Francisco Cabrera is in his first season as the manager of the Pioneer League’s Rocky Mountain Vibes. Based in Colorado Springs, he is now overseeing a roster filled with players who weren’t born when his Major League Baseball playing career ended in 1993. However, that doesn’t mean that this next generation of baseball players hasn’t asked him about “the hit” that changed the course of the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates franchises during the 1992 postseason.
Almost 30 years later, Francisco Cabrera is still asked plenty about the hit that sent the Atlanta Braves to the 1992 World Series.
In Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series, the Atlanta Braves trailed the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Terry Pendleton opened the frame with a double, then moved to third on an error that allowed David Justice to reach first. Sid Bream followed with a walk to load the bases.
With the bases loaded, Ron Gant hit a sacrifice fly to score Pendleton and pull the Braves within 2-1. After a walk to Damon Berryhill loaded the bases again, Brian Hunter popped out to give the Pirates one out. That’s when pinch hitter Francisco Cabrera was inserted into the lineup and history was made.
Interestingly, Cabrera only had 11 plate appearances that season leading up to the postseason and his single that landed in front of Barry Bonds that gave Justice and Bream enough time to get home and send the Braves to the Fall Classic.
"“That guy, honest to goodness, probably had more power than anybody on our team that year. He had some trouble finding a consistent position on defense, so he only got a handful of at bats that season, but that guy could flat-out hit the baseball,” Bream wrote about Cabrera in this article."
So how many times does Cabrera still get asked about “the hit?” He laughs when he is asked the question.
“Maybe a thousand times,” he said. “I don’t feel bad about it. This is good for me. It keeps myself alive. That was a long time ago.”
Cabrera also chuckles when he talks about how his young players still talk to him about that moment of MLB history.
“The kids ask me about that and I say, ‘How do you know about that? You weren’t even born yet.’ They just look at me and say, ‘My father told me you were the guy who got the hit.’ They see the videos. They see what’s on YouTube.”
Cabrera says he’s thankful for YouTube and the video that keeps his most memorable MLB moment (and one of Atlanta’s most memorable as a franchise) alive for the ages.
“I’m surprised sometimes when I open my cell phone and somebody has sent me something to watch and when I see it’s YouTube, it never fails that right behind it is my hit,” Cabrera said. “I must be a part of history if I see it every day.”