MVP for Miggy: Miguel Cabrera is American League Most Valuable Player
Cabrera 1 by RichardDemingPhotography
The American League Most Valuable Player Award is staying in Detroit for a second year. The Detroit Tigers explain that Cabrera powered to the MVP in the same way he slugged his way to the first Triple Crown in 45 years:
In the long-anticipated battle of historic seasons, Cabrera put an exclamation point on his 2012 Triple Crown campaign on Thursday with the AL MVP, beating out Angels rookie sensation Mike Trout in voting cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Cabrera received 22 of 28 first-place votes, with Trout receiving the other six. Cabrera finished with 362 points. Trout had 281, with the total points distributed on a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
…It marked the second straight MVP award for a Tigers player, Cabrera following in the footsteps of vocally supportive teammate Justin Verlander, and the first MVP for a Venezuelan-born player. It’s the first MVP for a Tigers position player since Hank Greenberg in 1940.
Definitely read on for more including a great interview with Miggy from MLB TV. Cabrera joins an elite list of Tiger MVP winners: Ty Cobb, Mickey Cochrane, Hank Greenberg (x2), Charlie Gehringer, Hal Newhouser (x2), Denny McLain, Willie Hernández and Justin Verlander (in 2011).
While Cabrera is the 2nd Tiger in as many years to win MVP, he’s the first Venezuelan ever to win the award, and it was celebrated last night in Venezuela. On his Twitter last night “Cabrerita” said: “This MVP was for the fans in Detroit and Venezuela. Support from God, my family, and teammates made it possible.”
Despite the fact that Cabrera ran away with the vote, it was anything but certain heading in. Pollster and numbers geek Nate Silver who went 50-50 in his state voting predictions in the election, sharpened his skills in sabermetrics (baseball stats). He laid out a compelling case for the Angels rookie phenom Mike Trout, but baseball writer Phil Rogers concluded that his fellow sportswriters did the right thing in choosing Cabrera.
Samara at Roar of the Tigers has the definitive MiguelVP cartoon, and here’s a great video from BLB of Cabrera’s 2012 highlights: