How Albert Pujols SAVED His Legacy
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- Опубликовано: 20 май 2024
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How Albert Pujols SAVED His Legacy
Albert Pujols' 700th home run is one of the most historic moments in baseball history -- but it's also one of the most improbable. How did 42-year-old Albert go from being a below average hitter that was almost run out of the league to having one of the greatest final seasons in MLB history? And what did the Dodgers and Cardinals do to help him regain his Hall of Fame swing? In this video, we take a deep dive into how Albert made it to 700.
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Music (in order of appearance):
The Emperor's Army - Jeremy Blake
Sunny Days - Anno Domini Beats
Into It - Kwon
Lands Unknown - Futuremono
Chapters:
0:00 - 0:28 Intro
0:28 - 2:40 The Decline
2:40 - 6:21 The Dodgers Revival
6:21 - 13:10 The Cardinals Renaissance 
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This video shows me, that If he had half the coaching in Anaheim that he had in LAD and STL, he would have broken the all-time HR record
If Pujols isn't a unanimous hall of famer, then no one is.
As a life long Cardinals fan in my hometown of St Louis, I was able to witness his first ten years+ of excellence first hand, I even had a corner office at 8th & Market to where during day games I would hear the homerun fireworks and then peek out of the window to see the replay of his homerun on the Jumbotron at Busch Stadium but, what totally blew me away was his 2009 season and specifically his 5 grand slams, for which I believe he had all 5 before the Allstar break, "Simply Amazing" :)
2009 was the greatest al around season I ever had the pleasure to watch. And I was 11, so that magic of the childhood hero, being the best player in the world... Priceless.
Pujols did enough in his 1st 10 seasons to be a 1st ballot hall of famer, when he left the Cardinals after the 2011 season he already had over 400 homer runs, my best memory of Pujols was in game 3 of the 2011 World Series where he went 5 for 5 with 3 HRs along with a double, it's still to this day the most total bases ever recorded for a game in World Series history, in his prime he was a 1 man wrecking crew especially vs the Cubs
Ugh don't remind us.
Pujols will always have a special place in Cubs fans hearts too. Even though during his time as a Card he was the devil to us. I mean a man that could hit as many as Sosa without roiding. That's just crazy. I'm very happy Albert got to retire on his own terms and moving past 700 hr, he's a great player and a great person. Much love from a Cubs fan, but in the nicest way possible, I hope the Cards are last in the division
Bigger double in gm 6 the 3 homer deal was a blowout. Not like Mr October ...b4 my time...I've seen the espn classic or whatever..
I'm from St. Louis, so my favorite memory was that insane game he had in the 2011 WS. It was his last truly great moment in his first run with the team.
April of 2009 I went on a limb with my dad and he knocked a grand slam and 3 run shot, I think off of Roy Oswalt. He only hit 4 MORE GRAND SLAMS that season. Game 3 was his MJ moment, where nobody can make him flinch, even at the World Series.
as disappointed as it was with almost the entirety of his stay in Anaheim I was pleased he went on to go out stronger with the Dodgers and Cardinals.
He arrived at the Angels hurt, and he stayed hurt the entire time he was there.
But as disappointing as his performances routinely were he always seemed like a good guy that you want to root for
I was at work when that game against the dodgers was going on and me and a buddy were texting about how people would be mad about pujols hitting 700 in a game that was exclusive to apple tv. I opened gamecast only twice that night. The first time was when just before hit hit 699. And the second was right as he hit 700. I freaked out and told everyone around me about him hitting the milestone. I was the only baseball fan there but i still had to talk about it. He is by far my all time favorite athlete from any sport and will always be my favorite. He is the greatest player i have ever watched in my life. As a lifelong cards fan that season was magical and i never saw 700 even being possible with him only being a lefty specialist at first. But that HR derby changed everything. Beating schwarber brought the machine back.
My favorite Pujols moment was when he hit a ball off Brad Lidge so hard it went to the shadow realm.
Probably the second most devastating home run ever hit at Enron Field lol (Jorge Soler's being number 1)
Brad Lidge career went down after that Pujols HR
OK, so you watch Foolish Baseball channel too huh? Good content!
Pujols has been my favorite player since I was 10 or 11 years old, and enjoyed watching and following him even when he played for the Angels and Dodgers. My favorite memory is from the 2022 season. My best friend and I flew to St. Louis, and on that Sunday game against the Phillies, he hit his 684th homer
love Pujols (not a Cards fan). So glad he was able to make a comeback and join the extremely exclusive 700 club.
