Veteran sluggers Pujols, Cabrera test Father Time
Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols, minding his own business at first base, was startled when someone rolled a baseball from the opposing dugout in between innings, clanking off his foot.
Pujols, with a scowl on his face, spun around and saw the culprit hiding his face, running away hoping to avoid detection. Miggy.
Yep, who else but fun-loving Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera.
Pujols, who rarely cracks a smile once he walks onto the field from the Angels clubhouse, couldn’t help but laugh. His mind immediately started racing, thinking back to the days they first met when they were teenagers, arriving together in South Florida for the first time as pro-
fessional players.
My God, Pujols thought to himself, has it really been 18 years?
Pujols, the 402nd player chosen in the June 1999 draft, was in Jupiter, Fla., as a 19-year-old in the St. Louis Cardinals instructional league camp. Miguel Cabrera, a 16-year-old who had signed for $1.8 million, the largest bonus ever given to an international player, was in the Florida Marlins camp.
Cabrera remembers shyly walking over, introducing himself and being in awe of Pujols’ power. Pujols remembers being in disbelief that a hitter could look so mature at such a young age.
Pujols is 37 now, Cabrera 34. Combined, they are slated to amass $750 million in career earnings, a fair bounty for 21 combined All-Star spots, five MVP awards, five batting titles, 13 Silver Slugger awards, 5,404 hits, 3,411 RBI, 1,046 home runs and three World Series titles.
Together, they are nearing — or already immersed in — the game’s ultimate challenge: Fending off the effects of age while maintaining an elite level of performance.
Their bodies might betray them more often now, but that doesn’t mean their generational hitting skills no longer merit appreciation.
Even if these best of friends still can’t agree on who’s the better hitter.
“He’s the best, the best I’ve ever seen,” Cabrera tells USA TODAY Sports. “There’s no one like Albert. I’ve watched him my whole life. Everyone wants to be like him. He’s unbelievable.”
Counters Pujols: “Don’t let him trick you. Miguel Cabrera is the greatest right-handed hitter in the game. No one has been able to do what he can do. That guy is just unreal.”
In an era of instant gratification, when first impressions often trump a body of work, we forget we’re watching two of the greatest right-handed hitters in baseball history.
If they retired tomorrow, they’d be in the Hall of Fame in five years. Their names would forever be mentioned in the same breath as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Rogers Hornsby, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx and Frank Robinson.
“I think the game right now is not only witnessing two of the greatest hitters of our generation but two of the greatest right-handed hitters who have ever lived,” says likely Hall of Famer Jim Thome, who hit 612 home runs.
“The message to baseball fans should be to embrace these iconic guys, because when they’re done playing, you may never see anything like that again in your life. They’re putting up numbers that will stand the test of time.”
Sure, it might be easy to ignore them now while we focus on the exploits of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. Harper was 9 when Pujols won the 2001 National League rookie of the year award before going on to finish in the top five of the MVP voting for six consecutive years. Harper and Trout weren’t even teenagers when Cabrera won his World Series ring in 2003 with the Marlins before going on to hit at least .300 in 11 of his 14 seasons heading into 2017.
“You’re talking about two of the best baseball players that have ever played this game,” says David Ortiz, who won three World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox. “I remember Albert coming to my school when he was a kid, just sitting in the stands, watching me hit. Not only is he a Hall of Fame player, but he’s one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever met in my life. And Miguel? I’m so proud of him the way he’s matured and has become a leader.
“These guys have meant so much to the game of baseball.”
Maybe it’s time we pay attention ourselves, savoring their accomplishments while they’re still around instead of restlessly casting our eyes toward whoever or whatever is next.
“I don’t think it’s fair to start comparing these young kids to legends of the game,” Pujols says. “I remember when Jason Heyward came up, he was supposed to be this phenom, the next Hank Aaron. You’ve got to just let him be himself. You’ve got to let kids mature and put up consistent numbers year in and year out for their careers.”
Trout, the Angels’ twotime American League MVP who at 25 is widely acknowledged as the best player in today’s game, says there are times he feels uncomfortable with the spotlight focused on himself and the Washington Nationals’ Harper. Sure, they’ve had sensational starts to their careers, combining for three MVP awards and nine AllStar appearances, but come on, he says, stop and check out the numbers of Pujols and Cabrera.
“You hear people talk about us all of the time,” Trout says, “but how about what they’ve done and keep on doing. You look at those numbers, and they’re incredible. And they keep on doing it.”
Pujols, the slugger largely forgotten since leaving St. Louis after the 2011 season, is again on the brink of entering America’s consciousness.
