Albert Pujols hitting 21 home runs in 2022 seemed impossible — until it wasn’t.
www.stltoday.com
Ben Frederickson
Let the record show Albert Pujols never doubted Albert Pujols.
Seven hundred? He would need 21 in '22. At age 42.
Impossible. Too old and too late. No chance.
Maybe Pujols could manage to pass pariah Alex Rodriguez’s 696 home runs for fourth-place all-time during this sendoff season with the Cardinals. Maybe.
But 700?
“That’s a big number,” said Pujols after he arrived at Cardinals spring training. “But so was 600. And so was 500. And so was 400.”
And so was 700, barreled off his bat Friday night in the fourth inning of another multi-homer game, the first (No. 699) flying off of Dodgers left-hander Andrew Heaney and the second (No. 700) soaring against right-hander Phil Bickford.
Pujols has joined Barry Bonds (762*), Henry Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) as baseball’s only members of the 700 club, proving once again that the combination of the future first-ballot Hall of Famer and a Cardinals uniform can make the impossible a reality that defies even the most optimistic imaginations.
A PERFECT FIT REDISCOVERED
Pujols packed 445 home runs into his first 11 seasons with the Cardinals, a marathon of greatness that began with a Rookie of the Year season in 2001 and went on to include nine All-Star appearances, three National League MVPs and two World Series championships. Then, a brutal ending, or so we thought. When Pujols departed as a free agent to the Angels after the 2011 season, it left wounds only time could heal.
As an Angel, Pujols became human.
Without Pujols, the Cardinals could not win another championship.