The fact that he was happy to be back home in St. Louis played a huge part in his comeback. He was back where the fans and team truly love him. Mental attitude is everything.
Was just old enough to remember things like the Lidge Homerun and the iconic plays and series he was involved in with my Redbirds since. Seeing him come back was a treat enough dude. I was optimistic (relative to people I talked to) and I barely saw him catching A-Rod. After the first half was over? Forget about it. Purely magical return!
I’m really happy St. Louis got to see their hero go out like that, truly a storybook ending for everyone
That homer richoched off the wall!
@@musicsavant1079 into the railroad tracks. My dad was so excited he ran the length of our driveway lol
PEDs we’re used in thus a situation. Dominican Sunscreen
Pooholes got lucky to have never gotten caught. Pablo Pooscobar of PEDs
Your videos are phenomenal brother
Albert is one of my favorite players ever. I saw him homer twice to MadBum in Phoenix, 691 and 692 i believe. I will never forget that day.
I grew up hearing Albert Pujols coming to Anaheim. I was very young when he first did. People say all the time that his contract was one of the worst ever made for the team and in the whole MLB. To me, I didn't think so one bit. Years later, when he reached 500 home runs, I told my father that he would reach 700 home runs. He laughed as the others did for his age, speed, and every negative thing people have said. I told him that Albert is a one of kind player you will want to see in your lifetime. It was always fun to see Albert play in Anaheim. But what was his value to the team? Even if he made 500 home runs, many still thought he was pretty bad. To be honest he was not the best. However, he did much more than that for the Angel's. He helped with the teams great atmosphere, loved to teach players or give advice for the years he was there, and deffently gave the best advice to Mike Trout that will be his successor to some of the best playing of baseball in history. Albert getting dropped by Angel's with no proper good bye was upsetting, but I knew one team would pick him up if he hadn't wanted to finish. He was deffently better than random players on the field. I had no clue who would give a chance than the Cardinals themselves, but the Dodgers did, I was so happy even though they are our freeway rivals, I knew they could do something more amazing with him since they are elite team that have fixed up players before. After, that impressive Dodgers run I could see the Cardinals picking him up. The Cardinals were very hesitant for good reasons for a run, but knew it was the right thing to do since everyone wanted a final season at least there. Many players still today on the Cardinals don't want him to retire yet. A top catcher who may of went to the Angel's went to the Cardinals since he was amazed with Albert's carrier there that he would know that he would love that team for many years to follow his legacy he had built there. To me I love this ending season of Albert that he had deserved. Albert will still be helping the Angel's for years to come to help upcoming players since it was part of his contract agreement. I think the Angel's prepared very well with that part of the deal to help with the upcoming amazing prospects and other players who join. To me I would love Albert to stay until he broke the all time home run record since he would very much be able too, but I am satisfied with this last year good bye. I will see next year if he stays away for comes back, time will tell for an amazing legend. Thank you Albert for the years of greatness. The next major point of baseball this season is if Ohtani stays. Either way, this Angel season will be the craziest. It so crazy that spring training for the Angel's and the World Baseball Classic will be taken the most serious to everyone before th year starts since there is so much to gain and lose with Ohtani chance of leaving or team more lost than ever before. Thanks for anyone reading this and hope you stay safe and have wonderful day. Thanks also to the creator for another amazing video.
At one point being a cardinals fan that got to grow up with him as my favorite player, I thought he’d hit 800 homeruns….
I quit after the second sentence
@@Charlieperez714 I agree with all of the people mentioned in the third sentence. Pujols should return the money he took from Arte Moreno.
He was a huge bust with the Angels. His years of greatness where exclusively with the Cardinals.
i aint readin allat 😭😭💀
2011 season. My friend Rick and I had Coca Cola scoreboard patio seats. Beautiful summer evening at Busch. Cards were down 2 runs in the 7th. Pujols cracks a 3 run shot thats lands 20 feet away from us. Awesome moment.
HA! That’s funny - 2018 season. My friend Matt and I had right field seats 4-5 rows back, right near Pesky Pole. It’s my first semester in college and our historic 108 win season was coming to an end. On this day, Boston was down 3-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays in the 7th! Brock Holt (who ends up hitting a cycle against the Yankees in the ALCS) hits a 3 run shot that lands - wait for it - 20 feet away from us!😂 I seen the play-by-play of the dude catching the ball to our right!
