José Alberto Pujols Alcántara he (born January 16,
1980 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic),
(nicknamed Prince Albert, Phat Albert, The Machine,
or El Hombre) is a Major League Baseball first
baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is widely
regarded as one of the best players in the game
today.
"There's no better player in Major League Baseball.
We have a shot if we can keep him in the lineup." --
La Russa, on Albert Pujols
From 2001 (his debut) through the 2007 seasons,
Pujols has led the major leagues in total bases
(2,514) and extra-base hits (593). He was second in
home runs (282) to Alex Rodriguez (329); second in
RBI (861) to Rodriguez's 908; second in runs (847)
to A-Rod's 874; second in doubles (298) to Todd
Helton's 318; fourth in hits (1,344) to Ichiro
Suzuki's (1,592), Juan Pierre (1,378), Derek Jeter
(1,348); and second in batting average (.3315) to
Suzuki (.3335). He also won the rookie of the year
award in 2001.
In recent years, Pujols has become an excellent
defensive player at first base, winning his first
Gold Glove award in 2006.
During the 2006 season, he became the first Major
League player to hit 30 or more home runs in each of
his first six seasons, and the youngest to hit 250
home runs. He extended his 30-HR streak to seven
consecutive years in 2007 on August 22 against the
Florida Marlins, with a 2-run blast (#280 of his
career) at Busch Stadium in the first inning. Pujols
is also the first player since Ted Williams (8 yrs.;
1939-1942 and 1946-1949) to begin his career with
seven straight 100-RBI seasons, after hitting his
32nd home run (#282 of his career) on September 26,
2007, against the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee.
Pujols was born in the Dominican Republic. His
grandmother, America, assumed many of the
responsibilities of raising him.
Pujols and his family immigrated to the United
States in the early 1990s, first to New York City
and then later to Independence, Missouri. In the
U.S., Pujols gained his love for baseball, batting
over .500 in his first season of baseball at Fort
Osage High School. He quickly became the most feared
hitter in the Kansas City area, leading to multiple
intentional walks a game in some stretches. However,
he still managed to hit .660 with 8 home runs his
final year of high school, with limited official at
bats. After starring for both Fort Osage and the
Post 340 American Legion summer team out of
Independence, Pujols graduated from high school in
December of 1998. He went on to attend Maple Woods
Community College in the Kansas City area during the
spring of 1999. In his only season with the
community college, Pujols showed off his talent,
hitting a grand slam and turning an unassisted
triple play in his first game. He batted .461 for
the year.
Few big league teams were very interested in Pujols.
A Colorado Rockies scout reported favorably about
the young hitter, but the club took no action. The
Tampa Bay Devil Rays arranged a tryout for Pujols,
but it went poorly (after the team did not draft
him, the scout who'd found Pujols resigned). The St.
Louis Cardinals drafted Pujols in the 13th round of
the 1999 draft, the 402nd overall pick. However,
Pujols initially turned down a USD $10,000 bonus and
opted to play in the Jayhawk League in Kansas
instead. By the end of the summer of 1999, the
Cardinals increased their bonus offer to $70,000,
and Pujols signed with the team. He was assigned to
the minor leagues.
In 1999, Pujols played for the Peoria Chiefs of the
single-A Midwest League, where he was voted league
MVP. Pujols quickly progressed through the ranks of
the St. Louis farm clubs, first at the Potomac
Cannons in the high-A Carolina League and then with
the Memphis Redbirds in the Class AAA Pacific Coast
League. In just seven games with the Redbirds in
2000, Pujols batted .367 with two home runs.
Pujols moved to Kansas City, Missouri from the
Dominican Republic at age 16 with his father. He
graduated from Fort Osage High School in
Independence, Missouri in 1998, and attended Maple
Woods Community College on a baseball scholarship.
He later graduated and entered the MLB, joining the
St. Louis Cardinals. Pujols married his wife,
Deidre, on January 1, 2000. They have three
children, Isabella (Deidre's daughter, adopted by
Albert), Albert Jr., and Sophia. Albert and his wife
are active in the cause of people with Down
syndrome, as Isabella was born with this condition.
In 2005 (appropriately on May 5, which is written as
5/5/05, '5' being Albert's uniform number), they
launched the Pujols Family Foundation, which is
dedicated to "the love, care and development of
people with Down syndrome and their families", as
well as helping the poor in the Dominican Republic.
Pujols and his wife are very active Christians; as
the foundation's website says, "In the Pujols
family, God is first. Everything else is a distant
second." More information on the foundation can be
found at its website:
www.pujolsfamilyfoundation.org. He has taken part
ownership in Patrick's restaurant at Westport Plaza
in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The remodeled
restaurant was reopened as Pujols 5 on August 30,
2006.
Pujols is close friends with second baseman Plácido
Polanco, a former teammate with the St. Louis
Cardinals. Pujols is godfather to Polanco's
3-year-old son, Ismael. Placido was a second baseman
on the 2006 Detroit Tigers team which lost to the
Cardinals in the 2006 World Series.
On February 7, 2007, Pujols became a U.S. citizen,
scoring a perfect 100 on his citizenship test.
On April 24, 2007, Upper Deck Authenticated
announced it had signed Pujols to an exclusive
autographed memorabilia agreement.
