Posted on 10/04/2012 5:34:32 AM PDT by Lakeshark
Cabrera became just the 15th player to win baseball's Triple Crown, joining an elite list that includes Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig. Cabrera topped the American League with a .330 batting average, 44 homers and 139 RBIs, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in the major leagues since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
**snip**
While the Triple Crown has been decided, the MVP has not. Selected members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America vote for that award, with the winner announced in November.
On one hand, Cabrera has dominated the statistical categories favored by traditionalists, the ones that count toward the Triple Crown. On the other hand, Trout is being championed by new-school baseball thought, number crunchers who rely on obscure stats such as WAR (Wins Above Replacement), derived from several other measures designed to judge a player's overall contribution to a team.
''He's the best hitter in the game,'' Trout said of Cabrera. ''I think his approach, the way he battles with two strikes - you leave one pitch over the plate that at-bat and he's going to hit it. He had an unbelievable year.''
Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline said it would be ''a shame'' if Cabrera didn't win the league's most coveted award. Royals manager Ned Yost offered a similar sentiment.
''I think they're both fantastic players, tremendous players, both of them,'' Yost said, ''but if Cabrera wins the Triple Crown, he has to be the MVP, absolutely.''
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
He did it! The Detroit News article was better, but can’t be posted here: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121004/OPINION03/210040405/Triple-Crown-perfect-fit-Miguel-Cabrera?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports
I think Josh is back on the Coke.
Congratulations Miquel on an incredible achievement I was not sure I would see again in my lifetime.
And thanks to you, I won my money roto league- and thanks to the two guys who drafted in front of my third pick and took Pujols and Bautista.
My vote would be for Mike Trout - a local from Millville, NJ - and one to be watched very closely in the future because he is that good and will only get better; but Cabrera must get the nod for MVP, I have to admit.
Trout’s time will come, mark my words.
The Royals and their fans showed a great deal of class last night with a standing O for Miggy when he came up to bat and again when he officially won the crown.
KC deserves a better team.
What a great way for the regular season to end for us
Tiger fans! Way to go Miguel!
And I agree, KC fans and players were classy in their acknowledgement last night.
I like the Tigers’ chances against the A’s....I think the A’s will be “We’re Happy Just to Be Here”, while the Tigers will be on a mission.
You mean, you were not watching my Red Sox /Yankees game? Come on, it is the rivalry of all times!
(Obviously Sarcastic!)
Right, there are specialist hitters as well, beating all of those types at the same time is amazing. But I think the big one is all the different pitching, I bet he didn’t see the same guy four time too often at all. Plus, he plays half the games in a giant cavern. Just amazing.
I actually think it helped Cabrera that there were so many strike outs this year, I think if less hitters protect with two strikes it’s easier for the real cream to rise to the top.
Freegards
It’s been so long since there was a Triple Crown winner (and, frankly, all the SABRheads have so trashed batting average for OPS) that I don’t think many baseball fans understand the significance of what Cabrera did.
Plus, it wasn’t done by a Yankee, Met or Red Sox, so the Northeast media doesn’t really care.
The Tigers have battled through a tough season well below their expectations. At one point they went 45 games without winning two in a row.
Recent history shows, that all that matters is to get hot at the right time. Look at the Cardinals last year.
Seattle.
I was one of three boys in a baseball-crazy family, all with summer birthdays. A case of Topps cost $3 and you knew what you were getting from the other two brothers for your birthday - they'd go in together on a case and you'd have that wonderful two hours of opening packs, sorting and trading cards, and chewing terrible gum.
The sports announcer on KOL radio ("Colorful KOL - Thirteen Double O!") mangled Yastrzemski's name on the radio that summer and called him something like "Yazzleputski."
In our family, Yazzleputski won the last Triple Crown, and it will always be Yazzleputski.
Congratulations, Cabrera.
Cabrera did it in grand fashion even compared to Carl Yastrzemski. Yaz tied Harmon Killebrew with 44 home runs but Yaz “only” had a .326 batting average and 121 runs batted in.
If anyone other than Cabrera wins the MVP it will be a travesty of epic proportions. I don’t care about WAR or any other sabremetric mumbo-jumbo.
Miguel Cabrera just did something that is on par with 30 wins or batting .400.
There are just some things that if they are accomplished they should automatically garauntee the award. Winning the TRIPLE CROWN is definately in that category. PERIOD!
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