Miguel Cabrera Hits a Walk-Off Homer in His Major League Debut

On June 20, 2003, twenty-year-old Miguel Cabrera played his first major league game for the Florida Marlins and ended it with a two-run walk-off home run in the eleventh inning against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. His first career hit traveled 491 feet over the center field fence at Pro Player Stadium, and the Marlins won 3-1.

Cabrera had been tearing through the minor leagues. At Double-A Carolina, he was hitting .365 with 10 home runs and 59 RBI in 69 games when the Marlins called him up. He had played shortstop earlier in his minor league career but was at third base in Carolina before the Marlins moved him to left field for his debut.

His first four at-bats produced nothing. The game went to extra innings tied 1-1. In the bottom of the eleventh, with Alex González on second after a double and reliever Al Levine on the mound, Cabrera drove the first pitch he saw deep to center field. The ball cleared the wall by a wide margin. Cabrera circled the bases and was mobbed at home plate by teammates, who smothered him with a shaving-cream pie.

He became the third player since 1900 to hit a game-winning home run in his major league debut, following Billy Parker in 1971 and Josh Bard in 2002. Back in his hometown of Maracay, Venezuela, his parents watched on television.

Cabrera helped the Marlins win the World Series that October, hitting .167 in the Fall Classic against the Yankees. He went on to win the Triple Crown with Detroit in 2012, the first player to lead his league in batting average, home runs, and RBI in the same season since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. He won back-to-back MVP awards in 2012 and 2013 and finished his career with 3,174 hits and 511 home runs.