Miguel Cabrera is a man. Roughly a .310 BA, 30 HRs, 110 RBIs per year for the past six seasons? 400+ foot HRs? All man.
In a baseball sense, that is.
Off the field there have been questions regarding his “manliness.” He was tabbed as immature and a party goer during his time in Florida. What else would you expect from a 20-21-year old who has made it in the big time in America? Lots of money, all the fame, and in Miami, Florida of all places.
Then he was traded to Detroit before the 2008 season. None of his off-the-field habits seemed to carry over with him, at least in terms of acknowledgment from the press. Cabrera was a franchise player in Detroit, who definitely appeared to have lots of fun on the field and that was it. He’d hit 400 foot line drive home runs, jump hip-bump his teammates, clown with runners when they got on first base, and that’s it. Cabera was a man amongst boys and Detroit’s one-man offensive machine.
Then that one fateful October morning, news broke that Cabrera had been arrested and picked up by Dave Dombrowski at the station. Rumors swirled all day about what happened — he getting into a bar fight being the most popular. Eventually it all came out: Cabrera was partying with some White Sox players, after a loss, until the early hours of the morning. He came home to an angry wife, who he proceeded to argue with. But she proceeded to scratch and bruise the shit out of his face and call the police. Cabrera was then arrested and picked up later at the station by the Tigers General Manager, Dave Dombrowski. Cabrera was drunk when he was arrested, but not just drunk, 0.26 BAC drunk. It was close to 7 in the morning and the Tigers had one of the biggest games of the year less than 12 hours later. Cabrera played in the game, but he went 0-fer.
The whole “when it rains, it pours” cliche applied in this case. After the arrest and drunk talk, news then surfaced that Cabrera had been involved in a dispute at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham no longer than a couple months prior. In that issue, he apparently called a teenage kid fat and insinuated he had guns in his car, which he said he’d retrieve if the argument got to that point. Of course, the kid complained and Police checked his car, but didn’t find any guns. There were no charges or arrests made, but Cabrera was told by the Tigers to stay away from the hotel. Well, guess where he was the night he was arrested, getting drunk before returning home and fighting with his wife?
At the Townsend Hotel.
Cabrera wound up playing very well in the Tigers losing effort against the Twins for the right to play in the playoffs. And the game was a nice distraction for Cabrera and his troubles, but the questions lingered. What will become of Miguel Cabrera? Does he have a drinking problem? Will he get help? What will the Tigers do in response to his blatant disobediance of the team’s requests?
Well, those questions for the most part have been answered today.
Cabrera said today that he hasn’t had a drink since the well-publicized Oct. 3 incident — hours before a crucial game against the White Sox.
He spent three months in a treatment program in Miami, and Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said that the program will continue into spring training and the regular season.
Cabrera said he feels like he let down his teammates with the incident — in which police say he got drunk enough between Friday night’s game and Saturday morning to have what police said was a 0.26 blood-alcohol reading (three times above Michigan’s legal limit for driving) and a bruised and cut left cheek — and that he intends to make up for it in the 2010 season.
Cabrera also said in his interviews with reporters today that he feels, “like a new man.”
A sober, totally focused, Cabrera might not put up numbers any gaudier than they already are, but this is for sure: It takes a big man to admit he has a problem and to seek help. And assuming Cabrera is being sincere, it’s a much bigger man than someone who has MVP numbers. You put the two together, though, and you might see one of the best hitters to play the game in 2010 and beyond. That’s all man stuff.
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