Cardinals: Was Albert Pujols really inferior to Derek Jeter?

Albert Pujols #5 of the St. Louis Cardinals hits a home run in the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on August 26, 2010 in Washington, DC. It was the 400th home run of his career. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Albert Pujols #5 of the St. Louis Cardinals hits a home run in the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on August 26, 2010 in Washington, DC. It was the 400th home run of his career. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
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Albert Pujols of the Leones del Escogido is seen during a Dominican League baseball game against the Toros del Este at the Quisqueya stadium in Santo Domingo, on November 3, 2021. – Pujols made his debut in the league of his country on Sunday. (Photo by Erika SANTELICES / AFP) (Photo by ERIKA SANTELICES/afp/AFP via Getty Images)
Albert Pujols of the Leones del Escogido is seen during a Dominican League baseball game against the Toros del Este at the Quisqueya stadium in Santo Domingo, on November 3, 2021. – Pujols made his debut in the league of his country on Sunday. (Photo by Erika SANTELICES / AFP) (Photo by ERIKA SANTELICES/afp/AFP via Getty Images)

Conclusion

Whether it’s East Coast/Yankees media bias, a couple of awe-inspiring plays that will be featured in MLB highlight reels until the end of time, World Series titles, or some combination of all these factors and more, ESPN’s writers determined Derek Jeter is a better player than Albert Pujols.

That’s their prerogative, of course.  Inevitably, voting for something like this has a personal slant to it, much more so than Hall of Fame voting, and we all know how contentious that can be.  But when the intangible, inexplicable factors are taken out of the equation and the numbers and facts are examined, the answer is clear: Pujols has been a better major-league baseball player than Derek Jeter.  To try to argue differently is to ignore reality.

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