Cabrera's Three-Year Run Best Since Ty Cobb

As you all know by now, Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera won the first statistical triple crown since Red Sox outfielder Carl Yastrzemski in 1968 and was named the American League Most Valuable Player for his efforts.  Many including myself have disputed his MVP worthiness versus Angels rookie Mike Trout after accounting for base running and defense.  Few would argue his dominance as a hitter over the past three years however.

While Cabrera's triple crown season was a rare feat of great historical significance, it wasn't his best offensive season as a Tiger.  While he led the league with a .999 OPS in 2012, he was even better in 2010 (1.033) and 2011 (1.042).  He also had 64, 71 and 57 Batting Runs (explained at the bottom of this post) in the same three years.

According to the Baseball-Reference Batting Season Finder, Cabrera's 193 Batting Runs from 2010-2012 was the best in Major League Baseball by a wide margin.  This means he was an estimated 193 runs or 64 runs per year better than an average player in the same number of plate appearances.  The second highest total was 159 by Reds first baseman Joey Votto.  His closet competition in the American League was Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista with 140, a whopping 53 runs fewer than Cabrera.  Without a doubt, the Tigers superstar has been the best hitter in baseball for three years. 

Where does Cabrera's three-season run stand in Tigers history?  Table 1 below looks at the best three-season Batting Runs totals ever.  As usual, the legendary Ty Cobb is the leader with 211 from 1910-1912 (without even including his base running).  The Hall-of-Fame outfielder also had 202 Batting Runs from 1915-1917 and two other sums higher than 193 in overlapping seasons.

Other than Cobb though, the best aggregate belongs to Cabrera at 193.  Nobody else is particularly close, so we can say that Cabrera's last three seasons have been the best for the franchise since 1917.  When I've done these lists in the past, they have always been populated by players who played prior to 1950.  The familiar names of Cobb, first baseman Hank Greenberg and Harry Heilmann still appear on the list, but now Cabrera has passed all but Cobb.

Table 1: Three-Year Tigers Batting Runs Leaders

Player	Years	Batting Runs Year1	Batting Runs Year2	Batting Runs Year3	Total Batting Runs
Ty Cobb	1910-1912	66	76	69	211
Ty Cobb	1909-1911	62	66	76	204
Ty Cobb	1915-1917	70	56	75	202
Ty Cobb	1911-1913	76	69	52	197
Miguel Cabrera	2010-2012	64	71	57	193
Harry Heilmann	1921-1923	60	46	74	181
Ty Cobb	1916-1918	56	75	46	177
Miguel Cabrera	2009-2011	40	64	71	175
Harry Heilmann	1923-1925	74	43	55	172
Hank Greenberg	1937-1939	67	61	44	172
Ty Cobb	1908-1910	42	62	66	170
Ty Cobb	1914-1916	42	70	56	169
Hank Greenberg	1938-1940	61	44	64	169
Ty Cobb	1913-1915	52	42	70	165
Ty Cobb	1917-1919	75	46	43	164
Harry Heilmann	1922-1924	46	74	43	164
Ty Cobb	1912-1914	69	52	42	163
Harry Heilmann	1925-1927	55	43	64	161
Ty Cobb	1907-1909	43	42	62	147
Norm Cash	1961-1963	85	29	28	142

Data Source: Baseball-Reference.com