Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera headed to MLB All-Star game

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred added legends Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals and Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers to the 2022 MLB All-Star Game. This was made possible by one of the quirks of the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The new CBA, allows Manfred to add one player to each league’s roster, in recognition of each player’s career achievements.

This will be Pujols’ 11th All-Star appearance, and Cabrera’s 12th. The former hasn’t appeared in the Midsummer Classic since 2015, while the latter hasn’t played in the exhibition since 2016.

“I am delighted that Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have agreed to participate in the All-Star Game,” Manfred said. “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.”

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Pujols sits at fifth all-time with 683 home runs and is within reach of becoming only the third player to hit 700 or more homers. He is third all-time with 2,168 runs batted in, just 46 RBIs shy of Babe Ruth, who had 2,214 RBI.

Cabrera is only the seventh player in MLB history with at least 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. In 2012, he became the only Latino ever to win the Triple Crown. It was the first time a hitter won a triple crown since 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski did it.

It is without a doubt that both players are Hall of Fame bound at the end of their careers, barring some unforeseen developments.

For now, we get to sit back and watch living legends take one last shot alongside today’s best players in the Midsummer Classic.