Los Angeles Angels: 5 Things you didn’t know about Albert Pujols
Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols has passed Willie Mays on the all-time home run list.
Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols hit his 661st and 662nd home runs against the Texas Rangers on Friday night. This moves Pujols to sole possession of fifth place on the HR list.
In Pujols’ big night, the Angels beat the Rangers, 6-2. The home runs were given up by Demarcus Evans and Wes Benjamin of the Texas Rangers. Evans became the 428th pitcher Pujols has homered off of in his career. Only Barry Bonds, with 449, has more than Pujols.
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Now with 662 home runs, Pujols, now 40-years-old, only trails Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), and Alex Rodriguez (696).
If you have watched baseball in the past 20 seasons, or ESPN, you know who Albert Pujols is. He is one of the hitters, first baseman, and baseball players of all time. Ever since he debuted for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001, he was purely dominant. In his rookie season, he took home the Rooke of the Year trophy; smashing 37 home runs, 130 RBI, batting .329 and scoring 112 runs.
Albert “The Machine” remained in St. Louis until 2011, playing under a 7-year, $100 million extensions that he signed before the 2004 season. As a Cardinal, Pujols won three National League MVPs, six Silver Sluggers, two Gold Gloves, and two World Series Championships. His 11 seasons in St. Louis are historic.
His stats in St. Louis were insane. Playing 1,705 games in 11 seasons, Pujols had 2,074 hits, 445 home runs, 1329 RBI, a .328 batting average, and a 1.037 OPS. He did all of this through his age-31 season. After the Cardinals won the 2011 World Series, Pujols left the team for the Los Angeles Angels, signing a 10-year, $240 million contract.
As an Angel, Pujols mostly accumulated stats. He was an AL All-Star in 2015. He got his 3,000th hit, 500th and 600thhome runs, and 1,500th and 2,000th RBI as an Angel. He is a career .299 hitter and has one year left on his contract.
Pujols is an inevitable, future first-ballot Hall of Famer. He will always be remembered as one of the best ever to swing a bat.
However, there are somethings about Pujols that you most likely did not know. Here are five things about Albert Pujols that most People don’t know.