Albert Pujols: Why He Will Be the Greatest Player Ever

As if we needed further proof that Albert Pujols will demand his own wing in Cooperstown someday, he put himself in some pretty decent company tonight.

Game 3 of the 2011 World Series just became the Pujols show. With a line of five hits in six at-bats, three home runs, six RBI and 14 total bases, the big first baseman either tied or set four Fall Classic records.

What I want to focus on is the three home runs. That's a big accomplishment in any game. But in crunch time, on the world's biggest baseball stage, on the road, no less? Pujols became the third player of all time to reach the three-homers-in-the-World-Series milestone. Maybe you've heard of the other two?

Babe Ruth. Reggie Jackson. Albert Pujols. For years, it's been a no-doubter. Pujols was going to be one of the greats. This may be that one little gold star on the resume that he needed to consistently have his name mentioned among players like the Great Bambino.

We are truly witnessing the greatest individual athlete in any sport of any era. It may be premature to say that Pujols will be the greatest baseball player ever to live.

But I've come up with 10 legitimate reasons as to why he will eventually hold that title, and why he will earn every penny of the inevitable $300 million contract coming his way.

1. Pujols Stays Healthy

Pujols has missed a grand total of 87 regular season games in 11 seasons. That's roughly 154 games a season. The most he's ever missed in one year was 19.

That year (2006), he hit 49 home runs and drove in 137 runs, while hitting .331. His Cardinals won the World Series. Can you imagine what he would have done with 19 more games?

Anyway, chalk it up to luck, a good workout routine, the position he plays, whatever. But the dude doesn't get hurt. Naturally, as he ages, his body will begin to break down.

He will be hurt more often than he has in the past, but he also seems to have that type of body that is borderline indestructible, so who knows? The record books better hope Pujols gets a little hobbled or they are going to get some bad eraser burn.

2. His Numbers Are Insane

Okay, we all know that Albert puts up big numbers every season. That's how he becomes one of the best of all time. That's how he wins a World Series ring and three MVP awards so far.

That's how he ensures his Hall of Fame plaque. Hell, with these stats, he might have the place named after him! Hmm, Pujolstown, N.Y. Kind of has a ring to it!

In Pujols' 11 seasons, he has an average of .328, 445 home runs and 1,329 RBI. Let's just toss in the .420 on-base percentage, .617 slugging percentage and 1.037 OPS for kicks.

It's okay, my jaw hurts too. It hit the floor hard. In his postseason career, Pujols drops a smooth stat line of .331/15/46. The guy's got skills.

3. He Will Shatter the Big Records

First it was Babe Ruth. Then Hank Aaron. Most recently, Barry Bonds*. It would have been Ken Griffey Jr. It will be Alex Rodriguez. None of that matters, because Albert Pujols will retire with more home runs than any of those names.

Through 11 seasons, he has 445. That means he has averaged just over 40 since he broke into the league in 2001.

At that manic pace, Pujols will hit 400 more (assuming he plays out the 10-year contract he's going to sign in the offseason). Realistically, he will hover around 815. We're still talking 60 more than Bonds* ever hit. That's a solid 30 more than A-Rod can really expect to retire with.

Hitting .300 in a season is an incredible feat. To average a hit every three at-bats is out of this world. At his current pace, Pujols will come excruciatingly close to being the third player, along with Pete Rose and Ty Cobb, to rack up 4,000 career hits.

Did I mention he has a chance to break the all-time RBI record, something I imagined impossible until Pujols came along? That's right, if he plays 10 more seasons, Pujols is on pace to obliterate Aaron's record of 2,297 RBI. We could be looking at a 2,500-RBI career.

4. Pujols Can Hit in Any Lineup

The St. Louis Cardinals have been a dizzying array of surprise rookies, wily veterans and random no-names for as long as I can remember. Pujols has been the one constant in the lineup.

But whether he's got Fernando Vina, Mark McGwire and Ray Lankford supporting him, or Matt Holliday, Rafael Furcal and Lance Berkman, Pujols puts up the big stats. 

Most big hitters in the game today have some kind of protection around them. Rather, they need protection around them. Pujols is the one providing the protection.

He could play for the Houston Astros without Carlos Lee, and he would still hit over .300 and hover around 40 homers/100 RBI. That's just the kind of pure talent he has. A sweeter right-handed stroke hasn't been seen in baseball.

5. He Can Hit Anything

So we've established that Pujols could put up monster numbers even with tee-ball teammates. The other thing that convinces me he'll be the greatest ever, is that he just hits everything. 

You know those hot and cold grid zone graphics they toss up on the screen? Well, red stands for hot, as in don't throw it there. All nine grids for Pujols are more red than his Cardinals hat. 

I can only imagine a catcher coming out to the mound to chat with his pitcher as Pujols strolls to the plate with the bases loaded:

Um...well. Just. Don't throw a strike...

Don't throw a strike? That's your plan?

It's Albert. Ah, hell. Let's walk him.

Okay, so it's not that extreme. But you get the point. Pujols is dangerous in any situation against any pitcher in any game. There is no weakness in his swing. For example, you can beat a lot of power hitters with high fastballs or breaking balls low and away.

