albert pujols

Early life and career

Pujols was born in the Dominican Republic, and his family emigrated to the United States in the early 1990s, first to New York City and then later to Independence, Missouri. In the U.S., Pujols gained his love for baseball, batting over .500 in his first season of high school baseball. After high school, Pujols attended Maple Woods Community College in the Kansas City area. In his first season with the community college, Pujols showed off his talent, hitting a grand slam and turning an unassisted triple play in his first game and batting .461 for the year.

The St. Louis Cardinals drafted Pujols in the 13th round of the 1999 draft. However, Pujols initially turned down a USD $10,000 bonus and opted to play in the Jayhawk League in Kansas instead. However, by the end of the summer of 1999, the Cardinals had increased their bonus offer to $60,000 and Pujols signed with the Cardinals and was assigned to the developmental leagues.

By 2000, Pujols was assigned to the Peoria Chiefs of the single-A Midwest League, where he was voted league MVP. Pujols quickly progressed through the ranks of the St. Louis farm clubs, first at the Potomac Cannons in the high-A Carolina League and then with the Memphis Redbirds in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. In just seven games with the Redbirds in 2000, Pujols batted .367 with two home runs.

Major leagues

During spring training in 2001, the Cardinals were preparing for Pujols to join the Major League ranks, but the Cardinals' roster was already full of talented players, including Mark McGwire, Fernando Viña, Edgar Rentería, Ray Lankford, Jim Edmonds and J. D. Drew. While it's widely believed that an injury to bench player Bobby Bonilla freed up a roster spot, Pujols actually fought for, and won a spot on the Opening Day roster before Bonilla went on the DL. His first Major League game was against the Colorado Rockies in Denver .

In the season's second series, playing against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pujols hit a home run, three doubles and eight runs batted in, securing his spot on the team. By May, he was named National League Rookie of the Month. By June, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game by NL manager Bobby Valentine, the first Cardinal rookie named to the team since 1955. Pujols continued with his phenomenal rookie season, helping the Cardinals earn a tie for the National League Central Division title. For the season, Pujols batted .329/.403/.610 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) with 37 home runs and 130 RBI, and was unanimously named the National League Rookie of the Year.

In 2002, Pujols struggled early on as pitchers learned to pitch to him, but he continued to bat extremely well throughout the season, hitting .314/.394/.561 with 34 homers and 127 RBIs. The Cardinals finished first in the NL Central during a difficult campaign that saw the death of team announcer Jack Buck and the sudden death of pitcher Darryl Kile. The Cardinals defeated the Diamondbacks in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to the San Francisco Giants in the National League Championship series.

In the 2003 season, Pujols had his best season yet, batting .359/.439/.667 with 43 home runs and 124 RBIs, winning the National League batting title, but the Cardinals failed to make the playoffs, faltering in the stretch to the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. Pujols also finished second in the MVP voting to Barry Bonds.

Throughout 2004, Pujols was nagged by plantar fasciitis, but he was still a powerful hitter, hitting .331/.415/.657 with 46 home runs and 123 RBI. In addition, Pujols was chosen to appear on the cover of EA Sports' video game, MVP Baseball 2004. He was also the MVP of the 2004 National League Championship Series, helping his team reach the World Series, where they were swept by the Boston Red Sox.

The 2005 season saw Pujols establish career highs in walks and stolen bases, while leading his team in almost every offensive category. He finished batting .330/.430/.609, with 41 home runs (including his 200th career homer), a grand slam, 117 RBIs, 97 walks, and 16 stolen bases. However, due to continually nagging leg injuries, he finished with a career-low 38 doubles. The Cardinals were eliminated 4 games to 2 in the National League Championship Series, but Pujols hit a memorable home run in game 5—a 2-out, 3-run blast in the top of the 9th inning, off of Houston Astros closer Brad Lidge to stave off elimination. After the season, Pujols received his first National League MVP award, underscoring his critical role in keeping the injury-plagued Cardinals on track throughout the season.