The similarities in our stories brought back some good memories! With moments like this, who said baseball’s boring?
@@PYahWeh hell yeah! The only difference was the patio we were sitting on was all metal and that ball landed and made the metal ring through our feet for added effect.
Great breakdown in this video, brother!
Beautiful video! Well produced and I love the content. Keep it up!
He should be unanimous and growing up as a cardinals fan (I can remember as far back as 2002) my favorite memory has to be the craziness you just showed. Second half of 2022. It's on bug unbelievable blur
Honestly can't think of anything bad about Albert, the dude is definition of class act as a person and as a player.
3:31 lol the fake Los Angeles team
Gotta call it like it is #selltheteamArte
Probably one of my favorite memories was 2005 when he broke Brad Lidge in Houston on that “dramatic towering” homerun
That ball went into the multiverse
He stayed because he loved playing the game, thank you Albert 🫡
Sitting on the 3rd base side a Pittsburgh with my 2 sons and their 1st baseball game ever and seeing Albert hit number 696 was the best!!!
Im a st.louis kid growing up during his reign of terror in the 2000s as Micheal Jordan is too Chicago, Albert pujols is to st.louis. anyway I remember in 2008? (Not positive about the year) It was past my bed time and my dad was letting me stay up late to watch the end of cubs v cardinals game that had dragged into the 11th inning Albert comes to the bag and some random cubs pitcher throws a nasty breaking pitch looking to go the 12th. It didn't matter. Pujols took this thing 400ft over the ivy to walk off the redbirds at Wrigley something I'll never forget
I was a kid in the Jordan Era and while Pujols is great, the closest modern thing to Jordan (in baseball) was Mcguire's 70hr push before the steroid scandal broke. Pujols unfairly never got had a chance at that type of status due to the roid scandal of the 2000s tainting the sport. Even Bonds didn't get anywhere close to the same type of attention during his record push due to it. Otani may be the only one who might finally break that barrier if he can continue or improve his current pace.
Liked, subscribed & added it to my Cardinal Baseball playlist!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed the video!
Flew all the way from az to st louis to watch the cards play the giants. Unfortunately, the cards walloped my team, I did get to see pujols' pitching debut though! Crowd was electric when he took the mound.
I hate that part of his revival was him being good on the dodgers, but his last year in st lous was great to see especially for an all time great
He wasn't good with the dodgers. Sub 100 OPS+ in limited action. Low obp and slg, K rate almost twice as high as his career rate. He got to go to the playoffs again but other than good clubhouse presence really didn't contribute much to that team. Postseason numbers were pretty lackluster. 5 for 17, all of them singles, no runs driven in, and five strikeouts. Including one of the three strikeouts in the 7th inning of the deciding NLCS game against the braves which killed the dodgers rally.
I think one of the best stories about Pujols' 2022 seasons came from other Cardinals players talking about how he was one of the first guys in the gym every day and was always hitting the weights hard. He talked about the shortening of his swing path via keeping his bat forward and not dropping the bat back, and of course the tradeoff there is he's making up for his loss of bat speed due to age by giving up some of the power in his swing due to the shorter path. He could only make that choice because he trusted in his strength to be great enough to still carry the ball despite the shorter path, and that strength was only there because even in his 40s he was hitting the gym like a young player in arb still trying to prove themselves.
It honestly adds a beautiful sentiment to his accomplishment, because he only got to where he did due to his incredible work ethic.
PEDs don’t workout for you. Oh wait… do they?
4.5 years of garbage for a final season of average stats. PEDs
You have a great analysis here, but I disagree that Pujols' legacy depended in any way on what he did in his declining years. We remember Mickey Mantle for his glory years, Joe DiMaggio for around 10 years, Sandy Koufax for a five-year stretch, etc.
Willie Mays fell short of 700 home runs and that hasn't affected his legacy. It was wonderful to see Pujols go out with a final blaze of glory, but his legacy had been long secured when he was baseball's best player, by far, for a decade.
I agree, but I do think that his decline was more pronounced than others and that his late season push last year really was the icing on the cake of his career
@@TheDiamondBaseball I'm glad to see him go out with a bang, but I don't see how a slight uptick at the end changes anything materially. Pujols's reputation rests on what he did for the Cardinals for a decade. He only had 2.2 WAR in 2022. The only reason we are talking about that not-so-great season is because of what he did in his first ten years. It was only a "good" season compared to a second decade of underperformance.
