Posted on 09/18/2020 8:57:23 PM PDT by fhayek
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols passed Willie Mays for fifth place on the career home run list, hitting No. 661 on Friday night against Texas.
The 40-year-old Pujols connected for a solo homer with one out in the fifth inning. He sent Wes Benjamin's fastball on a 1-2 count over the wall in left field.
Pujols has hit five homers this season. He tied Mays last Sunday at Colorado.
It is only Pujols' second home run since Aug. 4. He now trails only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Alex Rodriguez (696).
The Angels quickly congratulated Pujols on Twitter.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
Well done, Albert.
Congratulations, but...
-Pitching dilution due to expansion
-Lower pitcher’s mound
-No called strikes above the waist..
Just sayin’.
Back in the day baseball and other sports had dignity. Today they are an embarrassment to our nation.
Records broken? Nobody cares.
Those seasons with the Angels have taken down Pujols’ overall stats. Batted .328 with the Cardinals (.420 OBP), but has batted .257 with the Angels (.313 OBP). Still first ballot HOF.
Every era is different. 661 home runs is more than I could hit on Ninetendo. Give it a rest.
Pujols is a Hall of Famer still playing. His every at-bat now just adds to his his history, and eventually his legend.
I know, I know. Inflated salaries, steroids, kneeling at the anthem... Whatever. I have been a fan for fifty years. You don't want people bullying you on what you like, you won't bully me on what I like...
...the “P” is silent...
Those seasons with the Angels have taken down Pujols’ overall stats. Batted .328 with the Cardinals (.420 OBP), but has batted .257 with the Angels (.313 OBP).
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not the same player 35-40 then 25-30 of course because of age but the defensive shift had a lot to do with it too
How the shift has ruined Albert Pujols
.....From 2015 to 2018, Pujols has accumulated a whopping 403 hard-hit outs, putting balls in play that travel at least 95 mph. Nobody has more. His average exit velocity is 90.3 mph, ranked fourth among those with at least 1,700 batted balls during that stretch, according to Statcast. His batting average on balls in play is .245, tied for the lowest in the majors among qualified hitters during that time.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24270231/mlb-how-shift-ruined-albert-pujols
Aaron is still number 1. He did it without steroids.
Baseball has seen lots of changes, which have triggered many debates such as you touch on.
People say Babe Ruth never played a night game, and seldom faced multiple relief pitchers, or 9th inning closers, because in his day, starting pitchers finished the game.
Some have said that Babe didn’t face the best pitchers of his era, because black ballplayers weren’t allowed in the majors then.
Some have talked about how Babe didn’t have to deal with the rigors of coast to coast travel, crossing multiple time zones, and the stresses that puts on players.
But then others say, as you point out, pitching is diluted nowadays with so many expansion teams, so in Babe’s era of only 16 major league teams, every pitcher he faced was top notch compared to today’s.
Then again, Yankee Stadium had a short right field foul line and right center power alley, which helped Babe’s totals.
Boston’s Fenway Park was just the opposite in right field, with deeper right and right center, making it harder for Ted Williams to hit home runs. Then again, Ted lost several years to World War 2 and Korea, so who knows how many he would have it if he could have played those years.
Willie Mays lost almost two years to military service as a young man.
It all depends on which criteria people want to talk about, as they compare players from different eras, and talk of the significance of all time records or single season records.
It makes for lively debate which never quite get resolved.
Off topic, but you brought it up. OK, the shift hurts your offensive production...Why don’t teams adjust? If I was a manager, and they shift on my star, teach them the bunt down the third base line. After about six bunts that go into the corner, the shift ends. Screw the testosterone thing. Employ strategies that thwart your strategies.
Ted Williams lost like four years to two wars. Easily would have had 600 homers. It is what it is, and it ain’t what it ain’t.
Exactly. These can be interesting discussions, but we will never know for sure how many homers Ted Williams would have hit, or know how Babe Ruth would would fare if playing baseball today.
Steroids...
Just addin’. If not in Pujols’s case, at least in Bonds and Rodriguez’s.
I am told he hit 662 tonight too..
He is getting older. Home runs will not occur as often.
His drop-off started his first season with the Angels at age 32. He never hit higher than .285 (at age 32) with the Angels since.
Babe Ruth spent the first six years of his career as a pitcher. SIX YEARS! And you think YOU made a big mid career change? Of course Babe Ruth changed the landscape around 1920, so you are trying to compare Pablo Picasso to Rembrandt.
Records broken? Nobody cares.
Yes - whatever.
"The Say Hey Kid" still rules in my mind...
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