Miggy Joins 3000 Hit Club

33 Replies

Tiger great Miguel Cabrera has burnished his Hall of Fame credentials as the 33rd member of the 3000 hit club, collecting his milestone knock off of fellow Venezuelan Antonio Senzatela of the Rockies. More after the jump.

Cabrera becomes just the 7th player to reach 3000 hits including 500 home runs, and just the 3rd (after Willie Mays and Hank Aaron) to also post a career .300 BA (that .300 career BA should stand up as Cabrera would need to post three more 450+ AB seasons with a .250 BA before that career .300 BA would start to look vulnerable). As of this writing, Cabrera is sitting on 599 doubles, so his next two-bagger will put him in another select group of three with 3000 hits, 500 HR and 600 doubles, joining Aaron and Albert Pujols. Here are a couple more groups of three for Cabrera.

  • Players with 3000 hits who also recorded a triple crown season: Cabrera joins Carl Yastrzemski and Ty Cobb (in Cobb’s triple crown season in 1909, he led the junior circuit with 9 home runs yet never hit the ball out of the park, as each of his round-trippers was of the inside-the-park variety)
  • Players to record 3000th hit as a Tiger: Cabrera joins Cobb and Al Kaline

Cabrera is the sixth player active in the past ten seasons to reach 3000 hits. That is a notable confluence but far from a record. The most 3000 hit players active in a decade are shown below for the first 10 year span encompassing the indicated players.

The most players active in the same season who were already members of the 3000 hit club is three, in 1925-28 (Cobb, Tris Speaker and Eddie Collins), 1972 (Aaron, Mays and Roberto Clemente), 1979 (Yaz, Pete Rose and Lou Brock), 2001 (Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson) and 2018 (Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki and Adrian Beltre). Teams with two or more players who were already 3000 hit club members are the 1928 A’s (Cobb, Speaker and Collins), 1927 A’s (Cobb and Collins), 1995 Indians (Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield) and 2001 Padres (Gwynn and Henderson).

More interesting perhaps is the confluence of 3000 hit club members born outside the United States. The last four players to reach 3000 hits were all born outside the 50 states, more than the three such players who preceded this latest group. Antonio Senzatela becomes the fifth pitcher born outside the US to yield a 3000th hit, following Moe Drabowsky (Stan Musial), Jose Mesa (Robin Yount), Hector Carrasco (Ripken) and Joel Pineiro (Rafael Palmeiro). Piniero/Palmeiro were the first pitcher/batter combo both born outside the US, while Senzatela/Cabrera are the first combo both born in the same country outside the US.

We will likely have a bit of a wait before the 3000 hit club welcomes its next member. Here are the career hit totals for players currently active.

