Tigers' Cabrera comes to rescue of Venezuelan youth team

CARCAS, Venezuela (AP) - Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera has long been an idol to baseball-playing youths in his native Venezuela, and now the 11-time All Star is a hero off the field as well after bailing out a team of young players who had been kept from going to a regional tournament by their country's economic crisis.

Venezuela's Baseball Federation on Monday confirmed that the under-10 national team was heading to the tournament in northern Mexico.

It's unclear if the tournament organizers will reschedule three games that were forfeited when the team missed them.

But the young players seem thrilled just to be making the journey. Prior to boarding their flight they tweeted a video thanking Cabrera for stepping in to pay their airfare after sponsorship in the crisis-wracked nation fell through.