A Marlins Miggy

Most people remember the Miguel Cabrera years on the Marlins, but they seem to be a little less popular with collectors than his days with the Tigers.  I like watching Miggy with the Tigers, so I cannot say I blame collectors for putting a little bit of a premium on his cards wearing the English D.  It still does not change the fact that he has a great deal of autographs with the Marlins, or the fact that his Marlins autographs are still pretty cool.   Last week I had a chance to put a new Miggy autograph in my collection.

2005 Topps Miguel Cabrera Autograph 

To his credit Miguel Cabrera still signs quite a bit for card companies, but he has been a very good signer for most of his career.  He has a great signature and has been relatively consistent for the majority of his career.  There are some slight difference with his very early autographs, but generally all very nice and tons of on-card autographs.

On the field Cabrera was still a very good player for the Marlins, but was a notch below the numbers he has posted in Detroit.  While in Miami Miggy posted a very good line of .313/.388/.588 with 138 home runs in 720 games.  He has played one more season in Detroit, but has posted a line of .327/.407/.588 with the Tigers with more than 200 home runs.  Still very healthy line as a Marlin.

Perhaps the best part of Miggy's career as a Marlin came during the 2003 National League Championship Series.  Most people remember the Bartman incident, but few people remember that the Cubs still had a chance to win Game 7 of that series.  Cabrera drove in 4 runs for the Marlins in Game 7 including a 3 run homer in the first and the game tying RBI in the 5.  The Marlins would later take the lead and go on to win the World Series.  More importantly the Cubs were shut out of any postseason bling.