Because baseball is a sport driven as much by numbers as the naked eye, it is no small mystery why Albert Pujols continues to fall under the radar of so many of the game's so-called astute and stat-crazy fans. By any measure of baseball greatness, the Cardinals' 23-year-old left fielder ought to be on the top of everyone's list of the best in the business. His numbers are staggering to behold and his physical presence is one that immediately catches your eye, like that lone incredibly fluid dancer on a stage full of ho-hum hoofers.
Pujols is racking up numbers so dizzying that his meteoric three-year career statistics are in a class all by themselves, and yet the majority of the baseball public fails to understand or appreciate his stunning greatness, as evidenced by the latest All-Star Game fan balloting. Baseball's past is loaded with supernovas and one-hit wonders who flame out just as suddenly as they flashed before our eyes. But Pujols doesn't have that Darryl Strawberry or Cesar Cedeno feel to him. There is some long-term substance to this guy, even if the baseball public hasn't quite caught on just yet.
How do you manage to put together one of the best rookie seasons in baseball history, follow it up with a second season that gained you a runner-up slot for the National League MVP award, then come back this year with legitimate Triple Crown numbers, and still go largely unnoticed?
He was batting close to .390 entering Tuesday's game against Boston, and among the league leaders in every major batting category. He scales the fences trying to haul down opponents' rocket shots, and is doing it all while playing in so much pain that he looks like a walking ice bag after every game, and he's still a distant fourth in NL outfield All-Star voting?
That is some trick Pujols is pulling off. Perhaps this stroll around the Boston and New York media markets will help. Perhaps he will use the grand stage of performing in two of baseball's most celebrated shrines to blurt out baseball's best-kept secret. Maybe after all those folks get a load of his big bat, the rest of the baseball world outside of St. Louis catches on to just how good this guy is.
I just don't get it. How can a sport that professes to be such a slave to the numbers ignore the dazzling ones that Pujols is compiling? His 2001 numbers made him just the fourth rookie in major-league history to post a .300 batting average, with 30 home runs, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored. Then he came back last year and did it again, becoming the first player in baseball history to hit at least .300 and collect 30 homers, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored in his first two major-league seasons.
And now he's trying to stretch the boundaries of baseball history to an even more outrageous limit in his third full season in the big leagues. Pujols was leading the league with a .389 average and is on pace to collect 42 home runs and 135 runs batted in, plus another 135 runs scored. These are the sort of numbers that make him a legit Triple Crown threat, but more staggering is the fact that if he continues on this pace, Pujols will get off to the best career start in the entire glorious history of the major leagues.
Better than Ruth. Better than Aaron. Better than DiMaggio, Williams, Mays or Barry Bonds.
Too bad baseball's stat freaks and seamheads aren't paying attention. They keep casting All-Star votes for slumping Sammy Sosa instead of a deserving Albert Pujols. Sosa has six home runs, only 27 RBIs and was caught red-handed corking his bat. But fan voting ignored this. Only Bonds received more NL outfield votes than Sosa did over the course of last week's voting, and as of Wednesday, Sosa (394,069 votes) had more than 145,000 more than the game's most electrifying player (Pujols is fourth with 248,804 votes).
Apparently, Sosa's bat isn't the only thing stuffed with cork. So, too, are the heads of a lot of baseball fans.
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I read this article today and thought it was a good read... I agree with everything just about BUT I don't caret if he isn't getting the rewards or recognition yet he deserves... Who cares? He will make the All Star team no matter what and that is what counts. When you look back on players careers.. no one ever mentions what place his votes came in.. they mention how many all star games he was in... mvps.. etc.. I also live in St. Louis... so already no how special he is... and I don't care if the rest of the fans outside St. Louis don't know how good he is yet or he is not a popular player yet outside of this city. I'm sure his popularity and fame will grow over time any ways. The only player in all of baseball I would even consider trading him for is Arod... and I wouldn't even do that. I'm sure after the Yankees get a closer look at him later this week... they will start to save up money for him if they haven't been already.
