AMONG BASEBALL’S ELITE
Pujols part of select 600-homer club
We live in an era of home run fatigue with an entire generation of baseball fans, having already witnessed the obliteration of once-hallowed numbers such as 755 and 61, now growing accustomed to a grotesque recalibration of historic milestones.
Fifty homers in a season, or 500 in a career, used to mean far more than it does now. Fly balls are leaving ballparks at an unprecedented rate this season, 1.23 per team per game, each one a brick in the construction of a gaudy new skyscraper where a historic monument once sat.
It would be easy, in this atmosphere, to dismiss Albert Pujols’ 600th career homer, struck late Saturday night. He became the ninth member of baseball’s 600 home run club, but the sixth to get there in the past 15 years. Babe Ruth was alone in that room for 38 years, then Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays had it to themselves for another 31. Lately, it’s become crowded.
But there is nothing cheap about Pujols’ ascent. The Los Angeles Angels’ designated hitter became the fourth-youngest member of the club behind Ruth, Alex Rodriguez and Aaron. Only Ruth, among those with 600 homers, has a higher career batting average than Pujols, .342 to .308, and only Ruth has more World Series rings, seven to two. Only Aaron struck out at a lower rate than Pujols, 9.9 per cent to 10.1.
Leaving defence aside, you could make a real case that Pujols is the greatest right-handed hitter in history. At a minimum he is in the discussion, along with Mays, Aaron, Cabrera, Rodriguez, Frank Robinson, Manny Ramirez and Jimmy Foxx.
And let’s remember Pujols isn’t finished yet. He needs just 124 hits to reach 3,000, which would gain him entry to the 3,000-hit, 600-homer club, of which there are only three members — Aaron, Rodriguez and Mays.
He could hit another 100 homers and join Bonds, Aaron and Ruth in the 700-homer club, or he could retire before his Angels contract is up. Either way, he will be a first-ballot hall of famer five years after he plays his last game.