Albert Pujols He is Back with the CardinalsAnd he will finish his career from where it began. Talk to reporters (including Derek Gold from the St. Louis Post-DispatchAt a press conference announcing his return to St. Louis, Pujols confirmed that he intends to retire after next season. “this is mine. This is my last runHe said to the group.
Pujols heads into the 22nd season of his Hall of Fame career. He spent a little more than half of that in Cardinal Red, storming the major championships with the 2001 Rookie of the Year winning campaign. The struggling first baseman finished fourth in the NL MVP by voting for his first season, and remains among the top five finishers in that poll For all but one season of his career in St. Louis (a 2007 campaign in which he finished ninth).
During this race, Pujols was named MVP on three separate occasions. He led MLB in OPS+ in four of the five seasons between 2006-10, and earned a Silver Slugger award in each of the last three years. The Pujols went to the Midsummer Classic in nine of his first 11 seasons with the cards and helped the club to a pair of world championships. During his time in St. Louis, he posted a staggering 328/.420/.617 slashes, averaging over 40 home runs per season.
Of course, the second half of Pujols’ career wasn’t anywhere near the otherworldly heights he had reached during that time. The Pujols posted above-average offensive numbers for each of his first five seasons at Orange County after signing a ten-year deal with the Angels during the 2011-12 season. He only set stellar numbers during his first season with Halos (.285/.343/.516 with 30 Homers) as his hitting average and base numbers dropped sharply, although twice more Pujols lost 30 long balls at Anaheim.
With his production still falling at the end of that deal, he released The Angels Pujols this past May. He landed with the Dodgers and worked as a platoon/bench bat before hitting the open market again this winter. In a perfect moment, the 42-year-old agreed to return to St. Louis for one final round last night.
Pujols has already made a laundry list of professional achievements. His name refers to the all-time leaderboards in most major categories. He’s the 12th ever with 3,301 hits, with only 18 knockouts left to replace him Paul Molitor in the top ten. Barring the injury, he’s sure to get there this year. It would be difficult—but not impossible—for Pujols to put another pair of accomplishments into running the house. Already fifth all-time with 679 big flies, he needs 18 more to pass Alex Rodriguez For fourth place and 21 people to reach a plateau of 700 marks. Pujols is 64 RBI from Babe Ruth For second place in that category, and has a chance to jump both Willie Miss (38 away) and Stan Musical (92 away) in the overall bases leaderboard.
More is coming.