Rk Player H From To Age G PA BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pos Team
1 Albert Pujols 3309 2001 2022 21-42 2981 12723 .297 .375 .544 .918 144 3D759H/46 LAA,LAD,STL
2 Miguel Cabrera 3003 2003 2022 20-39 2604 11057 .310 .387 .531 .918 144 35D79H DET,FLA
3 Robinson Canó 2632 2005 2022 22-39 2246 9489 .302 .352 .490 .842 125 *4DH3/56 NYM,NYY,SEA
4 Yadier Molina 2121 2004 2022 21-39 2159 8328 .279 .330 .401 .731 97 *23H/D5 STL
5 Joey Votto 2036 2007 2022 23-38 1920 8210 .300 .415 .517 .932 147 *3HD/7 CIN
6 Nelson Cruz 1925 2005 2022 24-41 1903 7829 .275 .345 .523 .868 132 D97H/83 BAL,MIL,MIN,SEA,TBR,TEX,WSN
7 Elvis Andrus 1877 2009 2022 20-33 1817 7693 .271 .327 .368 .695 85 *6DH OAK,TEX
8 Andrew McCutchen 1845 2009 2022 22-35 1781 7674 .280 .372 .474 .847 131 *879DH MIL,NYY,PHI,PIT,SFG
9 Evan Longoria 1818 2008 2021 22-35 1823 7671 .266 .335 .473 .808 120 *5DH/6 SFG,TBR
10 Jose Altuve 1783 2011 2022 21-32 1446 6387 .307 .359 .460 .819 124 *4DH/6 HOU
11 Justin Upton 1748 2007 2021 19-33 1828 7592 .262 .343 .471 .814 118 *79HD/8 ARI,ATL,DET,LAA,SDP
12 Freddie Freeman 1727 2010 2022 20-32 1584 6745 .296 .384 .508 .892 138 *3H5/D ATL,LAD
13 Eric Hosmer 1656 2011 2022 21-32 1573 6535 .279 .338 .433 .771 109 *3HD/9 KCR,SDP
14 Paul Goldschmidt 1594 2011 2022 23-34 1488 6384 .293 .389 .519 .908 142 *3HD ARI,STL
15 Michael Brantley 1591 2009 2022 22-35 1383 5891 .298 .355 .439 .794 117 78DH9 CLE,HOU
16 DJ LeMahieu 1476 2011 2022 22-33 1319 5425 .301 .357 .423 .779 102 453H/6D CHC,COL,NYY
17 Alcides Escobar 1469 2008 2022 21-35 1530 6118 .258 .295 .345 .640 74 *654H/879 KCR,MIL,WSN
18 Charlie Blackmon 1468 2011 2022 24-35 1287 5415 .300 .358 .495 .853 114 *897HD COL
19 Manny Machado 1456 2012 2022 19-29 1316 5720 .281 .340 .490 .829 124 *56/DH BAL,LAD,SDP
20 Carlos Santana 1452 2010 2022 24-36 1669 7126 .244 .361 .434 .795 115 32D5H/97 CLE,KCR,PHI
21 Mike Trout 1439 2011 2022 19-30 1305 5732 .305 .419 .585 1.005 177 *87D9H LAA
22 Ian Desmond 1432 2009 2019 23-33 1478 5944 .263 .315 .427 .742 95 6837H/4D91 COL,TEX,WSN
23 Jason Heyward 1404 2010 2022 20-32 1547 6157 .259 .341 .409 .750 102 *98H ATL,CHC,STL
24 Kurt Suzuki 1401 2007 2022 23-38 1592 6037 .257 .315 .390 .705 91 2HD ATL,LAA,MIN,OAK,WSN
25 Jean Segura 1396 2012 2022 22-32 1246 5291 .285 .329 .410 .739 99 645H/D ARI,LAA,MIL,PHI,SEA
Provided by Stathead.com: View Stathead Tool Used Generated 4/30/2022.

  • I suppose the 39 year-old Cano (no. 3) has an outside shot if he can play another three years (including this season), but I really don’t see that happening.
  • Andrus (no. 7) could get there by age 41 with nine more 125 hit seasons including this one (he had 121 hits last year), but that seems even less likely than Cano’s chances.
  • Though Altuve (no. 10) is eight months younger, Freeman (no. 12) would be my pick of the two as a player who has remained mostly healthy throughout his career, would seem to have a body type built for the long haul, and has considerably outpaced Altuve recently, with a 28 point edge in BA since 2018 that has translated into almost 100 more hits than the the Astro second sacker. Eight seasons (including this one) averaging 160 hits would get either of them to 3000 hits by their 40th birthdays.
  • Further down the list is Trout (no. 21) who, unlike Freeman, has found it difficult to stay healthy and does not have the same sleek physique as the Dodger first baseman. Still, 10 seasons (including this one) averaging 160 hits would do it for Trout, reaching 3000 right about the time he turns 40 (but I’d feel a lot more confident about that forecast if Trout could shed some pounds).
  • Machado (no. 19) has a few more hits than Trout, is a year younger and rather more svelte, but he hasn’t reached 160 hits since 2018. Still, eleven seasons (to age 40) averaging 150 hits, or twelve averaging 140, would get him there.

If it is another 7 years before we next see a player reach 3000 hits, that would be the longest interval since the 7 years between Rod Carew (1985) and George Brett and Robin Yount (both in 1992). If it takes longer than 7 years, you have to go back to the 12 years between Musial (1958) and Aaron (1970) to find as long a gap. The longest interval between 3000th hits is the 17 years between Speaker and Collins (both in 1925) and Paul Waner (1942), and between Cap Anson (1897, counting only his NL hits) and Nap Lajoie and Honus Wagner (both in 1914). If your include Anson’s NA hits, he reached 3000 in 1894, making it 20 years between him and Lajoie and Wagner.