On June 3, 2006, Pujols suffered an oblique strain chasing a foul pop fly off the bat of Cubs third baseman, Aramis Ramirez. He was later placed on the 15-day disabled list for the first time in his career. Pujols, at the time of his injury, had 25 home runs and 65 RBI and was on pace to break the single-season records held by Barry Bonds (73 HRs) and Hack Wilson (191 RBI). Pujols returned in time to help the Cardinals win the NL Central. He started at 1st base for the 2006 National League All-Star team at the All-Star game in Pittsburgh. Pujols finished the season with a .331/.431/.671 line, establishing new career-highs in slugging percentage (in which he led the majors), home runs (49)(second) and RBIs (137)(second).

Defensively, Pujols started his major league career as a third baseman. When Scott Rolen joined the team in 2002, Pujols was moved to left field. Following an injury scare in 2003, Pujols was moved to his current position, first base. In 2005, John Dewan noted in The Fielding Bible that no first baseman was better at digging balls out of the dirt than Pujols. Pujols saved 42 bad throws by his fielders in 2005. Derrek Lee was second with 23. Pujols' fielding percentage was close to the bottom amongst qualified National League first basemen in his first two full seasons at the position, but in 2006 it was more respectable and he was occasionally mentioned as a Gold Glove candidate. He has had the highest range factor amongst first basemen in his two full seasons, and leads in that category in 2006.

Personal

Pujols married his wife, Deidre, on January 1, 2000. They have three children, Isabella (Deidre's daughter, adopted by Albert), Albert Jr. and Sophia. Albert and his wife are active in the cause of people with Down syndrome, as Isabella was born with this condition. In 2005, they launched the Pujols Family foundation which is dedicated to "the love, care and development of people with Down syndrome and their families," as well as helping the poor in the Dominican Republic.^[1] Pujols and his wife are very active Christians; as the foundation's website says, "In the Pujols family, God is first. Everything else is a distant second."^[2] More information on the foundation can be found at their website: www.pujolsfamilyfoundation.org. He has taken part ownership in Patrick's restaurant at Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The remodeled restaurant was reopened as Pujols 5 on August 30, 2006."^[3]

Accomplishments

• Rookie of the Year, 2001
• Hank Aaron Award, 2003
• TSN Player of the Year, 2003
• NLCS MVP, 2004
• Five-time All-Star (2001, 2003-06)
• National League MVP, 2005
• Three-time Silver Slugger (2001, 2003-04) (Note: Pujols has won a Silver Slugger at three different positions: First Base, Third Base, and Left Field).
• Pujols has finished in the top four in the voting for MVP of the National League every year of his career, winning once (2005) and coming in second twice (each time to Barry Bonds).
• Became first player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs in each of his first six seasons (2001-06).
• Only Ralph Kiner hit more home runs (215) in his first five seasons than Albert (201).
• Named to Major League Baseball's Latino Legends Team in 2005 as the starting first baseman.
• Holds the record for most home runs in the month of April with 14 in 2006.
• National League Player of the Month for both May and June 2003 and for April 2006
• Became the fastest player in Major League history to reach 19 home runs in a season, doing so on May 13 2006
• Became the third fastest player in major league history (after Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire) to reach 25 home runs in a season, doing so on Monday, May 29, 2006
• Became the 35th batter to hit four homeruns in four consecutive at-bats, and the 20th batter to hit four home runs in four consecutive plate appearances, on April 16 and 17, 2006.
• Became the 16th batter to hit three home runs in a game twice in the same season in 2006 (04.16 & 09.03).
• In 2006, broke Willie Mays (1962) record for the highest single-season total of game-winning runs batted in with 20.

Statistics

Career Statistics:
Hitting (through 2006)

162-game Averages

Comparison

• Each player's first six full years are averaged together:

References

1. ^ Mission Statement. Pujols Family Foundation. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.
2. ^ About Our Faith. Pujols Family Foundation. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.
3. ^ Pujols Swings, and it's a grand . . . opening. St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.

External links

• Albert Pujols official web site, the Pujols Family Foundation
• Albert Pujols at ESPN.com
• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• BaseballLibrary.com - info and biography
• Pujols 5 Westport Grill (Albert's Restaurant) official site
• MLB.com profile
• Albert Pujols' Home Run & RBI Pace
• Articles on Albert Pujols
• Albert Pujols photo gallery