BUCKLE UP

By:  Holly Horning

The recent update about Miguel Cabrera and the ruling in his child support case has once again reminded me that I continue to ride the Miggy rollercoaster.

A thrills-and-chills ride that takes one up to the stratosphere as you admire his superb playing skills but then plummets you down to the depths of despair with new reports of his personal behavior.

And this is the dilemma. How can you admire someone who practices loathsome behavior that goes against your own moral compass?

Is it possible to separate the two sides of this man and watch him with admiration while totally ignoring how he has conducted his personal life?

For me, it is once again a struggle determining exactly how I should feel about Miggy. And it is getting harder and harder to rekindle that love after each incident. That roller coaster has run up to the pinnacle of the tracks 3 times now and back down all in the space of 8 short years.

It all started in 2009 with the disappointing division tie-breaker game that saw the Tigers lose and for fans to find out that Miguel placed a priority on partying with the competition until 6AM on the day of that final game. Instead of getting rested and ready, Miggy was being ar-rested for intoxication and suspected domestic assault.

And then came 2011 when he was once again arrested for a myriad of major mistakes. A DUI that nearly resulted in himself and 2 other vehicles barely avoiding 2 separate head-on collisions. Threatening a restaurant manager and patrons. Yelling that he’d blow up the building. Drinking in front of police officers while behind the wheel. Resisting arrest. And all in one night.

Those were very dark days for many Tiger fans.

But then we saw Miggy make serious efforts to turn it all around. A period of stability that showed him working hard at resisting his demons while coupled with some of his best, most productive years. And it was during this time that many of us softened our opinions of him.

Who doesn’t like a great story of redemption? Who doesn’t appreciate tales of hard work to get back on track? Shouldn’t we feel more positive about those who work hard and overcome obstacles in order to be their very best?

The roller coaster, it appeared, had taken us back up to the top especially after Cabrera won the Triple Crown and MVP.

But then 2017 happened. We all saw it. Heck, we even wrote about it in this very blog. There was something wrong with Miggy. He wasn’t engaged. He wasn’t smiling. His eyes looked dead every time he stepped up to the plate. And he had the worst year of his career.

It turned out that it was the first rumblings of what was going to be a 2-year legal odyssey that obviously impacted his mental and emotional states while taking his concentration off of the game.

And for those who believe that personal lives should remain private, it is a valid point unless it slops over into your professional one and negatively impacts your performance level, your teammates, fans and the organization that signs your checks.

So it now appears that after believing Miggy had successfully put his demons in the closet between 2012 and 2017, he really had only successfully hidden them from public view. The proof is offered in the form of 2 children he had with a woman not his wife.

So can we really say that Miggy had turned around his personal life? That he had adopted admirable principles of behavior? Or did he simply channel some bad behaviors into different ones?

Have the demons really disappeared?

I ask this question not to rehash the past, but to apply it to the future because life for Miggy is not going to get easier. Actually, it will get harder. Much harder.

Cabrera now is on the wrong side of 30. Increasing injuries and loss of playing time. And when you don’t have the structure of playing ball with regular practices and game times, it is much easier to get in trouble. You don’t have managers, coaches and executives keeping an eye on you. You don’t have that needed structure.

The Tigers are now a team of relative unknowns and dubious talent with no clear end in sight. How is Miggy going to react to being on a team where everyone else is much younger and without a track record? How will he react to the mixed crowd reception when he appears at the plate? How will he feel about the silence and the empty seats? The lack of meaningful games?

How will he feel about a drop in his stats as he gets older? How will the fans feel, especially given past expectations of his performance and the fact that he holds MLB’s second most expensive contract? Big money begets big performance.

How will Miggy be able to handle all of this?

Once you’ve tasted the top, it’s hard to adjust to disappointment and dashed hopes.

There are players who have done it very well, but they were highly disciplined individuals in both work and life. Miggy is not this type of guy –and it now appears, never was. Like some of the greats of the game, including Babe Ruth, he has a very hard time managing himself. From the simple stuff like managing his weight in the off-season to setting priorities and managing his personal relationships.

And maybe this is a dialog for MLB to have amongst themselves as they address support systems for young players. Miggy was signed at the age of 16 to play professional baseball. Can you imagine allowing your son, a sophomore in high school, to leave home? Even to leave his own country? Would he have been better at navigating his personal life if he had his parents around to help guide him?

Unfortunately, there is a troubling pattern. There always was one even though we couldn’t see it at times.

Make no mistake, it will probably continue in one form or another.

And that is a sad thing to realize. To see all that talent tempered by a pattern of bad choices.

The Tigers already had one great player who awed us with amazing talent and helped bring a ring to Detroit. But his life was also marred by bad, and illegal, decisions. And as a result, his legacy was destroyed.

Let’s hope that history doesn’t repeat itself.

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