MLB Hall of Fame: 5 current players who are HOF locks
Miguel Cabrera, first/third base, Detroit Tigers/Florida Marlins
Miguel Cabrera will probably get into the Hall of Fame on the basis alone that he was the 12th player in MLB history to win the Triple Crown, meaning he led the league in home runs, batting average and RBI over the course of a single season. In 2012 Cabrera became the first Latin-born player to accomplish the feat and the first to do so since Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox did so in 1967. In 2012, Cabrera batted .330 with 44 home runs and 139 RBI, leading the American League in all three categories. He was also named the MVP of the American League that year.
While Cabrera wasn’t able to win the Triple Crown in 2013, he put up incredible numbers none the less. He had a slash line of .338/.442/.636 that year, hitting 44 home runs with 137 RBIs. Cabrera even won his second consecutive A.L. MVP award.
Setting these accomplishments aside, although they alone almost guarantee his future induction into the Hall of Fame, he also put up amazing statistics during his first five years in the league with the Florida (now Miami) Marlins. During his tenure with the Marlins, Cabrera was a four-time All-Star hitting .313 with 138 home runs and 523 RBI.
At the age of just 25, Cabrera had been a four-time All-Star with the Marlins but he was traded along with teammate Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers for Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Frankie De La Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller and Mike Rabelo.
Obviously this trade worked out well for the Tigers. Cabrera went on to be elected to five more MLB All-Star games in his seven seasons with the Tigers. He won his Triple Crown, back-to-back MVP awards, three more Silver Slugger awards (he won four with the Marlins) and has a batting average with the Tigers of .326 over those seven seasons.
He recently signed one of the largest contract extensions in MLB history that will keep him with the Tiger’s ball club until at least 2023. His contract even includes vesting options for 2024 and 2025, which will easily take him into retirement.
Not only is Cabrera an amazing athlete he has integrity and a loyalty towards the team that took him in when he was traded, the team he has experienced the majority of his successes with and that is something very few players have throughout their careers.
Miguel Cabrera has done enough in his first 12 big league seasons to deserve to be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It will hopefully be a treat for us to see him thrive with Tigers over the next, possibly, 12 more seasons. Then, at the age of 42, he can begin waiting to reach his Hall of Fame eligibility status. Even if something in his career goes awry, Cabrera has already accomplished enough to be a shoe-in for Hall of Fame induction.