As Cabrera takes final swings, Tigers legend Trammell shares his last-hit story

Detroit — As we watch Miguel Cabrera take the final swings of his career this weekend, it was fascinating to hear Hall-of-Famer Alan Trammell reminisce about the final hit of his Hall of Fame career.

It happened on Sept. 29, 1996 in the bottom of the 10th inning at Tiger Stadium and it came off Milwaukee Brewers closer Mike Fetters. If you watch the grainy video, you see a big smile light up Trammell’s face as he rounds first base.

“I had a flashback,” said Trammell, who took part in the Cabrera celebration Saturday. “If you look back at my first hit — if you can even find it anywhere anymore — as soon as I hit it, it was like a flashback. It was almost identical — a line drive up the middle.”

Indeed it was. Trammell and Lou Whitaker both debuted on Sept. 9, 1977 at Fenway Park. Both singled in their first big-league at-bats against Boston’s Reggie Cleveland. Trammell’s was a line drive up the middle.

“That was the first thing that came to my mind when I got that last one,” Trammell said. “That’s what hit me. It was like my first hit all over again. That’s why I was smiling because it immediately hit me, as soon as it went off the bat, it was just like my first one. Wow.”

That’s not the half of it. What are the odds that Trammell and Whitaker, who played together for 19 seasons, would get their first big-league hits off the same pitcher on the same day and then get the last hits of their career against the same pitcher a year apart?

“It happened,” Trammell said.

Whitaker’s last hit came Sept. 13, 1995, at Tiger Stadium in the 10^th inning — a walk-off, three-run homer off Fetters.

“We got our first hits off Reggie Cleveland in our first game and then we got our last hits off the same guy a year apart,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. But it’s true.”

Twitter/X: @cmccosky