I'm not sure why he gets defensive... and starts talking about Sosa.. specially when this guy is not even from St. Louis. no need for that imo
Pujols is racking up numbers so dizzying that his meteoric three-year career statistics are in a class all by themselves, and yet the majority of the baseball public fails to understand or appreciate his stunning greatness, as evidenced by the latest All-Star Game fan balloting. Baseball's past is loaded with supernovas and one-hit wonders who flame out just as suddenly as they flashed before our eyes. But Pujols doesn't have that Darryl Strawberry or Cesar Cedeno feel to him. There is some long-term substance to this guy, even if the baseball public hasn't quite caught on just yet.
How do you manage to put together one of the best rookie seasons in baseball history, follow it up with a second season that gained you a runner-up slot for the National League MVP award, then come back this year with legitimate Triple Crown numbers, and still go largely unnoticed?
He was batting close to .390 entering Tuesday's game against Boston, and among the league leaders in every major batting category. He scales the fences trying to haul down opponents' rocket shots, and is doing it all while playing in so much pain that he looks like a walking ice bag after every game, and he's still a distant fourth in NL outfield All-Star voting?
That is some trick Pujols is pulling off. Perhaps this stroll around the Boston and New York media markets will help. Perhaps he will use the grand stage of performing in two of baseball's most celebrated shrines to blurt out baseball's best-kept secret. Maybe after all those folks get a load of his big bat, the rest of the baseball world outside of St. Louis catches on to just how good this guy is.
I just don't get it. How can a sport that professes to be such a slave to the numbers ignore the dazzling ones that Pujols is compiling? His 2001 numbers made him just the fourth rookie in major-league history to post a .300 batting average, with 30 home runs, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored. Then he came back last year and did it again, becoming the first player in baseball history to hit at least .300 and collect 30 homers, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored in his first two major-league seasons.
And now he's trying to stretch the boundaries of baseball history to an even more outrageous limit in his third full season in the big leagues. Pujols was leading the league with a .389 average and is on pace to collect 42 home runs and 135 runs batted in, plus another 135 runs scored. These are the sort of numbers that make him a legit Triple Crown threat, but more staggering is the fact that if he continues on this pace, Pujols will get off to the best career start in the entire glorious history of the major leagues.
Better than Ruth. Better than Aaron. Better than DiMaggio, Williams, Mays or Barry Bonds.
Too bad baseball's stat freaks and seamheads aren't paying attention. They keep casting All-Star votes for slumping Sammy Sosa instead of a deserving Albert Pujols. Sosa has six home runs, only 27 RBIs and was caught red-handed corking his bat. But fan voting ignored this. Only Bonds received more NL outfield votes than Sosa did over the course of last week's voting, and as of Wednesday, Sosa (394,069 votes) had more than 145,000 more than the game's most electrifying player (Pujols is fourth with 248,804 votes).
Apparently, Sosa's bat isn't the only thing stuffed with cork. So, too, are the heads of a lot of baseball fans.
Link
I read this article today and thought it was a good read... I agree with everything just about BUT I don't caret if he isn't getting the rewards or recognition yet he deserves... Who cares? He will make the All Star team no matter what and that is what counts. When you look back on players careers.. no one ever mentions what place his votes came in.. they mention how many all star games he was in... mvps.. etc.. I also live in St. Louis... so already no how special he is... and I don't care if the rest of the fans outside St. Louis don't know how good he is yet or he is not a popular player yet outside of this city. I'm sure his popularity and fame will grow over time any ways. The only player in all of baseball I would even consider trading him for is Arod... and I wouldn't even do that. I'm sure after the Yankees get a closer look at him later this week... they will start to save up money for him if they haven't been already.
I'm not sure why he gets defensive... and starts talking about Sosa.. specially when this guy is not even from St. Louis. no need for that imo
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