While everyone is thirsting over Aaron Judge’s quest for the American League single-season home run record, they are neglecting an even bigger story in baseball.
Albert Pujols’ final season.
The 11x All-Star is winding down his guaranteed Hall of Fame career this year, yet the 42-year-old is putting on a show that deserves much more love and attention than it’s getting.
On Friday, September 23rd, Pujols joined one of the most elite clubs in all professional sports by hitting two home runs in the Cardinals game against the Dodgers.
Career home run 699 was exciting, but 700 was history-making for it granted him access to the exclusive “700” club occupied by only three other legendary men- Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and the homerun king, Barry Bonds (762).
Ruth founded that club in 1934. Aaron joined it in 1973 and Bonds followed in 2004.
Now, 18 years later, it has its newest member in Albert Pujols.
Yet while ESPN and other networks are begging and pleading with broadcasters like Apple TV and the YES Network for the ability to cut into Aaron Judge’s at-bats, even disrupting college football programming, Pujols continued ascent in the record books hasn’t received anywhere near the same attention.
Don’t get me wrong. Judge undoubtedly deserves the attention he’s getting.
All sports fans want to be able to witness history and say where they were when Judge broke Roger Maris’ American League single-season home run record of 61. And equally, if not more, significant is the fact that Judge is in contention for the Triple Crown; he leads in home runs and RBIs but trails Luis Arreaz of the Twins in batting average, .311 to .315, respectively, as of Monday.
But, unfortunately, fans are missing the Pujols’ farewell tour that keeps supplying historic moments to the record books.
On Monday, while Judge went homerless during a 1-4 night, Pujols smashed home run number 703, adding more accolades to his already lengthy baseball resume.
According to MLB.com, his two-run homer pushed him past Babe Ruth (2,214) for second on the All-Time RBI list with 2,216. That means that Pujols now trails only the great Hank Aaron, who has 2,297 RBIs.
This was also his 370th home run on the road, tying him with Aaron for second all-time in that category. Bonds is the overall category leader with 383 road home runs.
Only four men have achieved these milestones, yet I don’t recall ESPN cutting away from Monday Night Football to let us see Pujols’ history-making at-bat at PNC Park in Pittsburgh (if I missed it, then my bad ESPN).
Albert Pujols has earned the right to have all of his at-bats to be televised as the regular season concludes. What he’s doing currently should be praised and displayed across televisions across the country.
Young players who look up to him agree.
“Like I’ve been saying a lot lately, what Albert Pujols is able to do right now is something marvelous,” said Pirates rookie and fellow Dominican Oneil Cruz. “It’s something that’s coming from God above. This amazes all of us and gives us a lot of pride and gives us a lot of hope toward the future. I admire him a lot, and to be able to see what he’s doing, it’s impressive.”
It’s extremely impressive, especially when you consider where he started.
Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 Draft out of Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods in Kansas City, MO.
He was called up to the Big Leagues in 2001 and made the All-Star team that season after hitting .329 with 37 home runs and 130 RBIs. He was also named Rookie of the Year that year.
Over the next 21 years, Pujols would put together one of the most impressive careers in MLB history.
He is a 3x MVP, 2x Gold Glove winner, NL Batting Champion (2003) and 2x World Series Champion (2006, 2011).
In this, his final MLB season, most would think that he’d wind down.
Instead, he’s winding down the regular season by smashing home runs, helping the Cardinals secure a playoff spot and cementing his name in the baseball history books.
“It’s an amazing time to be around him and to be around this team,” said Cardinals starter José Quintana of Pujols. “He’s believing in his abilities. What’s even more impressive is as soon as he homers, he’s ready for the next one. There are no limits, and he wants to keep going. That’s really impressive.”
While we all await Judge’s 62nd home run, let’s not forget that Albert Pujols stands in elite company that no current player is even close to sniffing right now.
So show him more of the love that Judge is getting.
