Starting Nine: A homer and a triple

Written by: Craig Muder

The Hall of Fame's Starting Nine includes must-see artifacts from every big league team. Check out the Tigers Starting Nine online.

On his way to the American League Triple Crown, Miguel Cabrera joined some elite company in Detroit.

On Sept. 18, 2012, Cabrera hit two home runs in the Tigers’ 12-2 win over the Oakland A’s a Comerica Park. The second home run, an eighth-inning grand slam off the Athletics’ Jesse Chavez, was Cabrera’s 40th home run on the year.

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With that, he joined Hank Greenberg (four times), Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, Darrell Evans and Cecil Fielder (two times) as the only Tigers players to reach the 40-home run mark.

“It’s amazing,” Cabrera told the Detroit Free Press following the game.

After his grand slam, Cabrera was greeted with a chant of “MVP” from the 31,243 fans in attendance. And with two weeks left in the season, it looked like a Triple Crown was in Cabrera’s reach.

On Oct. 3, Cabrera fulfilled that destiny when he finished the season leading the American League in batting (.330), home runs (44) and (139).

He became the first player to win the Triple Crown since the Red Sox’s Carl Yastrzemski led the AL in all three categories in 1967.

“All I could think of then was ‘Wow, I really did it,’” Cabrera told the Free Press after the Tigers’ final game of the season on Oct. 3, 2012. “It was great that I could share it with my teammates. I don’t do it without them.”

Cabrera, who had also won the AL batting title in 2011, captured his third straight batting crown in 2013.

He was named the AL’s Most Valuable Player in his Triple Crown season and the following year as well.

The bat Cabrera used to hit his 40th home run in 2012 is on display in the Whole New Ballgame exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.


Craig Muder is the director of communications at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Starting Nine

The Hall of Fame's Starting Nine is a lineup of must-see artifacts from our vast collection containing tens of thousands of pieces that preserve the magical moments and memorable stories of our National Pastime. Our curators have spent countless hours hand-picking special objects from every major league team to create a lineup of pieces you simply won’t believe we have!