It's amazing what some people can do at the age of 44. Kinda sucks that the Cards couldn't beat the Phillies and give Pujols a shot at another title.
Yeah, I would have loved to see Pujols and Goldy get more ABs in the postseason, but I don’t think anybody in the NL was going to beat the Phillies the way they were playing
Yeah would've been awesome to see Pujols, Yadi, and Waino at least make it to the WS one last time together
I think Pujols had juiced balls, plain and simple
I think he was 42, but he was definitely on PEDs. Dominican Sunscreen.
Your videos are always great man. Really good content. As a cards fan Albert has always been one of my favorite players, was so happy he got to 700 with us. Wish it would have lasted one more year I get to go see them next month.
Favorite El Hombre moment would be his moonshot against Brad Lidge. I’ve never seen a more psychologically devastating moment play out in live sports where a dominant athlete loses all of his confidence because of a single moment. You could say the same thing happened to Rick Ankiel but that was self induced. Also fortunately for Brad Lidge there would be redemption later down the road, but that moment solidified Pujols place as the greatest hitter in baseball at that time.
Great video. As a Dodgers fan, Albert's renaissance made me so happy.
Glad you enjoyed the video!
My favorite baseball player and Cardinal of all time
Thinking about it, if the Angels were anything of a competent franchise and had embraced any lick of analytics, I believe Pujols had a real good chance of breaking the HR record.
Like with what he said; if he hadn't played every day so his body could be fine, had better matchups, and they encouraged Pujols to work on his weaknesses, Pujols would be even greater that what he is now.
He didn't embrace anything the franchise tried to do with him. He was incredibly stubborn during his tenure with the Angels. Not that the franchise couldn't have just benched him but Scioscia had no bollocks to do so. There is a lot of Angels blaming going on for a player that just massively regressed and likely lied about his age during his entire career.
@TeeJayEveryDay While yes, he regressed and is one of the notable regressions of recent history, that doesn't diminish his contributions to the team. Maybe he is prideful but obviously the Dodgers and Cardinals did some explaining to him that the Angels couldn't to persuade him. And wasn't Pujols like super close to Arte Moreno? Wouldn't he have listened to him if Moreno said something to him?
And the Angels,to the common baseball public, are referred to as one of the most poorly run organizations. That has to put some blame on the Angels for his downfall.
Maybe he did lie about his age, maybe he didn't (which I'm in the camp that he didn't), he still was productive his last 2 years. 42 or 45 doesn't matter, man was born to play baseball.
@@Taylors_Tunes Lets just face it = if it wasnt for 2002, the Angels would be known as a cursed franchise.
Glad to see your channel growing man. Love your videos.
I remember seeing him in the Arizona Fall League long ago, he will always be one of my favorite players
AFL for the win
He wasn’t a player. He was just a hitter.
Great analysis. I watched Pujols throughout his time with the Cardinals. Later, I could barely stand to watch him with the Angels because the decline was so painful. But the 2nd half of last season was astounding, a season people will talk about for a very long time. Very few 42-year-old players have ever been that good on their way out of the game. Simply put, the Cardinals without Pujols would have finished 2nd or even 3rd in the NL Central last year. He was that big a force.
Thank you! And I definitely agree. Even though the season had a disappointing end, Cardinals fans had a lot to be happy about last season
For some reason It did not show a recommended video when you mentioned it at the end of this one. Thanks for this breakdown, great content, very well done imo. Excited for your future uploads my friend!
As an Astros fan a part of me was supposed to hate Pujols because of how he destroyed us in the mid 2000’s, but I can’t help but respect the man. Dude was legit one of the best players ever and I’m glad I got to see him play live a couple of times.
Those Astro teams were no joke….. so many great players on those teams…. I’m a die hard Card fan. That was a great rivalry…. Baseball at its best.
The true mark of greatness in sports is forcing even your biggest rivals to respect you
I don’t respect that pile of garbage. Dude couldn’t run, played well below average defense, turned into a DH, embarrassed the Halos with that stupid contract. Was a giant hole in the lineup the past 5 seasons. Then, boom, PEDs hardcore last season. He shoulda used them earlier, 800 bombs.