Well, Alexi Ogando threw him high heat in the sixth inning and the ball ended up halfway to Oklahoma. Darren Oliver threw him some nasty stuff on the outside corner in the ninth and the ball landed in the last row of the bleachers. You get my drift.

6. His Defense Is Money

Okay, so the guy rakes. We get it. Can he do anything else? Well, I'm glad you asked! Pujols has been one of the better defensive first baseman in the league for some time. He never looks lazy out there and has a knack for bumbling that awkward body around the infield to make some pretty stellar plays.

He's smart; he knows situational baseball like nobody's business and always seems to make the great plays look routine, and the tough plays look unbelievable.

Pujols has two Gold Glove awards to his name so far, but should be in the running every season. This year, he had a .992 fielding percentage at first, right on par with his career average.

In 2010, he made four errors, good for a .998 fielding percentage. Long story short, he's not some basher you put over at first base to limit the defensive damage.

7. He's a Complete Player

Offense? Check. Defense? Check. Baseball smarts? Check. 

A five-tool player is considered to be able to hit for average, hit for power, have speed, a gun for an arm, and play great defense. It's rare you find someone with that entire skill set.

Pujols doesn't have speed or a gun for an arm. But he hits for average, drops bombs and plays great defense. In my opinion, Pujols is a five-tool player in his own right.

By that I mean, he's got three of the five "requirements" to begin with. But, while he's not speedy by any means, he is a brilliant base runner.

Like I mentioned, Pujols knows situational baseball better than Ken Jennings knows abstract trivia answers. He gets good breaks on the base paths, goes first to third, knows how to slide and even has a decent stat sheet for base running (84 steals in 119 tries). 

The last Pujols Pentagon requirement is leadership. He exudes this trait on the field and off the field. He's in a state of constant hustle on the field, doesn't get in arguments or brawls, and wins with class.

Pujols' demeanor is one of the main reasons St. Louis can throw together a patchwork lineup every season and still win.

8. Pujols Is a Picture of Consistency

So Pujols has the stats, he stays healthy and is the complete package. Even some players with great numbers have a few huge years and then a bad one. Well, consider this. In 2011, Pujols had what was widely considered a down year. Here are his 2011 numbers:

Average: .299

Home runs: 37

RBI's: 99

That. Is. A. DOWN. Year? My goodness. For the first time in Albert's career, he hit below .300 and drove in less than 100 runs. He was literally one point, or one RBI away from reaching both benchmarks for the 11th straight season. He's never hit fewer than 32 home runs in a season. The last time Pujols had an on-base percentage lower than .366 was...well, I'm going to guess sometime around birth. 

That means even in an off-year, Pujols is getting on base and helping his team in more than one-third of his at-bats. A big part of the consistency throughout his great career has been due to staying healthy. But even so, the fact that he never has a truly bad season is ridiculous.

9. His Reputation Is Spotless

The home run king* may be dirty. We'll never really know, because the American justice system won't let us. But I think we all know that Barry Bonds* was pricking his butt cheeks in the clubhouse. Even if he wasn't, he was an all-league jackass. Albert Pujols has been a class act on and off the field since he joined the Cardinals.

The worst things I can think of that Pujols did both happened this year. In Milwaukee, he caught a foul ball and held the ball out in his glove to a Brewers fan in the front row. He had a change of heart in that moment and pulled his glove back, before turning around and laughing.

It was really just hilarious to watch the old man's reaction. And while it was "mean," Pujols was more akin to a big brother holding your stuffed animal too high for you to jump and reach.

And in Game 2 of the World Series, he made a much-overblown error that led to a couple runs for the Rangers that proved to win the game for Texas. According to the attention whores at ESPN, he was dodging the media in the clubhouse after the game. 

Basically, both events were jokes and Pujols has been a stellar role model for all 11 of his seasons. Most importantly, in an era that is at the tail end of the most damaging scandal to ever hit America's past time, Pujols has been clean for every test.

This guy should be every young, aspiring athlete's (who are not Cubs fans, of course) hero.

10. Is He SERIOUSLY Only 31?

Perhaps the most amazing part of everything I've mentioned here, is that Pujols is still just 31 years old. For those of you who don't know, 27-33 is widely considered a baseball player's prime.

The fact that Pujols, aged 21-26, was so good and then he has still been able to top it in his prime, is unheard of. Considering his clean history of health, the consistency with which he has mashed, and the position he plays, I see no reason why Pujols won't play until he's north of 40. 

It's almost inevitable that Albert will get the 10-year, $300 million contract he deserves. Someone will pony up and pay him that absurd amount. Their investment, assuming he stays relatively injury-free, will be worth another ten seasons of .300/30/100. And most likely, lots of hardware.

It already seems like Pujols has been in the Majors forever. In reality, he's only 31, and he's just getting started.

When the snow starts to fall, and the spikes are stored for the winter, and the sun sets on Pujols' career, he will walk straight into Cooperstown as a legend: the greatest baseball player who ever lived.