The first home run of the DominicanAlbert Pujolsin the Major Leagues it was on April 6, 2001, at Chase Field. Therefore, the 42-year-old slugger was not going to say goodbye to the desert without giving at least one more home run.
In his first two at-bats of Saturday’s game against the D-backs, Pujols hit his 691st and 692nd homers, both off left-hander Madison Bumgarner. The Dominican ranks fifth in the history of the National and American Leagues in career home runs, five behind Alex RodrÃguez.
But this statistic is even more impressive: Pujols rose to second in NL/AL history in total bases. He now has 6,141, surpassing Cardinals legend and Hall of Famer Stan Musial (6,134). The only player with more bases reached than the Dominican is Hank Aaron (6,856).
Beginning in August, Pujols’ chances of hitting 700 career home runs seemed to be in the wind. However, he has hit five homers in his last eight games. If he can keep up, it’s possible he could become just the fourth player in baseball history to reach the monumental number, or at least pass A-Rod for fourth place in history.