Miguel Cabrera Named Detroit Tiger Of The Year

From Detroit Tigers Media Relations:

DETROIT – First baseman Miguel Cabrera has been selected as the Tiger of the Year for 2008 in voting by the Detroit Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Cabrera batted .292 with 36 doubles, two triples, 37 home runs and 127 RBI in his first season with the Tigers. He led the American League with the 37 home runs, becoming the first Tigers player to lead the league in home runs since Cecil Fielder tied for the lead with 44 home runs in 1991.

He tied for the league lead with 331 total bases, while he finished third with 127 RBI, fifth with 75 extra-base hits and seventh with a .537 slugging percentage. According to STATS, Inc., his 127 RBI marked the third-highest total by a Tigers player in his first season with the club, trailing Dale Alexander’s 137 RBI in 1929 and Cecil Fielder’s 132 RBI in 1990.

Cabrera was twice tabbed American League Player of the Week during the 2008 season. He shared the honor with Manny Ramirez during the week of April 14-20, while earning the honor outright during the week of July 21-27. He was also named American League Player of the Month during July after batting .330 (35x106) with 15 runs scored, six doubles, eight home runs and 31 RBI in 25 games during the month.

He collected his 1,000th career hit on September 7 at Minnesota, a solo home run in the sixth inning off Glen Perkins. According to STATS, Inc., he became the fifth-youngest player, at 25 years, 142 days old, since 1954 to collect 1,000 career hits.

This year’s honor marks the first career Tiger of the Year award for Cabrera. A full list of recipients follows.

Recipients of the Tiger of the Year Award

1965 – Don Wert 1988 – Alan Trammell
1966 – Al Kaline 1989 – Lou Whitaker
1967 – Bill Freehan 1990 – Cecil Fielder
1968 – Denny McLain 1991 – Cecil Fielder
1969 – Denny McLain 1992 – Cecil Fielder
1970 – Tom Timmerman 1993 – Tony Phillips
1971 – Mickey Lolich 1994 – Kirk Gibson
1972 – Ed Brinkman 1995 – Travis Fryman
1973 – John Hiller 1996 – Travis Fryman
1974 – Al Kaline 1997 – Tony Clark and
1975 – Willie Horton Bobby Higginson (tie)
1976 – Mark Fidrych 1998 – Damion Easley
1977 – Ron LeFlore 1999 – Dean Palmer
1978 – Ron LeFlore 2000 – Bobby Higginson
1979 – Steve Kemp 2001 – Steve Sparks
1980 – Alan Trammell 2002 – Randall Simon
1981 – Kirk Gibson 2003 – Dmitri Young
1982 – Lance Parrish 2004 – Ivan Rodriguez
1983 – Lou Whitaker 2005 – Placido Polanco
1984 – Willie Hernandez 2006 – Carlos Guillen
1985 – Darrell Evans 2007 – Magglio Ordonez
1986 – Jack Morris 2008 – Miguel Cabrera
1987 – Alan Trammell