Albert Pujols was one of baseball’s truest stars.
Whenever I watch the Los Angeles Angels play on TV, one of my first thoughts is how the younger generation must think of Albert Pujols. In their eyes, he has to be one of the most overpaid players in the game, the guy who the Angels signed to a ten-year, $240 million contract that will keep him an Angels uniform until 2021 when Pujols will be paid $30 million as a 41-year-old. For young Angels fans, they likely look at Pujols and see a player that has produced 12.8 WAR in six seasons in Los Angeles, or the same amount he produced in 2010 and 2011 combined. Hopefully, the younger generation will soon realize that although Pujols is a shell of his former self, they still have the privilege of watching one of the greatest hitters the game has ever seen.
Let’s start with the obvious; Pujols’ award cabinet is amongst the biggest in baseball history, with three NL MVP Awards, the 2001 NL Rookie of the Year, an NLCS MVP, 10 All-Star appearances, and two World Series rings with the Cardinals. In 2002 and 2003, had Pujols not been playing with peak, nobody will pitch to him, Barry Bonds, it is possible he’d have two more MVP awards in his trophy case; the same could be said about 2010, when Pujols was just as good if not better than MVP winner Joey Votto, but likely suffered from voter fatigue after winning the award the two years prior.
Anyone who watched Pujols played in St. Louis remember how much he dominated major league pitching over an eleven-year stretch; the numbers speak for themselves, with 445 HR, 1320 RBI, 1291 runs, 2073 hits, 455 2B, 975 BB, 704 K, .328/.420/.617, 3893 Total Bases, and 86.6 WAR. On a seasonal basis, for over a decade, Pujols averaged 40 HR, 121 RBI, 117 runs, 118 hits, 41 2B, 89 BB, 64 K, a 1.037 OPS, 170 OPS+, and 7.9 WAR. Those numbers would be most hitter’s best season in their career; for Pujols, it was the average over a decade-plus run. Hell, had Pujols retired after leaving the Cardinals at age 31, he still would have ranked 49th all-time in WAR, and 32nd all-time amongst position players.
To put into perspective just how great Pujols was with the Cardinals, below is a breakdown of where he finished on the NL statistical leaderboard each year he played in St. Louis.
2001 (4th in MVP voting): 5th in hits, 5th in 2B, 5th in RBI, 6th in AVG, 6th in OPS+, 6th in XBH, 7th in Total Bases, 7th in SLG, 8th in OPS, 9th in WAR for Position Players
2002 (2nd in MVP voting): 2nd in Runs, 2nd in RBI, 4th in Hits, 4th in Total Bases, 7th in Offensive WAR, 7th in AVG, 7th in XBH, 8th in 2B, 9th in SLG, 10th in OPS, 10th in HR
2003 (2nd in MVP voting): 1st in AVG, 1st in Runs, 1st in Hits, 1st in Total Bases, 1st in 2B, 1st in XBH, 2nd in WAR, 2nd in Offensive WAR, 2nd in WAR for Position Players, 2nd in OPS, 2nd in OPS+, 3rd in OBP, 3rd in SLG, 4th in HR, 4th in RBI
2004 (3rd in MVP voting): 1st in Runs, 1st in Total Bases, 1st in XBH, 2nd in Offensive WAR, 2nd in SLG, 2nd in 2B, 2nd in HR, 2nd in OPS+, 3rd in RBI, 3rd in OPS, 4th in WAR, 4th in WAR for Position Players, 5th in AVG, 5th in Hits, 7th in OBP
2005 (1st in MVP voting): 1st in WAR, 1st in WAR Position Players, 1st in Runs, 2nd in Offensive WAR, 2nd in AVG, 2nd in OBP, 2nd in SLG, 2nd in OPS, 2nd in Total Bases, 2nd in RBI, 2nd in OPS+, 3rd in HR, 3rd in XBH 4th in Hits, 6th in BB
2006 (2nd in MVP voting): 1st in WAR, 1st in WAR Position Players, 1st in SLG, 1st in OPS, 1st in OPS+, 2nd in Offensive WAR, 2nd in OBP, 2nd in HR, 2nd in RBI, 3rd in AVG, 3rd in Total Bases, 4th in XBH, 5th in Runs
2007 (9th in MVP voting): 1st in WAR, 1st in WAR Position Players, 3rd in OBP, 3rd in OPS+, 4th in OPS, 5th in Defensive WAR, 6th in Offensive WAR, 6th in AVG, 6th in SLG, 6th in BB, 10th in HR, 10th in Total Bases
