Heartbreak: St. Louis Cardinals greatest player of all time has finally announce his leaving due comeback of…
ST. LOUIS — Albert Pujols’s at-bat was short lived, as were the applause for him.
After nearly eight years in the making, Albert Pujols made his way back to Busch Stadium on Friday night, where he was met with an enthusiastic standing ovation that lasted for more than a minute.
Before joining the Los Angeles Angels following the 2011 season, Pujols played with the Cardinals for the first 11 years of his All-Star career. That was the first time the Angels have visited St. Louis since Pujols left, due to erratic interleague scheduling.
In the first inning of the standing ovation, Pujols embraced Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, whom he calls his little brother. Pujols tipped his helmet before entering the game, causing the commotion from the crowd to an additional level.
As soon as Michael Wacha’s first pitch caused Pujols to fly out to deep center field, the applause abruptly ended. In exchange for Pujols agreeing to a $254 million, ten-year contract with the Angels as a free agent, the Cardinals selected Wacha in the first round.
As he got ready to play on the field for the first time since celebrating St. Louis’ victory over the Texas Rangers in seven games to win the 2011 World Series, 39-year-old Pujols was thoughtful.
“The 11 years, the success I had here, nine playoffs, two World Series, best fans in baseball,” remarked Pujols. “I use the term that I came here as a little boy and I left as a really strong and big man, a grown man.”
Pujols will always hold a particular position in the Cardinals’ extensive historical tradition.
Drafted in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB Draft, he came out of nowhere to win the 2001 National League Rookie of the Year. In 1705 games with the Cardinals, Pujols hit.328 with 455 doubles, 445 home runs, and 1,329 RBI.
Pujols won two Gold Gloves, six Silver Sluggers, three MVP awards in the National League, and nine All-Star selections. In addition to winning titles in 2006 and 2011, Pujols guided the Cardinals to a second World Series trip in 2004.
About the standing ovation, Molina remarked, “What Albert did for the city, he deserves it.”
During spring training in 2008, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt recalled his early days surrounding Pujols as a minor league coach.
“He had simply be lurking (in the dugout) behind the opposing pitcher,” Shildt remarked. “I’d sit right beside him and you’d just feel like this radiation coming off of him coming into the competition and he’s picking up something and that never wavered and that’s a characteristic that few have.”
Pujols gave credit to former teammates Jim Edmonds, Edgar Renteria, Fernando Vina, Woody Williams, Placido Polanco, Larry Walker, Mike Matheny, and Molina for helping him develop as a player and a person, as well as to former Cardinals great Lou Brock, who taught him how to run the bases properly.
“After 20 years or so of playing this game, maybe you’ll depart longer than when you started, which is why you develop wonderful relationships since that is greater than all of my accomplishments, in my opinion,” Pujols declared.
Pujols is still actively involved in the community and keeps up a house in St. Louis through his foundation, which was created to assist kids with special needs.
His opinions of the city remained unwavering.
“What makes it special is just the support day in and day out,” Pujols stated. “I felt that if you hustled and played the game the correct way, they just loved their players, regardless of how well or poorly we were playing. Not only is it a fantastic city for sports, but we also witnessed that in football and hockey, where the Blues emerged victorious.”
