otts In many ways Wednesday October 3 2012 wasn't an extraordinary day In Kansas City Missouri the Detroit Tigers were playing a final game against the Kansas City Royals before the ple began The Detroit Tigers had already clinched the title of American League Central champions The team s star batter Miguel Cabrera was having a bad night The Tigers third baseman had flied out in the first inning and struck out in the fourth It wasn't the best night for the league's best hitter Cabrera may have been distracted because on this night he was poised to become a Triple S Crown winner A Triple Crown winner is the rare batter who captures all three batting honors for the season for his league most runs batted in RBIs best batting average and most home runs Miguel Miggy Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers waves to the crowd in Kansas City on October 3 2012 the day he became a Triple Crown winning
Introduction NNING 1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 9 10 RH TOR 2 O 40 0 1 0 1 0 0 149 OME O 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 86F The twenty nine year old had the most RBls 139 He also had the best batting average 330 This number represents the number of hits that puts a player on base per times at bat Players with a batting aver age above 300 are considered very good Basically Cabrera had been getting a base hit for every three times at bat He also had the most home runs for the season forty four That was being threatened though in another game this night by New York Yankee center fielder Curtis Granderson Granderson started that game with a total of forty one home runs for the season But during the game he hit one home run and then another He was up to forty three home runs Cabrera saw that his shot at the title might slip away Granderson who was once Cabrera's teammate on the Tigers was a dinger away from matching Cabrera's Granderson was due up to bat again in the seventh inning With the Yankees way in the lead Granderson gave up his turn at bat When Cabrera heard the news he knew the title was his Miguel Cabrera was the first to win the Triple Crown title in forty five years since Carl Yastrzemski won it in 1967 Miggy as he was nicknamed joined a list of some of the game's top sluggers including Mickey Mantle Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig The ballplayer who had started from humble beginnings in Venezuela had earned a spot among baseball's best and secured his spot in baseball
APTER Baseball Was in His Blood osé Miguel Torres Cabrera was born on April 18 1983 in Maracay Venezuela Miggy was raised in a small dirt floor home in a poor section of the city called Padrera His home had one bathroom a kitchen and just two other rooms It was one of five homes where he and his extended family lived Although he grew up poor Miggy didn t have to be rich to enjoy a supportive family and playing baseball Sometimes he would even play with a stick for a bat and a wad of paper as a ball From the very start Cabrera seemed destined to play the game Miggy s father also named Miguel was a good amateur ballplayer When his plan to become a pro athlete didn't pan out however he became an auto
Baseball was in His Blood Young baseball THL players stand in front X of an advertisement I featuring Cabrera NC He is a hero in his home country of Venezuela OCE A TU ESLA TUEL CABY AL For fourteen years Cabrera's mother Gregoria played shortstop on the Venezuelan national softball team Reportedly his parents met on the baseball diamond so when people say baseball was in Miggy s blood it s true When he was very small he spent time playing in the dugout when his mom was busy snagging line drives in the field Baseball extended to his uncles as well Uncle Jose Torres has operated a baseball training school in Maracay His uncle David
