Miguel Cabrera doesn’t have a secure niche in Cooperstown, despite his 508 home runs, 3,128 hits, 1,861 RBIs and 50 steals in 61 attempts during his 21-year bigleague career.
No number guarantees a ballplayer his promotion to the Hall of Fame. If there were that guarantee, we wouldn’t need the 400 voters across the United States. If there was that guarantee, Pete Rose, with his (not three thousand, but) four thousand 256 hits, would have been in Cooperstown a long time ago, but he has been execrated; the same as Barry Bonds (not with 500 home runs, but) with 762, but he remains questionable.
Miguel has been a distinguished hitter. But he is not outstanding in anything else. Very slow running the bases and deficient defensively, so much so that they have used him in four positions, but, as he works best, he is designated, which many voters do not like. He has also been involved in high-profile cases of domestic violence, which is serious before Major League Baseball.
Am I saying that Miguel will not be chosen for Cooperstown?
No sir. I speak only the truth. We will have to wait until 2029 to find out how voters react to his story.
However, on Thursday I had interesting contact via Zoom with 27 fellow voters, from seven states, whom I asked about voting for the maracayero. Nine responded that they would vote for him anyway, 11 that they would not, absolutely not, and seven have not decided so far.
In the Cabrera case, what happened with Pete Rose is a good example, without comparing Rose’s faults with those of the Venezuelan, but the more than four thousand hits compared to three thousand and something.
I use the numbers, because they are a kind of drug for the itchy ass, who often repeat: “So-and-so has the numbers”… “So-and-so’s numbers deserve Cooperstown” and other stupid phrases like that.
Of course, the comparison of Miguel with Bonds is more devastating, due to the enormous numbers of the latter.
By the way, Bonds is publicly complaining that we have not elected him to the Hall of Fame. This week I published in my daily column:
“Barry Bond publicly complained on a television show, because he thinks he should be right up there in the Hall of Fame. Well, he’s the all-time leader in home runs with 762 and walks with 688, won seven MVP titles, two batting championships and was led to 14 All-Star Games.
“But in 10 years, he was never even close to 75% of the votes needed to be elevated.
“Bonds was, among the big leaguers, one of the biggest drug users, trying to improve his faculties; he interfered with the CIA when they were conducting an investigation into his life; and during his career he maintained an aggressive and contemptuous attitude towards most of those around him. Instead of bigleaguer, he looked like a spoiled child.
“Yeah, of course it bothers me,” Bonds said on the show, “it bothers me not to be in the Hall of Fame. Sure!, because I am human and because I deserve it”.
It was Miguel’s first hit home run
Miguel Cabrera’s first major league hit was connected on June 20, 2003, against a pitch to Al Levine of the Rays, a 418-foot home run.
But the maracayero’s moment of greatest glory was when he won the Triple Crown in 2012, hitting 330, with 44 home runs and 139 RBIs.
Now he has added 508 home runs, 1,861 RBIs and an average of 307.
In the 153 years of the Major Leagues, only 27 times have they won the Triple Crown, in which number those of the Negro Leagues are included. And when Miguel got it, no one had done it for 45 years, since Carl Yastrzemski, of the Red Sox, in 1967.
Seven with 3 thousand hits and they are not among the immortals
Of the 33 who have fired 3,000-plus singles, seven are not in the Cooperstown Hall of Fame.
They are, of course, Pete Rose, 4256 (execrated); Albert Pujols, 3,384 (eligible in 2028); Adrian Beltré, 3166 (eligible in 2024); Alex Rodríguez, 3115 (eligible from 2022); Ichiro Suzuki, 3,089 (eligible in 2025); Rafael Palmeiro, 3020 (questioned); Miguel Cabrera, 3128 (and hitting).
Another great who is not in the Hall of Fame and who hit 583 home runs in his career, even with the mark of 70 in a season is Mark McGwire, who was also involved in the use of prohibited substances just like Sammy Sosa and José Tired, among others.
A TIP
triumph over evil
Miguel Cabrera overcame the bad moments of his private life with notable success, and since then he has been the best big leaguer.
rose may be elevated
Pete Rose is execrated from baseball, according to commissioner Bart Giamatti, “for life.” In other words, when he dies he can be elevated.
2023-07-16 10:00:00
#Miguel #Cabrera #place #Hall #Fame