@@charlesnavin4482 whatever nerd
@@charlesnavin4482 when he was younger in St. Louis during his 11 years with the Cardinals Pujols was a gold glove defender and he was pretty athletic, but still slower than most people of his would be claimed age. But the Cardinals probably knew he was 5 or 6 years older than he claimed, which is why the Cardinals were hesitant to give him a massive long term contract and that is why he dropped off a cliff in the final years in Anaheim.
First time seeing your video. Really enjoyed and learned in this piece on Pujols. Can you do an explanation video about stats... WAR, etc. Lots of us older fans don't know this stuff. Thanks.
The Dodgers brought back his joy in playing baseball as well, winning is fun
Nice touch having Cardinals at home vs Angels in the background. My Favorite team is the Cardinals, Albert Pujols is my favorite player. Hard to watch this video of him struggling but I am a numbers guy so I liked the analytics. I was born in 1997 I have so many memories of him from when I started watching baseball till he left after WS in 2011. I don't like LA, Kronkie suck. I am happy LAD picked him up with the plan you talked about. I am so happy he came back to STL. I think he is a for sure HOF! His last season was like his first 11 seasons here, best first 10 seasons of a career. Great Video! Go Cardinals! Go Angels.
Long awaited
Also first
Hope you enjoyed it!
He was a beast…as a freshman rookie!
He and Ichiro had arguably the greatest rookie seasons of all time in the same year. Crazy.
PEDs will get you off to a great start. The Dominicans give PEDs to 12, 13 year old kids at their baseball academies.
I can’t believe he never got caught
Have you seen any video documentary from his teenage years, the dude was massive. I could see him using some Andro or other hormone boosting pills like McGwire had out in the open. The late 90s/2000 you can find this stuff at the GNC stores all over the country. It was easy and legal and wasn’t banned by the MLB yet. I doubt many players shot up the juice guys get from Mexico. Like I said he was huge all along, probably a big ass infant as well.
@@TheDiamondBaseball To be fair, Ichiro played many many seasons in Japan, and the Japanese baseball league is considered the next highest baseball level in the world. And Ichiro was a 27 year old rookie in the US. Im not a fan of giving the rookie of the year award to Ichiro in 2001.
The dodgers organization has a track record of turning bad, mediocre players into good or even great ballplayers. That’s one of the reasons why I like the dodgers organization. They do such a good job training and devolving young and old talent
How the MLB served Albert those juiced tennis balls during the second half
I hate to say it but I'm fairly certain they were letting him get on the juice as well and they just turned a blind eye to it because everybody wanted to see the 700 home runs.
I dont think they were giving him "juiced" baseballs, but from what I saw, the pitchers were just giving cookies right down the middle in many of Albert's home runs.
From what I've heard, the juiced balls weren't found in Busch Stadium(though there's a small sample size on those as far as how many they actually found) and his better production probably came more from changing his stance around the ASB than anything else
I would say "maybe" if he were hitting those bombs in blowout meaningless games but that wasn't the case, nearly every homerun hit in the second half had an impact on the result of the game , he was either getting the Cards in striking distance or tying or taking the lead , one of his blowout homeruns was a pinch hit grandslam that took it from 6-0 to 10-0 other than that it was clutch hitting and to all fields, so if the balls were juiced they would be juiced for both teams and I don't think there is anything out of whack for just Cardinals games the second half where the cards and opponents hit an inordinate amount of hrs compared to the rest of the league , and if you think that the other teams are going to allow mlb to sneak in loaded baseballs just for pujols with games on the line the your as whacked as a flat earther. So absolutely no way no how was he hitting juiced balls unless everyone was hitting juiced balls and the numbers say that's not the.case Albert was that good er that great.live with it
He was a beast in St. Louis the first time around. Then he just stayed in the game too long, imo. He didn’t have to chase seven hundred to be a considered for the hall.
I really enjoy these videos.
Amazing video, super informative, makes me wonder if I need to switch my degree to sports management/science in order to compete with your knowledge
Damn! I found you at only 5k subscribers! I feel like I’m investing in Apple in 1999. Loved the video and your analysis. Keep up the good work man, you just earned a subscriber!!!
Thank you, appreciate the support!
Hey The Diamond! Would love to collab on some content with ya! Let me know if you would be interested 🙏🏼
I think he can still play baseball ❤️
My fave position player ever.
