Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Stepping out of the "Shadows" ... The Notorious M.I.G. ...



                                                                    May 28, 2013



   Baseball is an acquired taste. I remember thumbing through channels on the remote, many days in the summer, as a youngster. Growing up in Chicago, in the 80's, I was fortunate to have two baseball teams to view. The Cubs seemed to always be on television (on WGN) and there was just something magical about the BRIGHTNESS of Wrigley Field, the infectious energy of the "Bleacher Bums" and the charisma of long time announcer Harry Carey. The White Sox, on the other hand, were kind of dreary and bland and didn't evoke the same excitement in my young mind. As a native of the city (and a proud southsider) I had no problem representing both teams and was oblivious to the obvious territorial divide between the separate fan bases. My Grandfather (a Sox die hard) use to look at me in disgust as I watched the "lovable losers", summer after summer. While neither team was very good, they were OUR teams, never the less. As the years rolled by, I started to appreciate the game and it's players more and more. While Andre Dawson and Ryne Sandberg knocked the cover off of baseball after baseball on the Northside, I couldn't help but admire the consistency and productive longevity of Carlton Fisk. Frank Thomas was one of my favorite players ever to wear a baseball uniform and to this day I've been to more White Sox games than Cubs games. There is just something special about this game ...

 As an adult, I've seen the great ones come and go. Some reputations are marred by the use (or speculation of using) performance enhancing drugs and many of the great numbers accumulated during the "juiced" era will always fall under scrutiny. One of the best (if not THEE best) players I've ever watched (Ken Griffey Jr.) will forever be bundles with the batch of his peers (though never linked to any PEDs himself). Barry Bonds, the Greatest collection of hitting statistics compiled during his era, will always be viewed as a "cheater" despite having the GOD given talent and ability to be an All-Time Great without PEDs. I'm actually on record saying let the players use a certain combination of PEDs as long as they're medically supervised (and not purchased and administered via the "black market") since their "job description" is what it is. Playing 162 games (mostly in the dead heat of Summer) is a daunting task to ask of the human body, year in and year out. With the average fan not knowing who uses and who does it only makes sense to level the playing field. The greats of the modern era have their own "shadows" to step out of.


                                                                           
 
 
No player in modern baseball casted a larger shadow than Barry Bonds especially after his assault on the homerun record books in 2001. Bonds was already considered one of the greats in the game when he signed with the San Fransisco Giants back in 1993. In that 9 year span (from 1993-2001) he averaged 43 homeruns per season. Just to think that a player in ONE season could hit 73 homeruns is still mind boggling. This is what some of the great sluggers of the 80s and 90s would accumulate as 3 year totals. Bonds played at 185 pounds (during his Pirates days) and ended up being closer to 240 pounds towards the end of his career. The speculation ran high and heavy about his possible use of PEDs. Bonds is the ONLY player in the history of MLB to have more than 700 career homeruns (762) and 500 stolen bases (514). As a career .298 hitter, he was a combination of power and speed the game has never before witnessed. It's truly a shame that these astounding numbers will always be looked at as a sham. Ironically, the year Bonds bashed 73 homeruns, to shatter the single season record for homers in a single season, a 21 year old rookie in St. Louis was introducing himself to MLB and the World. Albert Pujols stepped onto the scene in a MAJOR way hitting .329 with 37 homers and driving in 130 runs. This monstrous performance, one of the best rookie years ever put together earned him Rookie of the Year in the National League and would lead to the BEST 10 year start of a Major League career. Bonds was a 7 time MVP (NL) and constantly overshadowed great seasons by Pujols. Bonds eventually retried in 2007 (though he still wanted to play and felt he could still play at a high level at 42 years old) and Pujols would take over the mantle as baseball's best. Pujols was now doing the same thing to another young, up and coming star that Bonds was doing to him ...
 
 
Miguel Cabrera broke into the league in 2003 playing 87 games for the Florida Marlins and showed tremendous promise. He would open eyes even wider in his 1st full season the following year smashing 33 homers and driving in 112 runs in 160 games. He would make his 1st of 7 All-Star game appearances and go on a tear of his own for the next 10 seasons. Just as Pujols had to do with Bonds, Cabrera was now under the shadow of greatness known as "The Machine" in St. Louis. While Pujols tore things up for the Cardinals, Cabrera was making a name for himself as one of the best young stars in baseball. Living up to all the promise, Cabrera put together a 4 season stretch (from 2004-2007) where he averaged 31 homers a season and hit .319 during that same span. He would have a chance to emerge from the great shadow of Albert Pujols and create his own to cast. The Florida Marlins did what many deemed the unthinkable by trading the young slugger to the Detroit Tigers in 2007. Cabrera responded by leading the American League in homeruns (37) and total bases (331) in 2008. Showing no signs of being slowed by the change in leagues, Cabrera would show ALL of baseball that he is a forced to be reckoned with for years to come. In a 4 year span (2009-2012) Cabrera would average 36 homeruns, 118 runs batted in while hitting .331. This stretch includes back to back batting titles in the AL in 11'-12' and the 1st "Triple Crown" (leading your league in batting average, homeruns and runs batted in) winner since 1967. During that same stretch, "The Machine" (Albert Pujols) averaged 39 homeruns, 114 runs batted in while hitting .305. His stretch included 2 NL homerun titles, led the NL in runs scored twice and led the NL in RBI (runs batted in) once.
 

Another ironic twist in the story is that Pujols now finds himself in the shadow of Cabrera (after signing with the Anaheim Angels in 2012). Though great numbers by other player's standards, Pujols "struggled" in his first year in his new league posting career lows in batting average (.285), homeruns (30), OBP (on base percentage) .343, SLG (slugging percentage) .516, and runs scored 85. Both players are phenomenal hitters (Cabrera's a career .320 hitter and Pujols .323) and two of the best sluggers in the game. Cabrera is 3 years younger than Pujols and has a chance to do what only 2 others (Ted Williams and Rogers Hornsby) in the rich and long history of Major League Baseball have EVER done winning the "Triple Crown" twice. If Cabrera won it again, this season, he'd be the 1st EVER to do it in back to back seasons. Let's not miss out on greatness, as fans of this beloved sport, as it's happening right before our eyes. Some are just catching on to what Miguel Cabrera has been doing to major league pitching the last 10 years. Others have been front and center for it and enjoying every blast and anxious for more to come. The question now becomes who is NEXT to emerge from the "Shadows" ?  Stay tuned ...
 

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