When Melky Cabrera failed a drug test and was caught using performance enhancing drugs, he was the National League-leader in batting average.
If no one else would overtake him, due to MLB rules, he would be considered the batting champion. Instead he took himself out of the running.
Major League Baseball disqualified Cabrera from the race on Friday after he requested it through the players association. The league and the association reached a one-season only agreement that allowed a change in the rules regarding individual batting champions.
According to ESPN.com, Cabrera had 501 plate appearances on the season, which was one at-bat short of the minimum players need to qualify for the batting title. As part of the league's rules, under section 10.22(a), one hitless at-bat would be added to his total and if he were still ahead, that player would win the title.
Instead Cabrera, who was leading the league with a .346 average, seven points higher than Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen, will no longer be a part of the equation. The agreement added the provision that adding an at-bat would not be allowed for a player who "served a drug suspension for violating the Joint Drug Program."
"I ask the Players Association to take the necessary steps, in conjunction with the Office of the Commissioner, to remove my name from for the National League batting title," Cabrera wrote in the letter, according to the Associated Press.
"To be plain, I personally have no wish to win an award that would widely be seen as tainted, and I believe that it would be far better for the remaining contenders to compete for that distinction," Cabrera wrote. "So too, the removal of my name from consideration will permit me to focus on my goal of working hard upon my return to baseball so that I may be able to win that distinction in a season played in full compliance with league rules. To be plain, I plan to work hard to vindicate myself in that very manner."
Cabrera was suspended on Aug. 15 for 50-games after he tested positive for testosterone. He also tried to get out of the suspension by having someone creating a fake website that showed he used a supplement that he didn't know had the banned substance.
"Major League Baseball will comply with Mr. Cabrera's request," MLB commissioner Bud Selig said. "I respect his gesture as a sign of his regret and his desire to move forward, and I believe that, under these circumstances, the outcome is appropriate, particularly for Mr. Cabrera's peers who are contending for the batting crown."
According to baseballs official rules, a player must have 3.1 plate appearances for his team's games to become one of the individual batting champions. The provision about the extra at-bat was used for the first time in 1996 when San Diego Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn won a third straight batting title after he had 498 plate appearances on the season. After adding four hitless at-bats, he was still in the lead.
The exact wording of the rule states: "Notwithstanding the foregoing requirement of minimum appearances at the plate, any player with fewer than the required number of plate appearances whose average would be the highest, if he were charged with the required number of plate appearances shall be awarded the batting, slugging or on-base percentage championship, as the case may be."
Pirates star Andrew McCutcheon thought it was the right thing for Cabrera to do, and not just because he was in second place.
"It was him saying -- he was just manning up and saying he was wrong and he took himself out of the race," McCutchen said. "It was man of him to do that. I guess he thought that was the right thing to do and I commend him for doing that."
Cabrera had been having the best season of his career and was also the All-Star game MVP. Apart from hitting .346, he had 25 doubles, 11 home runs, 60 RBIs and 84 runs.
"I am grateful that the Players Association and MLB were able to honor my request by suspending the rule for this season," Cabrera said in a statement. "I know that changing the rules midseason can present problems, and I thank the Players Association and MLB for finding a way to get this done."
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