Albert Pujols is back with the Cardinals and ending his career where it began. In conversation with reporters (incl Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) at a press conference announcing his return to St. Louis, Pujols confirmed he plans to retire after the upcoming season. “It is for me. This is my last run,” he told the group.
Pujols is entering the 22nd season of a Hall of Fame career. He’s spent just over half of those in Cardinal Red and broke into the big leagues in 2001 with a Rookie of the Year winner. The hitting first baseman finished fourth in the NL MVP picks in his debut season, and he remained among the top five players of his career in St. Louis in all but one season of that pick (a 2007 season in which he finished ninth).
During that run, Pujols won the MVP award three times. He led MLB in OPS+ in four of the five seasons between 2006 and 2010 and has won the Silver Slugger Award in each of the last three years. Pujols went to the Midsummer Classic with the Cards in nine of his first 11 seasons, helping the club to two World Series championships. During his time in St. Louis, he hit an incredible .328/.420/.617 slash, averaging more than 40 home runs per season.
Of course, the latter half of Pujols’ career wasn’t nearly so far removed from the otherworldly heights he reached during that period. Pujols recorded above-average offensive counts in each of his first five seasons in Orange County after signing a ten-year contract with the Angels in the 2011-12 offseason. In his first season with the Halos (.285/.343/.516 with 30 homers), he hit only stellar numbers as his batting average and base counts plummeted, though Pujols eclipsed 30 longballs twice more in Anaheim.
As his production continued to slack towards the end of that deal, the Angels released Pujols last May. He ended up with the Dodgers and served as a proper draw/bench hitter before returning to the open market this winter. In a moment that comes full circle, the 42-year-old agreed to return to St. Louis for one last run last night.
Pujols has already compiled a laundry list of career accomplishments. His name is on all-time leaderboards in most major categories. He is 12th all-time with 3,301 hits and just 18 shots from ousting Paul Molitor among the top ten. Barring an injury, he’s sure to make it this year. It’s going to be harder — but not impossible — for Pujols to pull off another pair of hits in the home run department. With 679 big flies he is already fifth all-time, he needs 18 more to pass Alex Rodriguez for fourth place and 21 home runs to reach the 700 mark plateau. Pujols is 64 RBI out Babe Ruth for second place in that category, and he has a chance to skip both Willie Mays (38 removed) and Stan Musical (92 away) on the all-base rankings.
There’s more to come.