33 thoughts on “Miggy Joins 3000 Hit Club”

  1. Richard Chester

    Sam Rice finished his career with 2987 hits. Sometime after his retirement Senators’ owner Clark Griffith offered him a contract so that he could play long enough to accumulate 13 hits. Rice turned down he offer as he was in his mid-forties and did not want to go throuugh the rigors of getting back in shape.

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    1. Paul E

      Richard,
      I believe some of these sure-fire/first ballot Hall of Famers, like Pujols and Cabrera, would not have accumulated their end of career/last 500 hits, 70 home runs, etc… without these ridiculous contracts extending into their late thirties/early forties. I have to believe Joey Votto will benefit from this contract extension/free agent dilemma as well. Seems to me that mid-30’s is the end of the line for most of these guys. The “greatest” of them all are productive into their late 30’s if they get some time off occasionally. Just sayin’

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      1. Doug

        Sam Rice probably wasn’t the best example if you were trying to contrast old time and modern players, as Rice compiled over 500 hits in his age 40+ seasons. That said, you couldn’t say that Rice didn’t earn his playing time legitimately, as his .293/.349/.385 neutralized slash (.322/.379/.421 actual) for those seasons would attest.

        Rice certainly would have reached 3000 had the Senators not elected to use him almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter (89 PA in 73 games) in his final season in Washington in 1933. Rice had shared the fourth (and fifth) outfielder role in 1932 with Dave Harris, whose .938 OPS that year earned him the “full time” fourth outfielder spot in 1933 (when he regressed to .776 OPS). But, those were the AL champion Senators, so can’t say benching Rice wasn’t the right move by rookie manager (and everyday shortstop), 26 year-old Joe Cronin.

        Rice was released following that season and caught on with the Indians the next year, contributing 93 hits in 89 games (only 18 as PH) through Aug 28, leaving him just 19 shy of 3000. And, he was hot too, batting .343 in 42 games in July and August. But, with the Indians 16 games back of the leading Tigers, Cleveland evidently elected to give playing time to September call-ups as Rice played only 8 games the rest of the way, 7 pinch-hitting and a 3 for 5 day in his final game.

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        1. Richard Chester

          Rice’s lowest seasonal BA was.293.That’s the highest minimum BA for a player with 10+ seasons in the ML regardless of the number of PA.

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        2. Paul E

          Doug,
          Sorry for the confusion. I was merely referencing the current guys with the long-term contracts and ‘bloated” career counting stats/numbers. I shouldn’t have attached/replied specifically to Richard Chester. As far as Sam Rice (or anyone else for that matter) is concerned, I don’t believe him to be any less of a player since he has 2,987 hits in lieu of the coveted 3,000. Kind of like, I’ll take Gehrig over Foxx (493 vs. 534) or Hornsby over Biggio (2,930 vs. 3,060). ….and, I’ll be more than glad to have Artie Moreno (and all his largesse) over for Christmas

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  2. Doug

    Absolutely nothing to do with 3000 hits, but Alek Manoah, whose 4-0 record currently leads the majors in wins, recorded his 25th career game on Tuesday. His 13-2 career record ties him with Roy Oswalt for the highest W-L% (.867) through the first 25 games of a live ball era career. The only higher mark since 1901 in 14+ decisions is King Cole’s .882 (15-2) in 1909-10 (Cole died from cancer at age 29, just 3½ months after his final big league game).

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    1. Paul E

      Doug,
      First one I checked was Pete Alexander who was 12-2, 12-3, and then 15-3 in his rookie season before finishing 28 – 13 🙂

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  3. Jimbo

    With the current style of baseball, I wouldn’t be surprised if we go a long time without anyone getting 3000 hits. There isn’t a single active player that looks like anything close to a lock.

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  4. Doug

    Kevin Gausman allowed his first walk of the season on Saturday, after 35.1 IP over 6 starts. It’s the longest such streak by a starting pitcher since Tiny Bonham also went 35.1 IP without a walk to start the 1944 season.

