Legendary Sluggers to Be Celebrated at Dodger Stadium’s Midsummer Classic
Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. announced today that a pair of the game’s legendary hitters, Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals and Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, will be celebrated at the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium, where they will be active in the Midsummer Classic. Pujols and Cabrera are two of the three players in history to register 3,000 hits, 500 home runs and 600 doubles, along with Hall of Famer Hank Aaron.
Commissioner Manfred said: “I am delighted that Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have agreed to participate in the All-Star Game. Albert and Miguel are two of the most accomplished players of their generation. They have also represented the baseball traditions of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela with excellence for the last two decades. Albert and Miguel are two all-time greats whose achievements warrant this special recognition.”
The final season of Albert’s 22-year career, including his 12th as a Cardinal in his 2022 return to St. Louis, now features his 11th career All-Star selection. He spent a decade with the Los Angeles Angels before joining the Los Angeles Dodgers for the majority of the 2021 season. Pujols and former teammate Mike Trout share the lead among active players with three career Most Valuable Player-winning seasons. He ranks fifth in MLB history with 683 home runs, the most all-time by a player who was born outside of the United States. “The Machine” now ranks ninth all-time with 3,326 hits. He played for the DR’s national team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. Pujols, the 2008 recipient of MLB’s Roberto Clemente Award for excellence on and off the field, is a nominee for ESPN’s 2022 Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award for his charitable work, including through the Pujols Family Foundation.
This marks Cabrera’s 12th All-Star selection in his 20-year career. In April, Cabrera became the 33rd player in Major League history, including the first Venezuelan player, to reach 3,000 hits. The two-time American League MVP leads all Venezuelan-born players in hits (3,065), home runs (505), batting average (.310), slugging (.528) and many other offensive categories. In 2012, Cabrera ended the longest gap between Triple Crowns in MLB history (previous: 1967 by Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski) and became the first Latino player to win the Triple Crown, the 12th in MLB history. Cabrera has represented Team Venezuela in all four editions of the World Baseball Classic. In 2012, he established the Miguel Cabrera Foundation, which has benefited such organizations as the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Miguel and Rosangel Cabrera partnered with the Detroit Tigers Foundation to donate $250,000 to benefit children and families in Detroit. In 2021, he volunteered to serve as a co-chair of the Protect Michigan Commission in support of the state’s COVID-19 vaccination and education efforts.
The MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard returns to Dodger Stadium for the first time in four decades on Tuesday, July 19th. The 2022 Midsummer Classic will join the All-Star Games of 1949, 1959 and 1980 as those hosted by the Dodgers franchise, with the latter two being played in the city of Los Angeles. The 92nd Midsummer Classic will mark the 13th to be played in the state of California, the most among any state. In addition to the games played in Los Angeles, the cities of Anaheim (1967, 1989, 2010), Oakland (1987), San Diego (1978, 1992, 2016) and San Francisco (1961, 1984, 2007) have also hosted Baseball’s annual summer showcase.
The All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by 70 partners in 16 languages across 210 countries and territories. FOX Deportes will provide Spanish language coverage in the United States, while ESPN Radio and Univision Radio (Spanish) will provide exclusive national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. For ongoing MLB All-Star Week information, please visit AllStarGame.com and follow @MLB. MLB Network, MLB.com and SiriusXM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage.
COURTESY MLBpressbox.com
