Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera Is in Good Company

No, Miguel Cabrera should not have been driving under the influence late Wednesday night.

That was dumb.

When you have reached the point in the night where you’re drinking scotch straight from the bottle, it’s time to call the limo. The DUI was entirely justified.

Up until that point of the evening it appeared to this common sports fan—who knows nothing about him or his life except that he’s a (probable) top-three fantasy selection—that he was having a good time. Look at his mugshot—he’s got a bigger smile on his face than I did on my wedding day.

The result of Cabrera’s second brush with the law is that everybody is so quick to condemn him, label him an alcoholic and demand he enter rehab. If he does actually have a drinking problem, then please, get help.

But maybe he was just blowing off some steam. It is spring training. And he did hit .328 last year with 38 homers and 126 RBI.

I wish I had that problem.

Cabrera has stated in the past that he does not have a drinking problem. Is it impossible to believe what an athlete says these days? Probably. But for once, let’s give the athlete the benefit of the doubt.

In his defense, I present to you three Hall of Famers, a perfect-game pitcher and an All-Star center fielder who all somehow managed to have successful MLB careers despite enjoying the occasional adult beverage.

5. Mike Cameron

The Boston Red Sox center fielder enters his 17th season playing for his seventh Major League team.

He is probably most well-known for being traded from the Cincinnati Reds to the Seattle Mariners for Ken Griffey, Jr. prior to the 2000 season.

His careers numbers: 269 home runs, 941 RBI and a very respectable .250 average. He got a hit one out of every four at-bats against Major League pitching.

You try to do that.

He has also won three Gold Glove Awards patrolling the outfield.

His biggest claim to fame might be collecting eight RBI against the Yankees August 19, 2001, while he was a member of the Mariners.

According to Cameron, "...I've played drunk...New York City...I went four-for-four with two jacks and eight ribbies. I'm not saying that's the only time I played drunk, but that was the best one."

Eight RBI? I'm surprised he could tie his shoes.

4. Wade Boggs

It was rumored that 2005 Hall of Fame inductee Boggs once drank 64 beers during a cross-country flight during the season.

It was apparently not an isolated event.

According to former teammate Jeff Nelson, "I've never seen anyone drink as much beer as [the third baseman] did in my life."

Boggs' apparent fondness for Miller Lite never slowed him down as he compiled 3,010 hits and a .328 career batting average during his 18-year career.

The man made a living hitting frozen ropes. He was also a bit superstitious.

This article does a better job of chronicling his quirks than I ever could. The complete interview with Nelson can also be found there.  

3. David Wells

On the May 17, 1998, Wells pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees against the Minnesota Twins.

According to him, he was also "half-drunk."

In Wells' 2003 book Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball, he claimed to have a "raging, skull-rattling hangover" during the game.

That didn't stop him as he mowed down 27 straight batters and pitched the 15th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. 

Wells summed up his perfect game season with this quote: "I drank beer and I had a career year."

Yes, you did.

2. Mickey Mantle

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

NEW YORK - MAY 02: The plaque of Mickey Mantle is seen in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium prior to the game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox on May 2, 2010 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Yankees defeated the White Sox 12

The Mick played 18 seasons, hit 536 homers and had a career .298 batting average. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, his first year of eligibility, along with his drinking buddy Whitey Ford.

Mantle, Ford and Billy Martin made a living out of playing hard and drinking even harder.

Unfortunately for Mantle, his drinking was an addiction that followed him his whole life. It's actually pretty depressing.

If you are interested, this 1994 Sports Illustrated article gives an in-depth look into Mantle's drinking ways and regrets during his career and afterwards. It's a long read, but worth it.

1. Babe Ruth

Ruth, arguably the greatest baseball player that ever lived, entered the Hall of Fame in 1936 with 714 home runs and a .342 career batting average.

If those stats weren't good enough, he also won 94 games as a pitcher and had an ERA of 2.28. WHIP wasn't kept as a stat back then.

While he was piling up all of these impressive numbers, he also managed to live a rather exciting life off the field. He openly had a mistress and went on drinking and partying binges regularly. 

In 1922, he signed an addendum to his contract. This contract limited his drinking and late nights, which he had become famous for. An excerpt from the contract reads: "The player shall at all times...refrain and abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating liquors and that he shall not during the training and playing season in each year stay up later than 1 o'clock A.M. on any day without the permission and consent of the Club's manager..."

When Miguel Cabrera has an addendum like this written into his contract, I'll start to worry.