2008 (1st in MVP voting): 1st in WAR, 1st in WAR Position Players, 1st in Offensive WAR, 1st in SLG, 1st in OPS, 1st in Total Bases, 1st in OPS+, 2nd in AVG, 2nd in OBP, 2nd in BB, 2nd in XBH, 3rd in Hits, 4th in 2B, 4th in HR, 4th in RBI
2009 (1st in MVP voting): 1st in WAR, 1st in WAR Position Players, 1st in Offensive WAR, 1st in OBP, 1st in SLG, 1st in OPS, 1st in Runs, 1st in Total Bases, 1st in HR, 1st in OPS+, 1st in XBH, 2nd in 2B, 3rd in AVG, 3rd in RBI, 3rd in BB, 6th in Hits
2010 (2nd in MVP voting): 1st in RBI, 2nd in WAR, 1st in WAR Position Players, 1st in Offensive WAR, 1st in Runs, 1st in HR, 1st in RBI, 1st in OPS+, 1st in XBH, 2nd in OBP, 2nd in OPS, 2nd in Total Bases, 2nd in BB, 3rd in SLG, 5th in Hits, 6th in AVG, 8th in 2B
2011 (5th in MVP voting): 3rd in Runs, 3rd in HR, 5th in Total Bases, 7th in SLG, 7th in RBI, 9th in Hits, 10th in WAR Position Players, 8th in OPS+, 10th in OPS, 10th in XBH
As a Cardinal, Pujols led the entire National League in WAR for five straight seasons from 2005-2009; that means of all the players in the NL, he was the most valuable player each season for half a decade. At the same time, Pujols finished outside of the top-five of the NL MVP voting only once as a Cardinal, and even in that “down” season in 2007, still led the NL in WAR and hit .327/.429/.568 with 32 HR, 103 RBI, 99 BB, 99 R, 185 H, and 38 2B.
Including this season, Pujols still has four years left as an Angel, and with 615 home runs, only needs to average 22 home runs per season to join Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Barry Bonds as the only players in baseball history with 700 HR. With 25 hits, Pujols will join Mays, Aaron, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, and Alex Rodriguez as the only players with over 500 HR and 3000 hits. If he has 79 RBI this season, Pujols will become the fifth player ever with over 2000 RBI and has a shot at passing Hank Aaron’s total of 2297 RBI, needing to average 95 RBI per season to set the record. Out of all the first-baseman in baseball history, Pujols has the second highest WAR, WAR7, and JAWS, trailing only the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig.
If the numbers above don’t do it for you, next let’s look at where Pujols’ numbers rank all-time across the board. Remember, this isn’t just amongst active players; we are comparing his numbers to every player to ever step onto an MLB field.
- 99.4 WAR, 32nd All-Time, 21st for Position Players. 85.6 Offensive WAR 26th All-Time.
- .305 AVG 151st All-Time, .385 OBP 130th All-Time, .561 SLG 16th All-Time, .946 OPS 23rd All-Time
- 615 HR 7th All-Time, 1921 RBI 10th All-Time, 5472 Total Bases 10th All-Time, 1,251 XBH 7th All-Time
- 2.973 Hits 33rd All-Time, 620 2B 12th All-Time, 1725 Runs 25th All-Time
- 1,251 BB 53rd All-Time, 307 Intentional BB 2nd All-Time, 4,328 Times On Base 28th All-Time
It’s funny; once upon a time, we didn’t appreciate Pujols’ greatness as much as we probably should have because we expected him to put up great numbers year in and year out because of how high set the bar for himself early in his career. Now that age and injuries have sapped a fair amount of his skill, we find ourselves in the opposite situation, where all we can think about is when Pujols’ contract is up, instead of taking the time to appreciate that we had the honor to watch a player that will finish within the inner circle of the greatest hitters to ever play the game of baseball. So for all those fans out there who think Pujols is overpaid, you might be right; but take a step back, watch his highlights from the 2011 World Series (where you will quickly realize why the Angels paid him as much as they did) and appreciate that it is better to watch a Hall of Famer that may be past his prime than to have never seen him play at all.