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  5. Mike L

    Freeman make walk too much to get his last 200 or so hits. He has a seven year contract, has never had more than 190 hits in a season. Altuve’s pace between 2014-17 was remarkable, but he’s slowed down. He’s a free agent after 2024, and I’m wondering how long a contract a 35 year old middle infielder can get.

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    1. Doug

      Probably not more than two years would be my guess on Altuve’s next contract. Recent middle infielders in similar situations:
      — Chase Utley‘s contract expired after his age 36 season in 2015. He signed a succession of one-year contracts after that.
      — Ben Zobrist‘s contract expired after his age 34 season in 2015. He signed a four-year contract after that.
      — Marco Scutaro‘s contract expired after his age 36 season in 2012. He signed a two-year contract after that.
      — Derek Jeter‘s contract expired after his age 36 season in 2010. He signed a four-year contract after that.
      — Miguel Tejada‘s contract expired after his age 35 season in 2009. He signed a succession of one-year contracts after that.
      — Craig Counsell‘s contract expired after his age 35 season in 2006. He signed a two-year contract and then a succession of one-year contracts after that.
      — Mark Grudzielanek‘s contract expired after his age 35 season in 2005. He signed a three-year contract after that.
      — Omar Vizquel‘s contract expired after his age 37 season in 2004. He signed a three-year contract, then a two-year contract, and then a succession of one-year contracts after that.
      — Jeff Kent‘s contract expired after his age 34 season in 2002. He signed a two-year contract and then a four-year contract after that.

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      1. Paul E

        “— Derek Jeter‘s contract expired after his age 36 season in 2010. He signed a four-year contract after that.”

        Those were some hilarious/soap-opera-like negotiations until Cashman caved (IIRC). By the same token, it might be safe to say that Altuve is as much a franchise icon as Jeter was and that icon status may put some pressure on Houston management to extend beyond what they might prefer

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  6. Doug

    You probably have to be a long-time White Sox devotee to recognize the name Joel McKeon, whose career comprised two seasons in Chicago in the mid-1980s. McKeon’s claim to fame is beginning his career with 8.2 hitless IP pitching only in relief, the longest such hitless streak. Recently, several pitchers have challenged McKeon, including Cody Reed (8 IP in 2017, before getting shelled in his first start), Jake Cousins (7.2 IP last season), and Penn Murfee (7.2 IP this season).

    One other pitcher to mention is Erv Dusak (8 IP in 1948-50), though Dusak’s pitching debut came in the 345th game of a career including an 84 OPS+ in 1192 PA, and an 81 ERA+ in 54.1 IP.

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  7. Doug

    If you get a chance to see the Mariners play, be sure to check out Julio Rodriguez, their 21 year-old rookie centerfielder. Physically, he reminds me a lot of a young Giancarlo Stanton.

    Last week, Rodriguez became just the 9th player (5th in the integration era) to record 10 RBI and 10 SB in the first 30 games of a career. Rodriguez will likely blow away the rookie record for SB among big men (6’3″+, 220+ lb), currently held by Scott Rolen with 16 thefts in 1997. Another Mariner holds that mark for any season, with A-Rod‘s 46 steals in 1998.

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    1. Paul E

      How about A-Rod and Canseco having a 40-40 season but no 30-30’s? And, Soriano missed a second 40-40 season by one HR in 2002.
      Bobby Bonds would have been the first 40-40 guiy in 1973 except after hitting 38 homers thru 141 team games (9/9/1973), he hit one home run in his last 98 plate appearances. Sounds like he could have used a day off but the Giants were only 5.5 games behind the Reds on Sept 9th…..odd MVP race that year with Bonds , Stargell, Evans, and Morgan probably all having superior seasons to eventual winner Pete Rose

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  8. Doug

    Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched 6 scoreless IP against the Reds on Friday, becoming the 15th pitcher to go unblemished when allowing 5 XBH. Ryu’s 6 IP is tied with Erik Hanson (1993) for the fewest of those 15 games. No pitcher has allowed 6+ XBH without yielding a run.

