Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 24: Miguel Cabrera

When it comes to best Miami Marlins players to wear No. 24, the answer was obvious.

The only thing more obvious was that I wouldn't be passing up the opportunity to draw a comparison between the answer to this particular chapter of Marlin Maniac's Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Series and the player far too many Marlins fans reading this most readily associate with the No. 24 jersey.

Yes, Avisail Garcia did sport No. 24 on his back for every inning of his biggest bust in franchise history career with Miami. So too did Cameron Maybin, a centerpiece of one the Marlins worst ever trades. You could be hardly be blamed for wondering if it was a bit of an unlucky number for the Fish, except for one teensy little detail.

It's the number Miguel Cabrera wore for almost his entire Marlins career.

So as we said at the top, obvious call. Cabrera made the switch to No. 24 after winning a World Series championship, evidently deciding the previous number was unlucky after he failed to win the NL Rookie of the Year award, and never looked back. Four years wearing it for the Marlins, four All-Star appearances, four years with MVP votes.

Actually, he had at least one MVP vote fourteen years in a row. Pretty amazing stuff there.

Despite being a key piece of the 2003 champs, throwing out that season only shaves 0.6 WAR points off his tally, leaving him with a dominant 17.7 WAR finish in the No. 24 jersey for the Marlins. Homers, WAR, OBP, RBI? Top 5 in all of them, not to mention No. 1 in franchise history for batting average with a .313 mark. Easy call, even without that ring. Although that is a big thing to put aside, especially given the fact his showdown and home run of Roger Clemens remains one of the Marlins most iconic moments.

Of course, if we did factor in rings, Cabrera would has plenty of company thanks to the 1997 champs. Bobby Bonilla wore No. 24 for Miami that year, and '97 teammates Alex Arias and Felix Heredia each wore it for at least one season prior to Bonilla's arrival. Although it must be said again that Cabrera didn't wear it in 2003, and oddly enough, no one on the MLB roster did that season. Actually, Cabrera became the first to wear it since Kirt Ojala in 1999- one of the bigger jersey caps you'll find for the Fish. Still, win a ring Cabrera did.

Now if you wanted to throw out the qualification those rings were won with the Marlins, and I don't know why you would, two time champ Nathan Eovaldi spent the Miami chapter of his career in No. 24. In fact, he's the only player not named Miguel Cabrera to ever surpass a 2.0 WAR in the jersey in a season, and has a surprisingly strong hold on second place for Marlins career overall. Maybin gets a mention here as well- he picked one up in 2017 by dint of being physically present in the Houston area. What can I say, eastern Texas has been good to former Marlins.

Beyond that? Jesus Aguilar wore it in his good Marlins seasons, and the ghost of Mike Cameron wore it for the last year of his MLB career in 2011. Cameron took over the number from Cameron Maybin- a fact I'm pointing out just for the linguistic fun of typing it.

Ultimately though, the choice here at No. 24 was as telegraphed as any one of the countless pitches Miguel Cabrera turned into big hits for the Miami Marlins during his time here. Cabrera was the best to wear No. 24 for the Marlins, and the Tigers too come to think of it. Thus all the extra information this time- had to say something novel.

You don't need me to tell you one of the greatest players of his generation was one of the greatest players of his generation. And that's exactly what Miguel Cabrera was.