Would love to see this same thing with Miggy this year since it's most likely his last, he's been in the same boat as Pujols being an often injured badly aging slugger whose prime is well past him
I know it won't happen though and it still breaks my heart seeing how far he's fallen since 2016
I’m not done watching this video , but if I’m Miggy , I’m doing a leg kick just how pujols started and going out with a bang . that leg kick saved pujols a little bit
And PEDs. Dominican Sunscreen. Pooholes was a hole in the lineup for years. Then 2022? No way without cheating. He couldn’t run, play defense and then was a $20M hole in lineups. I don’t see it, Pooholes is a jag
Miggy, way better.
one my fav memories was 2009 against the Nats he hit a walk off HR (i think #41) and did this awesome bat flip
My fav
Nice work on the video my man, and to see one of the greats stay with it and admit he had to do a change is awesome. I’m truly hero for Albert to get to 700, thru shear determination and a lil luck he did it and it’s great to see
And a lil Dominican Sunscreen. 😉 PEDs. Shhhh
@@charlesnavin4482 🤫 that’s a secret ingredient
Great video I'm 41 & don't really know analytics. However I played thru college and am a huge baseball fan. Puljols fan. I thought Puljols 22 was more exciting then 99 & I I'm a die hard Yankees fan. I really enjoyed the video.
Here Before The fame❤
Imo, The problem was he was playing in the Wrong League (Aka the AL) The AL is notorious for having not only major big league hitters, but monster aces and Bullpens who knew how to pitch around him. I say he's more comfortable with NL pitching than AL Pitching. And notice how he has more hits against left handers than right handers. There are a lot of Right Handed Pitching in the AL
He should have never left St. Louis, that uniform was magical. He would have threatened 755 homeruns
I was able to witness him hit 697 in Pittsburgh to pass A-Rod. Will be something I will never forget. He will be a first ballot HOF'er. I don't think he will get a unanimous vote. I see a few writers taking his decline with the Angels into account. Even though he was the greatest first baseman of his generation and one of the greatest Right handed hitters.
Do I think Albert will be a Hall if Famer? Yes. First ballot? It’s very possible. Unanimous? Probably not.
It's truly sad to think that arguably the greatest right handed hitter of all time isn't going to be unanimous. The voting process is so fucking stupid
I know this video is about Albert Pujols, but I feel bad for Mike Trout when he signed that big contract with the angels I knew it was about the money not win a championship
Well, obviously the money helps, but I think staying on one team really matters to him. If it was just about the money, he probably would've gotten even more as a free agent.
I appreciate the video and the breakdown. But I think you give too much credit/blame to the teams he was and not enough credit to Pujols himself.
Fair criticism, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he managed to unlock his swing as soon as he left Anaheim. Obviously he was the one that took the info he was given and made the adjustments he needed to, but it’s also obvious that Anaheim was messing up some thing along the way
As an Astros fan who used to be hate seeing him destroy him, I love Pujols. He is easily the greatest player of my adulthood
He couldn’t play quality defense, he couldn’t run, he used PEDs his last season to cover up 3.5 seasons of crappy numbers. The best? No argument? You lost your Astros card. Miguel Cabrera is just as good.
@@charlesnavin4482 You're really not very smart.
What is your favorite memory of Albert Pujols? Do you think he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer? Let us know down below!
There’s absolutely no question he’ll be a unanimous Hall of Famer
@@prestoncarr3452 Unanimous? Nah, the BBWA can't get their heads out of their asses far enough for that. He'll be in on the first ballot without a doubt, but I don't think we'll be seeing another Mo Rivera unanimous vote.
@@Jabbersac Especially since griffey wasn't even unanimous and should have been
I can't remember what season it was, somewhere in the mid/late 2000s, where he started with 2HRs in the first game of the season, and the announcers were having fun joking that "he's now on pace for 324 homers this season!" and then he followed up with another HR in the second game. [spoiler alert: he did NOT in fact, hit 324 homers that season ;p]
Also, not so much a favorite memory as a disappointment - I've never been able to get to many games, but a friend and I had tickets to a June game in 2006 at the brand-new Busch III, and it was going to be my first (real) chance to see Pujols play live, and he got injured and went on the IR like a week before the game. So other than possibly a game in like, 2002(?) before I'd even really heard of him (if he was even playing), I never got the opportunity to see "The Machine" play in person.
Oh, and while he should be unanimous, I agree, I don't think he will be. He'll likely be a comfortable mid/upper 90s first ballot guy, unless it turns out to be a really week ballot year or something.
