Happy Birthday Albert

Today is Albert Pujols’ 28th birthday, and I wanted to say a few words about him.  I think it’s important to recognize all that he’s accomplished so far in his illustrious career.  As Cardinal fans, watching Albert play day in and day out over the years, we’ve become accustomed to his production, and it’s easy to take his tremendous contributions for granted.

Since Pujols first made it to the big leagues as a twenty-one year old with the Cards in 2001, he’s done nothing but hit.  No other player has ever hit over 30 home runs, drove in over 100 runs, and bat over .300 in the first seven years of his career.  Pujols amassed these numbers each year from ’01 through ’05, setting a record, and has since broken his own record twice.  It doesn’t look like like he’s planning on slowing down anytime soon either.  His statistics show just how extraordinary he is.

Check out these gaudy numbers:

YEAR  AVG    HR   RBI

2001  .329    37    130

2002  .314    34    127

2003  .359    43    124

2004  .331    46    123

2005  .330    41    117

2006  .331    49    137

2007  .327    32    103

View all of his stats here.

Albert has been selected to 6 All Star games, has 3 Silver Slugger Awards (at 3 different positions), a Hank Aaron Award, a Gold Glove, was Rookie of the Year in ’01, MVP in ’05 (was voted in the top 4 for MVP 6 times), and was the Major League Player of the Year in ’03.  The list of other awards goes on and on.

The list of Pujols’ most similar batters includes names like Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Lou Gehrig.  Let’s remember that we’re fortunate enough to have one of the greatest players in history currently playing for our beloved Redbirds.

“A lot of people said I could be a good player.  I just wanted the opportunity to show it.” – Albert Pujols