Pujols, who hit at least 30 homers in all but two of his previous 16 seasons, is four homers shy of becoming the ninth player to hit 600 home runs and, besides Mays, the only right-handed hitter not stained by steroids on that list. With the possible exception of Cabrera, we might not see another 600-home run hitter for at least a decade.
“I can’t even imagine 600 homers,” says Cabrera, a four-time batting champion, 2012 Triple Crown winner and the first righthanded hitter to win three consecutive batting titles since Hornsby 90 years ago. “That’s just incredible to me. And he’s not just a home run hitter, either. You look at his hits, his RBI, who has done that?”
Indeed, Pujols is a linedrive hitter who hasn’t struck out more than 76 times since his rookie season. Only Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Mel Ott and Aaron have a lower strikeout percentage in the 500homer club.
Pujols also has 2,861 hits and 1,844 RBI, and he can join Alex Rodriguez as the only players in history with 600 homers, 3,000 hits and 2,000 RBI.
“For 10 years,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus says of Pujols, “he was the best player in the game.”
Pujols still puts up numbers, hitting 31 homers and driving in 119 runs last year. He has hit 104 homers with 346 RBI since 2014 and, since joining the Angels in 2012, his OPS-plus is a more-than-respectable 121.
Yet leg injuries and age have diminished some of his skills. He still has that quick, powerful swing but is now primarily a pull hitter, a .264 hitter since signing a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels.
“I’ve had lower-half problems since I got here, so my batting average isn’t the same,” Pujols says. “My onbase percentage isn’t the same. But I’m still producing. I mean, I hit 31 homers with 119 RBI last year. What’s wrong with that?
“I’m pretty sure there are about 300 players in the league that wish they had the numbers I had last year.”
Still, Pujols is a perfectionist. He’d love to be a .300 hitter again. Oh, to go back in time and have that dream 2006 season, hitting .331 with 49 homers and 137 RBI with a 1.102 OPS in only 143 games, striking out just 50 times.
“The thing is, guys like myself and Cabrera,” says Pujols, who is hitting .232 with five homers and 27 RBI this year, “we spoiled people so much hitting .350, .340 every year with 40 homers and 100 RBI. Even the greatest of the greatest never stayed at the same level the whole time. It’s impossible.
“Maybe I could have taken more days off when I was with the Cardinals and I wouldn’t be here dealing with some of these aches and pains and injuries. But I don’t look back. I don’t regret anything.
“If you would have told me 17 years ago when I was drafted by the Cardinals that I would have a career like this, I would have laughed at you. God is good. It’s been a blessing.”
Indeed, Cabrera and Pujols, forever linked by their concurrent greatness, also will share the burden of fighting off age and decline while earning handsome paychecks based on past brilliance.
Cabrera, whom Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke calls “the greatest hitter I’ve ever faced,” also is struggling after returning from the disabled list with a strained groin. He’s hitting nearly 90 points below his career average — .238 with four homers and 14 RBI. He homered in his first game off the DL but has just two extra-base hits, no homers and three RBI in his last 10 games.
Pujols, alarmed at what he was seeing, took Cabrera aside one day and told him he wasn’t loading his body quickly enough, trying to remedy Cabrera’s swing.
“He does the same thing with me,” Trout says of Pujols. “I’ll take a swing at the plate, and he’ll whistle at me. I’ll look at him, and he can tell me exactly what I’m doing wrong. It’s pretty remarkable.”
Still, Cabrera says, the best advice Pujols offered him was at the outset of his career. It was sweet and simple and, in today’s game, is too often ignored.
“He says, ‘Miggy, when you got guys in scoring position, don’t take so many pitches,’ ” Cabrera says. “‘You’ve got to be aggressive. You’ve got to drive in that run. If you don’t do it, you’re not doing your job.’
“I’ll remember that as long as I play the game.”
Cabrera, who signed an eight-year, $248 million extension in 2014, is under contract through 2023. Pujols’ deal, with $140 million remaining, expires after the 2021 season. Yet if either of them thinks he’s no longer producing the way he wants or the game stops being fun, each vows to simply walk away.
“The game will let you know when it’s time to retire,” Pujols says. “When you stop producing and you feel like you can’t compete with these young players anymore, it’s time to hang it up.”
Their massive contracts, Pujols and Cabrera say, will have no impact on their decision. It plays no part in their thinking now, they say, disputing any notion that it’s a burden.
“A lot of people make a lot of money right now,” Cabrera says. “If somebody says how can you make this, I’ll say, ‘How about the other guys?’ There’s a lot of guys making $20 million now.
“Yeah, I know we’re getting old, but getting old is good if you can still play at this level. That’s what makes great players, seeing them do this for 20, 25 years.
“And that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
It’s not too late to take notice.