NEW YORK — Major League Baseball no longer has to worry about having a suspended drug cheat as batting champion.
Melky Cabrera asked to be disqualified, and his request was agreed to on Friday.
With less than two weeks left in the regular season and Cabrera on track to win the National League batting championship, MLB and the players’ association reached a deal on a one-season-only change in the rule governing the individual batting, slugging and on-base percentage champions.
“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 in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
“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.”
Serving a 50-game suspension, Cabrera has a league-leading .346 average, eight points ahead of Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen. Cabrera, the All-Star game MVP, was suspended on Aug. 15 for a positive test for testosterone and is missing the final 45 games of the regular season.
“He was just manning up and saying he was wrong,” said McCutchen, who is three points ahead of San Francisco’s Buster Posey. “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 501 plate appearances, one short of the required minimum, but would have won the title under section 10.22(a) of the Official Baseball Rules if an extra hitless at-bat were added to his average and he still finished ahead. With Friday’s agreement, that provision won’t apply this year.
“Major League Baseball will comply with Mr. Cabrera’s request,” 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.”