Miguel Cabrera Wins First Triple Crown in 45 Years

Well, he did it.  Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera had a baseball season for the ages and won the first Triple Crown in 45 years. His final numbers:  .330 batting average, 44 home runs, and 139 RBIs.  It’s only the 14th time the feat has been accomplished in baseball’s Modern Era (since 1900), and the first time since 1967.  Only 12 players have won the award; two (Rogers Hornsby in 1922 and 1925, Ted Williams in 1942 and 1947) have done it twice.  Every previous winner is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame, so Cabrera is in some pretty good company.

Now the question is if Cabrera will win the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award.  He’d seem to be a lock, but there are those who say Los Angeles Angels’ rookie outfielder Mike Trout should be MVP.  Trout’s numbers are in the stratosphere as well (.326 batting average, 30 home runs, a league leading 129 runs scored and a league leading 49 stolen bases).  Historically, winning the Triple Crown has not guaranteed the MVP award either.  Since the Baseball Writers Association of America began the award in 1933, there have been 10 Triple Crown winners, and four did not win the MVP award.

A lot of the argument for Trout is his favorable stats in some newer statistical categories, especially in something called Wins Above Replacement or WAR, a category designed to quantify a player’s contribution to his team’s success.  We feel that since Cabrera’s accomplishment is so rare that we’d give him the edge. WAR is one way to measure a player’s value, but we feel it is just one factor and some statheads give too much weight to it.  Besides, Cabrera’s Tigers won the A.L. Central and are in the playoffs, while Trout’s Angels, despite his tremendous season, are not.  We’d give Trout the A.L Rookie of the Year award and there should be an investigation if it isn’t unanimous.