Cabrera signed with the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent in 1991 and played in their minor league system through 1996.

He was even better in 2002, with a .336 batting average, 55 home runs, and 115 RBI, winning the Pacific League's MVP award.

His 55 home runs tied Japan's single-season record, equaling the mark set by Sadaharu Oh in 1964 and matched by former MLB player Tuffy Rhodes in 2001.

Cabrera stated that he was unable to break the record because pitchers threw him very few strikes after hitting his 55th home run.

[1] On October 26, 2004, Cabrera hit a two-run towering homer as the Seibu Lions defeated the Chunichi Dragons 7–2 in Game 7 of the Japan Series to win their first championship since 1992.

The ball bounced off the glass-enclosed private boxes above the left field seats at the Nagoya Dome.

Cabrera's career in NPB ended with 97 games over two seasons for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in 2011 and 2012.

After leaving Japan, Cabrera continued to play professional winter league baseball for Tiburones de La Guaira in his native Venezuela.

[11] Cabrera played 14 games for Rojos del Aguila de Veracruz in the Mexican League in April 2014 at the age of 42, batting .404 and hitting 4 home runs.

[1] On December 13, 2007, Cabrera was linked to steroid use in the Mitchell Report, one of many MLB players so identified.

Team officials found a package that contained a vial of what they suspected to be anabolic steroids and several hundred pills.