Many years ago I went to Busch stadium and it was a pitcher’s duel between Ben Sheets of the brewers and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals the game ended 1-0 the one being a 7th inning homer by Albert. I’ll never forget how loud the roar was as he clutched that hit for Cards. Wainwright went on to complete game shutout and the cards won.
Love Pujols, and great video. However not the greatest retirement tour ever… that honor is currently held by David Ortiz
Yeah, they're both on similar levels for me, though I don't think Pujols' final two months will ever be replicated
@@TheDiamondBaseball ya cause mlb juice balls won’t happen to that extreme afield
Outside of his 2022 season, my favorite memory of Pujols is probably when he hit a home run so far off Brad Lidge that it left the solar system.
Someone else described it as being sent to the shadow realm lol
Jeff Kent put one in the same spot against the cards that series. Just because people get wet over Pooholes.
You gotta give props to the 3 homerun game in the world series if your asking!
The juiced baseballs really helped too
I dont forgive MLB for not allowing the local call to be on the broadcast. That was the most wonky idea, put in on Apple.
First ballot HoF right there, maybe along side with Yadi. Class act for Cards to give him one last chance.
Can you talk about Ty Cobb as he is one of the most misunderstood player of all time and one the least talked about. He is kinda like barry bonds in the way he was stigmatised as although he is labelled as a racist he was in fact a major supporter of intergration of the major leagues, attending many negro ledge games and publicly speaking out against it
Analytics and statcast have ruined baseball. Also, every Cardinals fan is probably gonna name the Brad Lodge home run as their favorite Pujols moment
Lol go yell at some clouds 👴🏼
@@TheDiamondBaseball I hear ya. I'm only 38 though. Statcast is horrible. I hate the speed and the ball location being shown all the time. You can't tell where the ball is hit to
3:28 bro the Angels tried to bring Pujols off the bench and he didn’t want to do that for them 🤣 also, his job is literally to play baseball, why would the angels pay all that money to just keep him on the bench? 🤦🏽♂️😭
I get it you wanted to make this video whether you knew what you were talking about or not.
The Angels had other options Mark Trumbo, and CJ Cron were both dealt away to make room for Puljos. They had other options.
Trumbo was only on the Angels for the first two years of Pujols’ contract. Cron replaced Trumbo, but didn’t produce anything in his first four years (1.1 max fWAR) and only became decent after he left LA. Furthermore, Pujols was still at least decent while those two were on the team, but after 2017 (when they really needed other options) the only other listed 1Bs on the team besides Pujols and Walsh were Jefry Marte, Jose Miguel Fernandez, and a washed Justin Bour - not exactly viable options. If you are going to claim someone doesn’t know what they’re talking about, you better at least know what you’re talking about.
@@TheDiamondBaseball you are absolutely making my point. Trumbo and Cronin were both dealt away, and never given a chance to fully develop because they had committed to pull holes. If Paul Hall‘s wasn’t there, Trump and or Cron would have stayed Angels.
Young players, often take a minute before they start producing. And if they are blocked, they’re not even going to get the repetitions to take that next step. To say nothing for the mental aspect of knowing no matter what you do, you’re not winning a starting job.
Albert should be a unanimous HoF pick, but baseball writers comprise the usual ration of soreheads who will find something to bitch about. He is one of the greatest of all time.
Anyone who does not vote Pujols as a unanimous hall of famer should lose their right to vote
How did he pull this off? He put the proper uniform back on
If being the probable last person in history to hit 700 home runs doesn’t get you first ballet I don’t know what will 😂
Records, my friend, are meant to be broken. With that being said, it might not be in our lifetime; but that record will be broken. They say the same about the stolen base record however now that the bases are bigger with this years rule change, base stealing will be encouraged. We will see a speedster break that record eventually; the same way we will see somebody break Bonds HR record, let alone hit 700.
@@PYahWeh Ricky has nearly 500 more than the second place holder. Not saying it will never be broken but it is unlikely in the next half century.
@@Taylors_Tunes and that’s exactly why you can see above, I state specifically, “it might not be in our lifetime; but that record will be broken.”
