Miguel Cabrera could be the last 3,000-hit player for a while

Miguel Cabrera joined the 3,000-hit club on Saturday, becoming the seventh member with 500 HR, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez and Eddie Murray.

The big picture: Soak this moment in. It's going to be a while until we see another player join the 3,000-hit club.

• There are only five active players with 2,000 hits — including Cabrera and Pujols — the lowest total since 1954. Robinson Canó (2,631 hits) is 39. Yadier Molina (2,116) is retiring this fall. Joey Votto (2,035) is 38.
• According to projections, the likeliest 3,000-hit candidates are 32-year-old José Altuve (1,783), 32-year-old Freddie Freeman (1,723) and 23-year-old Fernando Tatis Jr. (303), per The Athletic.
• Since Robin Yount and George Brett reached 3,000 hits in 1992, we've gone no more than four seasons before seeing another entrant. The post-Cabrera drought will likely double, if not triple, that.

The last word: Cabrera's career has been nothing short of legendary, and he'll enter Cooperstown as one of the best — and most powerful — hitters to ever walk the planet.

"I've never seen anyone hit the ball harder. ... His ground balls would crash through the infield. His line drives careened into gaps. Even now, every so often, he turns on a ball and hits it so hard the eye can barely follow and it sounds like the Fourth of July."