Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey were selected Saturday as winners of the 2012 Hank Aaron Award as the most outstanding offensive players in each league.
Cabrera won the first Triple Crown since 1967, leading the American League with a .330 average, 44 homers and 139 RBIs. The Venezuela native became the first Latin-born winner of the Triple Crown. The seven-time All-Star topped the AL with 377 total bases, 84 extra-base hits and a .606 slugging percentage, while he was second with 109 runs scored and 205 hits, fourth with a .393 on-base percentage and seventh with 40 doubles.
Posey led Major League Baseball with a .336 average, becoming the first National League catcher to win the batting title since Ernie Lombardi of the Boston Braves in 1942. The 25-year-old Florida State product led the Giants in homers (24), RBIs (103), doubles (39), walks (69), on-base percentage (.408) and slugging (.549).
Hank Aaron was on hand to present both Cabrera and Posey with their awards before the start of Game 3 of the Fall Classic.
In a bizarre twist, Aaron also got a little heated when a reporter told the MLB All-Time RBI leader that the RBI was not very important anymore in baseball.
Aaron snapped back immediately: “Who said that? It is a very important part. When I was playing, that was one thing I wanted to do. I felt like if I left runners on base in scoring position, then I wasn’t doing my job. It is one of the most important parts of offense.
“I remember when I first got into the league, Jackie Robinson told me one thing: He said, ‘The only way you’re going to be important to your ballclub,’ he said, ‘if you leave home plate and you score or you leave home plate and you bat in runs, that means you have done something to help your ballclub win games.’ I always felt that way.”
Congrats to Buster Posey and Miguel Cabrera.