@@PYahWeh I was agreeing with you
I actually wish he'd unretire...The Cardinals still dont have an established DH role player...Its split between many players in fact Albert was a parttime player in 2022 and believe it or not, but he hasnt put on weight...I hope the Cardinals see how bad 2023 was and just say F it and go back to what they know works instead of this analytical nonsense destroying our franchise making us move on from how they used to win...He is 13 homers away from passing Babe Ruth for 3rd all time and 6 homers away from passing Stan Musial for most Cardinal homers ever.. I wouldve watched more STL cards games and attended more if Albert was still playing and it wouldnt have mattered if the wins/losses didnt change...I wouldve watched just to see if he did something...The Cardinals fans who were in high school when he left STL will never forget that experienced ever...The joy on others such as Cubs fans when he left and they've won a title since he left...You would've thought the Cardinals wouldve figured it out by now but not yet...
Not to take away from him or Judge, but they juiced the balls for STL/NYY games. In the 2nd half. They still had to hit it, but not all of those dingers would have went as far if they werent juiced. Judge and Pujols desrve the shine. I love how bball media reported on this one day then swept it under the rug the next. Idc but if the league will do this for ratings, why keep the steriods users out of the hall. MLB has constantly looked the other way, fought the wrong battles and picked some of the worst hills to die on. A little consistency would do wonders for the sport.
The study done on MLB and the juiced balls was flawed. The Dead ball group and the Goldilocks group had 80%-90% overlap. Meaning it was really one group. Also they forgot to check if the Yankees hit more HRs. They didn;t. Judge and the rest of the Yankees hit fewer HRs in Aug and Sept. By a good bit. People want believe in the evil owners and commissioner. Unfortunately, in this case, the whole story is bunk. Also, MLB uses 250,000 baseballs a year. They are all handmade. It is difficult to get the balls precisely the same.
The juiced balls are the subject of my next video. I don't think it really mattered much in Pujols' case, especially since he hit a few extra after reaching 700, but it was so weird to me how people were criticizing Pujols and Judge when this came out instead of MLB.
Leaving the Angels
ill be honest, i think his career would have been far more successful had he not left St Louis
He should have never ever left St. Louis.
Agreed, but everything happens for a reason. If he hadn't left, this season likely never happens. He probably would've been forced to retire much sooner considering the Cardinals are an actually competent franchise.
The craziest part of the story is that Jeff Albert the cardinals hitting coach that brought pujols back to his 2011 form got ran out of town by the cardinals fan base. As a cardinals fan cardinals fans are some of the dumbest sports fans out there.
Every fan base has their bad apples, hope he does well in New York
The Angels are just so horrible. What could Trout be on a real team? Ohtani? Would Pujols have 800+ home runs if he'd gone to any other team than the Angels when he left the Cardinals?
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Anybody else think he roided up after getting booted by the Angels? Looked slimmer and wasn’t missing any pitches. Kind of suspicious, could see the MLB letting that slide by just so he can get his records knowing he was going to retire.
Fwiw, steroids wouldn't make you slimmer, nor would they cause that quick of a turnaround in the middle of the season
@@TheDiamondBaseball steroids would most definitely make you slimmer, and with that it would allow him to move quicker and easier which would explain his turnaround.
He didn't look all that slimmer and I do think he felt an ob ligation to get in a little better shape considering he was coming back home to a fanbase that loves him.the guy never failed a test he didn't have any suspicious trainers or characters hanging around, there's absolutely no evidence to have such suspicions except you're probably some butt hurt reds fan or Brewers fan who continually had to watch their teams get owned by pujols and witness collapse after collapse and choke job after choke job , I'm going to assume your not a cubs fan , I give them more credit than to say such nonsense . Obviously not a true fan of the game .go watch soccer or something
My favorite memory is him keeping his steroid use quiet.
How is Max muncy one of the best hitters in baseball? LOL
He had a 135 OPS+ and 36 homers in 2021 and finished 10th in MVP voting that year, and in the previous two full seasons he put up a 161 and 132 OPS+. He absolutely was one of the best hitters in baseball in 2021.
Fake la team would be the Brooklyn dodgers
You have good content but you need to lighten up brother
You are way too intense to be talking about MLB
JS
Feedback for you 😁✌️
JUICED BALLS MLB HELPED HIM AND JUDGE 🤣
Albert Pujols should have the next biggest asterisk next to bonds. I'm convinced the balls were juiced up for Angel games. Makes more sense than a resurgent Albert.
Anyone who thinks Albert pujols won’t be a first ballot hall of famer is smoking crack
Tell that to the BBWAA (he'll probably only be on like 96% of ballots lol)
this turned me gay
Look stop with this bs he never