(Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)
Angels first baseman Albert Pujols hit the 499th and 500th home runs of his career on Tuesday night in Washington. Here’s the milestone blast:
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Pujols now leads the Major Leagues in homers, a refreshing glimmer of hope for the Angels early in the 2014 season. And his entry into baseball’s 500 home run club makes for as good an excuse as any to note the following incredible facts about Albert Pujols.
1. He still has a chance at 763 homers
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
Only Alex Rodriguez and Jimmie Foxx got to 500 homers faster than Pujols. Pujols’ stark decline over the 2012 and 2013 seasons cast doubt over his ability to chase Barry Bonds’ record 762 mark, but his early season outburst provides some hope that he can. Pujols spent 2013 in so much pain from plantar fasciitis that he considered wetting the bed over getting up to use the bathroom.
If he’s healthy now, and can stay healthy for most of the rest of his contract, the record isn’t unattainable. Pujols averaged 40 home runs a season in his 11 years in St. Louis. If he can average 34 through when his deal ends in 2021, he’ll wind up the king. It’s a longshot, but Pujols is hardly a typical ballplayer.
2. He scored a 100 on his citizenship test
A 2012 survey showed that only 65-percent of native-born Americans could score high enough on a mandatory civics exam to become a U.S. citizen. When the Dominican-born Pujols took the test in 2007, he scored a perfect 100. “He even answered a bunch of additional questions and gave us more answers than we asked,” said immigration officer Chester Moyer at the time.
3. He hit a grand slam and turned an unassisted triple play in his first college game
Seriously. How many times could that have possibly happened anywhere, at any level? And it happened in his first college game. For an idea of how rare an unassisted triple play is, consider this: It has only been done 15 times in the history of Major League Baseball. In his lone season at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, Pujols hit .466 with 22 homers.
4. Almost no one knew how good he’d be
Scouting and drafting baseball players is an imperfect science, and the nearly league-wide whiff on Pujols in 1999 is one of the most glaring examples. Despite his junior-college heroics, Pujols was the 402nd player selected that year. More than half of the top 20 picks never even reached the big leagues.
And before the 2001 season — when Pujols won the NL Rookie of the Year and established himself as one of the game’s best hitters — Baseball America ranked him No. 42 on its annual list of Top 100 prospects. Think about that: The guy was ready to become one of the best players in history, and the top experts in the world thought 41 guys had better chances at MLB stardom.
5. He’s also one of the best defenders of his era
(PHOTO: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
In his mid-30s, Pujols isn’t quite the defensive player he was in his heyday. But in his heyday, he was probably a bit underrated in the field. He led NL first basemen in total zone runs for six straight seasons from 2004-2009, including leading all NL players in that stat in 2007 and 2008. And that’s after coming up as a third baseman then primarily playing left field in 2002 and 2003.
6. He’s an actual physical freak
Maybe that’s not a terribly surprising revelation, since Pujols is a historically good professional athlete. But there’s science to back it up: In 2006, Pujols participated in a series of lab tests at Washington University. There, he was asked to depress a tapper with his finger as many times as possible in 10 seconds. Not only did he score in the 99th percentile on the test, but he tapped so hard he broke the device. Then, because he’s Albert Pujols, he fixed it.
When asked to find a specific letter each time it appeared on a page full of random letters, Pujols surprised researchers with his visual-search capacity. Instead of reading from left to right, Pujols scanned the page by sectors — a strategy that administrator Desiree White said she had never seen used in 18 years of performing the test.
7. He’s also a great contact hitter
Hitting 500 home runs requires taking a heck of a lot of big swings, which usually means plenty of strikeouts. But unlike most members of baseball’s 500-home run club, Pujols has actually walked more often than he has struck out in his career — indicating both good judgment of the strike zone and a keen ability to make consistent contact.
To date, Pujols has a 1.28 ratio of walks to strikeouts, lower than only four other players with at least 500 homers. Not surprisingly, they’re some of the best hitters ever: Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, and Mel Ott — who’s underrated by all but crossword-puzzle writers.
8. He did this
A single NLCS homer doesn’t match up to the rest of Pujols’ accomplishments. But it’s so incredibly majestic that the list felt incomplete without it. The pitcher, Brad Lidge, had been about the best closer in baseball in 2004 and 2005. His ERA ballooned nearly three full seasons in 2006, and people blamed Pujols’ moonshot — as if Lidge were a shell-shocked victim of a random back-alley beatdown or something.
9. He is an active advocate for people with Down syndrome
Pujols’ adopted daughter, Isabella, has Down syndrome, and the slugger’s charitable foundation raises money to help the lives of others with the disability. His name is attached to a wellness center for adults with Down syndrome at a Missouri hospital, and as of 2012 he was hitting .527 with 12 homers in 22 games in which his team held Down syndrome-related events.
And then there’s this beautiful story, which is too complex to summarize here but definitely worth reading.
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