BIOGRAPHY
Albert Pujols was born January 16, 1980, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is a first baseman in the MLB.
Nicknamed "The Machine", he played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals for 11 seasons and the Los Angeles Angels for 10 seasons. With the Cardinals, Pujols was a three-time National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) (2005, 2008, 2009) and nine-time All-Star (2001, 2003–2010). After joining the Angels in 2012, he made one All-Star appearance, in 2015. A right-handed batter and thrower, Pujols stands 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall and weighs 235 lb (107 kg).
After one season of college baseball, he was selected by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB draft. As a rookie for the Cardinals in 2001, he was unanimously voted the NL Rookie of the Year. Pujols played consistently for the Cardinals, contributing to two World Series championships in 2006 and 2011. After the 2011 season, Pujols became a free agent and signed a 10-year contract with the Angels.
Pujols was, at the height of his career, a highly regarded hitter who showed a "combination of contact hitting ability, patience, and raw power." He is a six-time Silver Slugger who has twice led the NL in home runs, and he has also led the NL once each in batting average, doubles, and RBIs. He is significantly above-average in career regular-season batting average (.299), walk rate (10.8 percent), and Isolated Power (.249). He holds the MLB all-time record for most times grounded into a double play (395). With 14 seasons of 100 or more RBI produced, he is one of only four players in MLB history to have topped 2,000 RBI in his career, surpassing Alex Rodriguez for third place on the official all-time list during the 2020 season. Pujols collected his 3,000th career hit in 2018, becoming the 32nd player in MLB history to do so. Pujols also became the fourth member of the 3,000-hit club to also hit 600 home runs, joining Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Alex Rodriguez.
On May 17, 2021, Pujols agreed to a one-year major league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He made his Dodgers debut that night as the starting first baseman against the Arizona Diamondbacks. With his longtime number 5 having been assigned to Corey Seager, Pujols chose the number 55; both as nods to his two former teams, as well as the Bible. "If you know the bible," Pujols explained, "it’s the number of grace. So I feel 5-5, double grace."
On May 20, Pujols hit his first home run as a Dodger, a two-run homer off Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks. On July 5, Pujols singled against the Miami Marlins to become the fourth player ever to reach 6,000 total bases (joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Stan Musial).
In 2021, Pujols batted .236/.284/.433 with 17 home runs and 50 RBIs in 275 at-bats.
Pujols was chosen to be on the National League team for the 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star Game by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in a "legends" selection, while batting .215 with a .677 OPS on the season. He was later selected to participate in the 2022 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby.
