Cameron Maybin made his MLB debut for the Tigers on August 17, 2007 at Yankee Stadium. The 20-year-old was hitless in four at-bats against Andy Pettitte, but the next day he singled and homered off Roger Clemens, who had won a Cy Young before Maybin was born.
Maybin would be traded to the Marlins in a deal that brought Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. He’s bounced around: Tigers, Marlins, Padres, Braves, Tigers again, Angels, Astros (where he won a World Series last season), and now the Marlins again.
Maybin is back in the Bronx this week, although he was quick to point out it’s not the same stadium during his talk with NY Sports Day before Monday’s game.
NYSD: Coming back where you made your debut?
CM: Not this one. That was at the old one.
NYSD: What was it like being at that old one for the first time?
CM: It was cool to be a part of just so much history for me. I’ve always been a student of the game, just to be somewhere where you realize so much history went down and to take the field, the same field that so many legends were able to take the field on was really cool for me, especially at such a young age.
NYSD: You’re on the field and there’s Jeter and A-Rod and Sheffield and Pudge Rodriguez, was that a little overwhelming?
CM: I don’t know if it was overwhelming. I didn’t do too bad. But it was really cool and humbling really to be a part of guys you grew up watching, guys that you grew up idolizing, guys that you wanted to be like one day, and you look up a year and a half removed from high school and on the field with these guys was something really cool for me. Just for my family to be there, to experience that, to see it, for me that was really awesome.
NYSD: What was it like facing Clemens?
CM: It was cool, man. Guys that you grew up watching for years that had such great success at this level and the career he piled up, and just to be able to step in the box against a guy like that was really fun, man. The challenge was fun and it’s something I’ll definitely have in my memory bank for a long time. Definitely an experience for sure.
NYSD: You had always been a center fielder and then they had you in left field in your first game. Did that take a little adjusting to?
CM: (Laughing) Yeah, it did, it did. It was a totally different look. I played center field since I was a kid, so coming up at the time we’re just trying not to mess up. It was fun, man. It was fun. And I think I actually did make an error that day in one of those games (laughing). It was fun looking back on it, man, just to be a part of something so cool. And the team I was on in Detroit, just so many amazing players, you know, Magglio, Pudge, Carlos Guillen, Placido Polanco, Kenny Rogers, the list goes on, Sheff. The guys I was able to break in with, for me, it doesn’t get too much better than that, breaking in with a group of guys who have accomplished so much. Granderson was on the rise. So just being part of a group like that, I felt like it really taught me how to prepare, how to approach, how to take pride in what you do. I think it was huge for me coming up with a group like that to really kind of show me the way.