Miguel Cabrera had quite the weekend at Fenway Park.
Even with the Tigers losing the series to the Red Sox, Cabrera was showered with gifts from Boston and respect from the fans amid his retirement tour.
On Saturday, members of the Red Sox bestowed the Detroit slugger with a No. 24 placard from the Green Monster along with making a charitable donation to Cabrera’s foundation. And on Sunday, the Fenway Faithful greeted Cabrera with a standing ovation before his last at-bat in Boston.
Cabrera stepped up to the plate with the Red Sox leading the Tigers 6-3 with one on and no outs. Boston fans rose to their feet to honor the 12-time All-Star as he stepped up to the plate to face Boston closer Kenley Jansen.
The 40-year-old took a moment to acknowledge the crowd before flying out to center for the first out of the inning.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora expressed his pride in the fans for the “cool moment” they showed Cabrera in the top of the ninth inning and the 2003 World Series champion expressed his own gratitude, according to freelance sports writer Ken Powtak.
“Awesome. That’ll be in my memory my whole life,” Cabrera told Powtak. “I really appreciate the fans in Boston doing that. It was pretty awesome. I didn’t expect that. They love baseball here. They love sports here in Boston.”
Cabrera didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard in the three-game series against the Red Sox, recording just two hits and one RBI with four strikeouts. But the future Hall of Famer has collected 3,145 hits, 508 home runs and 1,864 RBIs in 2,767 games with Detroit and the Marlins.
