Triple Crown 2012: Bud Selig congratulates Miguel Cabrera on making history

Winning the American League Central was obviously the best thing that could happen to the Detroit Tigers up to this point in the season. It wasn't pretty, but they managed a victory after starting the season as favorites to wipe the floor with the rest of the pack. A close second to taking the division? Miguel Cabrera winning the first Triple Crown since 1967. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig made a statement congratulating Cabrera, as tweeted by the MLB Public Relations Twitter account:

"It is an honor to congratulate Miguel Cabrera on earning the Triple Crown, a remarkable achievement that places him amongst an elite few in all of Baseball history. Miguel has long been one of the most accomplished hitters in the game, and this recognition is one that he will be able to cherish for the rest of his career in baseball and beyond. As the Tigers prepare for the Postseason, we have a global stage to witness Miguel's talent, which will go down as one of the hallmarks of Major League Baseball's extraordinary 2012 regular season."

While it is a huge individual honor for Cabrera, the whole team has benefited from his play, and it went as far as Jim Leyland closely managing Cabrera's final game to help him secure the title, as noted in a previous post. Leyland said it was more nerve-wracking than Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, so that should say a lot about how rare and how special earning the Triple Crown is in baseball.

Now that Cabrera has won the title, he can concentrate all of his efforts and getting the Tigers where plenty had them pegged in the offseason: the World Series.