gurriel, the fourth most in the history of the tournament, behind Carlos Beltrán (46), Alfredo Despaigne (48) and Frederich Cepeda (60).
Meanwhile, in 23 matches in the WBC, the man from La Pedrera batted for a .250 average, with a .351 on-base percentage, and a .524 slugging percentage.
