Miguel Cabrera sauntered to home plate on Wednesday night — two homers shy of 500 — and Comerica Park came alive.
“Let’s go Miggy!” somebody screamed.
“Wooo!”
“Let’s go, baby!”
Beyond the left-field fence, up on the concourse, under the scoreboard, Sandy Schondelmayer, a Tigers season-ticket holder, leaned against a railing next to a display tracking Cabrera’s historic chase.
It was titled: “Miggy’s Milestones: 498 home runs, 2,944 hits.”
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“Come on Miguel!” screamed Schondelmayer, 71, of Hastings. “Let’s go big boy!”
Schondelmayer was chosen to change the display, if Cabrera got a hit or a home run.
“I’m gonna ham it up if he gets it,” Schondelmayer said, wearing a Cabrera jersey, one of eight that he owns.
“I’m gonna do one of these,” he said, giving a little dance with a smile.
The crowd gasped, every time Cabrera swung and missed, and then he struck out.
History would have to wait.
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Teammates remain in awe
“Can you pinpoint a thing that makes Miggy so great?” I asked Tigers manager AJ Hinch.
“His intellect, his baseball instincts,” Hinch said. “He watches way more than people give him credit. He cares about the small margins within the game. … Little things matter to Miggy. His baseball intellect is off the charts.”
I posed the same question to Jonathan Schoop, the Tigers’ first/second baseman, and he talked about how Cabrera can make adjustments.
“But what do you mean?” I asked.
“He can make adjustments between swings,” Schoop said. “Someday you might feel off, you know, with your swing, and he can make adjustments in a second. Some other players will take two days to make an adjustment. Some players will take a week. But he can make an adjustment right away between swings.”
Like a painter who can change the picture, with a simple stroke, when the paint is still wet.
That takes a special dose of creativity, intelligence, skill, talent and confidence.
“I was playing Miggy on PlayStation,” Schoop said. “To come play with him, not only as a player, but as a friend, the way he has treated me, the way he has received me, I’m blessed.”
Schoop and Cabrera have become tight friends.
When Cabrera doesn’t get a hit or a home run, Schoop will needle him; “How many more do you need?”
But it’s playful respect.
“Unbelievable numbers,” Schoop said.
Eric Haase grew up watching Cabrera, as a teenager in Westland.
“Right as the Tigers teams were kind of taking off,” Haase said. “He was at the heart of that, at a time when baseball was just crucial for me.”
He paused.
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“So to be able to watch him do it in person, it’s kind of hard to put into words,” Haase said. “When you see him out here joking around having a blast, that’s the exact same way he is in the clubhouse. He’s super easy to get along with. It’s contagious. He’s hilarious, joking all the time. But then when he gets out there, he wants to win.”
Capturing history on a cell phone
Cabrera led off the sixth inning of Wednesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Red Sox. As he was introduced, the crowd came alive once again — a scene that seems to play out nightly at Comerica Park.
Hundreds held up their cell phones. That’s how we capture history now — on our cell phones — ready to be posted on Facebook.
Cabrera made contact with a couple of pitches and the crowd gasped with anticipation, hoping to witness a homer, and then groaned when the balls soared foul.
It felt like everybody was trying to will him to do something magical. Clapping. Cheering. Shouting. And some started the wave.
“A carnival,” Schoop called it.
A wonderful, electric, history-chasing carnival.
When Cabrera singled to right field, the crowd screamed. It wasn’t a homer, but it was another step closer to 3,000; and Schondelmayer did his job, changing the display.
Cabrera has now reached 2,945 hits: 10 ahead of Barry Bonds, two in front of Frank Robinson, 55 from Roberto Clemente (3,000) and 62 behind Al Kaline (3,007)
Incredible names.
It’s like watching history unfold.
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The old Miggy, not an old Miggy
The best part of this chase?
It’s been watching Cabrera’s joy.
He looks rejuvenated by this young team.
And he seems to set a new record every time he swings his bat, not just the homers and hits, but everything. He is 10 doubles shy of 600, seven runs shy of 1,500 and five doubles shy of tying for sixth in Tigers history (Alan Trammell at 412).
He is no longer a Triple Crown threat, but this version is entertaining. He seems so happy, so filled with authentic joy. That’s the thing that Hinch has learned about Miggy.
The joy is real.
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“Some players when they reach a certain stature, at this level, can become performers,” Hinch said. “They can become sort of showman and then when you when you when you meet them, it’s either authentic or not. And Miggy he is a little boy playing a game still, and it doesn’t matter what his age is or experience level or what he’s achieved, there’s a great joy.”
Miggy is still Miggy.
Chasing history while playing with the joy of a child.
As the cell phones come out, and electricity shoots through the crowd, and his teammates marvel.
And Schondelmayer stands on the concourse, waiting to ham it up and do a little dance.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.