-
BBC World Survey Ranks Israel Near Bottom in Global Popularity
May 24, 2013 | 3 comments
-
Muslim, Er, Youth Riots in Sweden
May 24, 2013 | 7 comments
-
Good Luck Quin
May 24, 2013 | 6 comments
-
One of The London Soldier Beheading Suspects British Born
May 23, 2013 | 7 comments
-
The Religion of Peace Strikes London Again
May 22, 2013 | 7 comments
The Spectacle Blog
Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera has made history becoming the first player to win the Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski did so with the Impossible Dream Red Sox in 1967.
Cabrera finished the 2012 season with a .330 batting average, 44 homeruns and 139 RBI.
Despite this there is no guarantee the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) will pick Cabrera as the American League MVP.
After all, Ted Williams won the Triple Crown twice (1942 and 1947) and didn’t win the MVP either year.
Of course, in the Splendid Splinter’s case it had to with his testy relationship with baseball writers who he derisively termed “the knights of the keyboard.”
Today, it’s about sabermetrics. Brian Kenny of the MLB Network recently argued the Triple Crown is nonsense. Kenny writes:
As Cabrera has vaulted to the top of several random categories, a quaint bit of nostalgia has come roaring back to blind those still clinging to the stats rooted in the Civil War-era tabulations: the Triple Crown.
It’s not that batting average, homeruns and RBIs are meaningless. It’s just that they are nowhere near the three most important offensive categories in baseball.
But these are offensive categories that are understood by every baseball fan and baseball fans understand that it is exceedingly rare for a single player to lead in all three categories in a single season. Since the end of the Second World War, only The Splendid Splinter, Yaz, Mickey Mantle and Frank Robinson have done it. Williams, Mantle and Robinson are in the top ten of anyone who has ever played the game and Yaz isn’t that far behind them. Needless to say, I saw all of their plaques in Cooperstown
Cabrera has the chance to be in Cooperstown. He is 29 and is at the peak of his career. In ten big league seasons, he is a career .318 hitter with 321 homeruns and 1,123 RBIs. He has 1,802 hits. I would not be shocked if he reaches 3,000 hits at the age of 35.
Besides if we take Kenny’s argument to its logical conclusion if someone comes along and hits .400 then you can also argue that achievement wouldn’t be important because batting average is a mere “Civil War-era tabulation.”
Kenny argues that rookie sensation Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels is a better candidate with his defensive abilities and his baserunning prowess. However, the Angels aren’t in the post-season and the Tigers are. So I think the BBWAA will have a harder time voting against Cabrera.
Still, if you ask Cabrera, I’m sure he’ll take a World Series ring over a MVP trophy three times over.
View all comments (12) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/10/03/miguel-cabrera-wins-triple-cro
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Eugenic Abortion 2.0
- The Vast and the Tiny
- The Demise of Money and Credit
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
H/T to National Review Online
ADVERTISEMENT
ggoblue| 10.3.12 @ 11:59PM
cabrera = triple crown
obama = triple clown
oh what a night!
Bob K| 10.4.12 @ 3:45AM
Brian Kenny, your typical sabermetric idiot savant, thinks baseball is a form of statistics that is played with a slide rule!
And has anyone noticed that Miguel Cabrera is built something like Babe Ruth?
It's been a great year despite the Phillies not winning!
Bob K| 10.4.12 @ 3:55AM
It is also long past time to consider getting rid of the useless BBWAA. No other sport puts up with the crap these self anointed journalistic pin heads inflict on Baseball. If you ask me, good old Teddy Ballgame deserves a complete wing in Cooperstown for giving these jerks the finger!
JimH| 10.4.12 @ 7:48AM
Do your kids ever ask ‘Daddy what’s a slide rule’? You are showing your age. I think I was part of the last generation to use them. Learned how in high school. Calculators just started coming out while I was in college.
Bob K| 10.4.12 @ 9:09AM
Yeah,
I used it only for the alliterative effect there. My son will be getting his PhD in Physics shortly and has never used a slide rule. I think I'll get him one for Christmas. They are collectibles now.
Paul Zummo | 10.4.12 @ 8:42AM
Ah yes, there's nothing quite like people mocking sabermetric "nerds" for their obsession with numbers, and then pointing to, umm, numbers to point out how completely wrong they are.
Bob K| 10.4.12 @ 9:14AM
That is because it is the old, simple, obvious numbers that tell the true story of the game and it's greats. Not the computerized manipulations of them by the "nerds."
Paul Zummo | 10.4.12 @ 10:41AM
Yeah, because why bother looking deeper at numbers that might be team assisted (RBI) or are less compelling than others (Batting Average)? Just yell "neeeerrrrrrds" and that totally shows that you have the better of the argument.
Paul Zummo | 10.4.12 @ 8:45AM
" However, the Angels aren't in the post-season and the Tigers are."
The Angels were over 10 games under .500 when Trout was called up at the end of April, and wound up with one more win than the Tigers, who play in a division with the Royals, Indians and Twins. The fact that the Tigers lucked out in their competition doesn't demonstrate that Cabrera is actually more valuable than Trout.
Bob K| 10.4.12 @ 9:22AM
So, the Angels got off to a poor start in April. It happens all the time.
Nobody else on the team improved their own games after that?
What's your point?
Paul Zummo | 10.4.12 @ 10:42AM
My point is that Cabrera's team getting into the post-season is not inherent proof that he is more valuable than Trout.
Paul McGrath| 10.4.12 @ 12:00PM
Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball. Period.