Movie ending. Yes: few believed that a script in San Luis would be the best seller, but Albert Pujols confirms that his greatness is indelible ink only for legends, because reaching 700 home runs has been nothing more than the tip of the iceberg in an “impossible” feat .
The greatest baseball player outside the United States ends a career in the noisiest way ever expected, crossed 42 January and in his twenty-second year, with a performance that “of ñapa” surpasses the retirement and last three years of Hank Aaron, who ended same age and same number of seasons.
When he hit his first home runs in April, his chances of achieving any of the September feats would only be surrealism, statistically improbable, because that is how a recent past that threatened to confine him to an infamous banishment sentenced him.
Two-year-old Pujols came chopped up -still with decent performance- in his meager game opportunities, eviction included with the Los Angeles Angels: the perfect picture of a goodbye in the worst way, for whom he had marked the imprint of a legend.
He had only hit 23 four-base hits in 148 games between 2020 and 2021 (one every 18.6 at-bats), where his role was mostly relegated against left-handed pitchers, with many pinch-hitting at-bats.
the monster arrives
Pujols had two-thirds of the season that left no doubt about an early retirement finish: four home runs in 40 games (78 at-bats), projecting just 8-10 at the end.
But the beast that against all odds snatched an uninterrupted title since 2001 woke up. And the terrific slugger in August exploded with eight homers in 23 games (home run every 7.6 at-bats!).
In the month of Augusto, La Maquina even had two games with multiple home runs, which he intends to repeat in the next one after his feat that came suddenly on the historic September 23.
When he hit his 700th, only the daredevil slugger… had to be Aaron (Judge)! he was able to give more complete strikes than the Dominican in the August-September period (16 to 14).
And despite the fact that September was the month of the home run feat, it was the eighth of the year that lit the explosive fuse. Pujols hit five homers in five games (from 14 to 20). In August, it wasn’t just power, he was also seeing the ball like a melon, hitting .364 on average. It was the stat raised to the power of off-the-chart talent.
A feat squared.
September has been almost a carbon copy of the thunderous performance of the ineffable Cardinal, in the greatest comeback in memory of a long-lived in history. He hit six homers in 65 at-bats (he takes it out every 10.8): also outside normal parameters.
Pujols defeats Aaron
The best Latino slugger in history shares the top of baseball with the gigantic Hank Aaron (755 home runs), as the only ones with all four legs (3000 H / 700 HR’s / 2000 EC / 1400 extra-base hits -EB.
However, Pujols’ stature (700 HRs as of writing) is unmatched by Butler Aaron when it comes to longevity at the highest level. In both of their last three seasons (at age 42), his records outnumber him “by the mile,” at the time of the article.
While the indomitable Cardenal took 719 at-bats, with 44 four-corner shots, averaging one every 16.3 at-bats; against an Aaron who homered 42 times in 1,076 official trips to the plate (25.6 per homer).
Let’s see the rest of the “four strokes” (CE, batting average and extra-base hits -EB- by turns during the last three years of the two greatest sluggers (conjunction power/production) in history.
The great Cardenal averaged an RBI for every 5.4 at-bats, batted .245 (176 hits) and an extra-base hit every 11 trips to the plate; while the greatest of the garroteros drove in a run every 6.6 at-bats, batting average of .250 (262 H), with one EB for every 13 official at-bats.
Pujols has been full in his goodbye, giving 21 homers, with 58 RBIs (to date), against an Aaron with 10 HR’s and 35 CE in his 22nd season; clear evidence that the Dominican finished much more consistently than his emulator, testified in the proportion of turns.