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  9. Doug

    Cincinnati has used three starting pitchers making their career debuts this season. Since 1901, it’s just the 16th time a team has done that in the first 40 games of a season, including 7 times in the past 7 seasons, three of those by the Reds.

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  10. Paul E

    Two high school teammates became first ballot Hall of Famers and, as switch hitters, hold the modern record (1893 – present) for career WAR by switch hitters at their respective positions. Any idea of whom I speak? (you probably do…I just ‘never knew’)

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  11. Richard Chester

    Here’s a trivia fact to break up the lull in HHS. On 6/25/1924 the Cubs had a 7-6 lead over the Pirates going into the bottom of the 14th inning. With runners on first and third and 1 out pitcher Emil Yde was allowed to bat for himself. He hit a bases clearing triple to give the Pirates an 8-7 victory. For the time period 1915-2022 that’s the only time a pitcher had a walk-off hit (or appearance) with his team behind in the score

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        1. Paul E

          You’d think that with all the mediocre punch-n-judy middle infielders coming off the bench to pinch-hit that keeping someone like Wes Ferrell , Newcombe, Drysdale, Rick Wise, etc.. in the game might be a better alternative to guys like Eddie Miksis or Ruben Amaro, Bobby Wine. By the same token, before the DH, the majority of teams always had platoon outfielders and corner infielders that could really hit.
          Obviously, with the way the game is played nowadays (40 CG’s annualy), it’s never going to happen in the next 98 years either 🙁

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    2. Doug

      It’s the only walk-off hit with his team behind, but not the only walk-off hit, and not the only PA in a potential walk-off situation. Here are the totals for pitchers:

      Score tied: 6508 PA, 216 w/o, .172/.214/.212
      Down 1 run, 1+ Runners On: 143 PA, 1 w/o, .237/.250/.298
      Down 2 runs, 2+ Runners On: 26 PA, 0 w/o, .048/.130/.048
      Down 3 runs, 3 Runners On: 2 PA, 0 w/o, 1.000/1.000/2.000

      The two PA in the last scenario were a bases clearing, game-tying double by Emil Yde earlier in the same game Richard mentioned, and a walk by Adam Eaton in 2009, in his final major league game (Ryan Spilborghs followed Eaton with a w/o HR).

      Yde’s 0.849 WPA for the game (in 5 PA) is the highest ever by a pitcher. One other note on that contest – the 14 innings were played in a tidy 2 hours 10 minutes (in contrast, the Adam Eaton game, also 14 innings, finished 3 minutes shy of 5 hours).

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  12. Richard Chester

    This was posted today (6/30) on the High Heat Stats Twitter account:
    “Today in 1934, Lou Gehrig hit three triples in a game that was rained out before 5 full innings were compete, and thus was washed away—officially never happened.”

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    1. Paul E

      Gehrig won the triple crown in 1934….and finished 5th in MVP voting. Apparently, the voters put a lot of weight on winning the pennant as Cochrane and Gehringer finished 1-2 and Schoolboy Rowe was 4th

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  13. Paul E

    https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/COL/COL202207030.shtml

    On July 3rd, CJ Cron smacked two three-run homers in a 6-5 Colorado victory over Arizona. I know Billy Williams once had all four of his team’s hits in a Cubs’ loss. This was the most hits by a batter having all of his team’s hits in a game. Any idea if Cron’s 6 RBI is a similar record for most RBI having all of his team’s RBI? I kind of doubt it but, just thought I would ask.
    Thanks

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    1. Doug

      I actually looked up that question not long ago. There was one player with 8 RBI, from a game in the early 1900s, and a few players with 7 RBI. I’ll post the details when I find them.

      The record of this type that I particularly like is most runs by a team all scored by one player. That mark belongs to Bert Campaneris with 4 runs for the A’s in a 1966 game.

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        2. Paul E

          Greenwell had a 1.054 WPA for the game. I would have thought this would have been some sort of record but it has been exceeded fairly frequently. I think Doug posted a story about Art Shamsky tying a game twice with homers and may have won the game in extra-innings with a home run? Found it….and the Reds lost despite Artie’s stickwork rating a 1.503 on the WPA !!!

          https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN196608120.shtml

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