Albert Pujols, man. What more can you say about the guy? He was already unquestionably one of the greatest players to ever hit the diamond.
But now? After Friday night? He’s etched even deeper into the history and the lore of the game of baseball. He officially joined the 700 club with his 699th and 700th home runs coming against his old team. His name is now mentioned forever with some of the greatest players to ever play the sport.
And with those home runs, Pujols made a ton of history. Let’s take a look at the company Pujols is keeping with his 700th homer.
He's just the 4th player in MLB history to join the 700 club
Pujols joins Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth as the only players in league history with 700 home runs.
Pretty great company to keep if you ask me.
700 HOME RUNS FOR ALBERT PUJOLS 😤 @BRWalkoff
He becomes just the fourth player in MLB history to hit 700 career HRs pic.twitter.com/cB9WsLHyhP
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 24, 2022
He's the first Latino player to hit 700 home runs
Pujols is the first Latino member of the 700 club, which is a pretty awesome thing.
Barry Bonds
Hank Aaron
Babe Ruth
Albert PujolsThe #700 club has a new member.
First Latino in the club.
What a player! https://t.co/NBDrQ9J1qk— Carlos M. Ramírez (@Tomapapa) September 24, 2022
Pujols hit his 699th and 700th homers in the same game
Pujols hit both his 699th homer and his 700th in the same game. He’s the only member of the 700 club to pull that feat off, which is just flat out magical.
Albert Pujols is the only member of the four-member 700 home run club to:
– Be born outside of the United States.
– Hit his 699th and 700th in the same game.
– Hit No. 700 against his former team.
– Be older than his manager at the time of his milestone homer. pic.twitter.com/hgOBP5PIJu— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 24, 2022
He joined another exclusive club
Another pretty impressive thing about the homer is that it officially gave Pujols yet another 20 home run season.
It’s his 18th season of hitting at least 20 homers, which ranks third most in MLB history and ties him with Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
Albert Pujols has his 18th 20-home run season, 3rd-most in MLB history behind only Hank Aaron (20) and Barry Bonds (19). pic.twitter.com/7FxFeXvPla
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 24, 2022
He's spent 5 hours trotting bases after homers
This isn’t really that historic — it’s just a phenomenal flex. Pujols’ average trot around the bases after homers is around 26 seconds, per Jeremy Frank of MLB Random Stats.
He’s hit so many homers in his career that he’s spent a complete 5 hours just strutting across the bases. That’s extremely cool.
Albert Pujols’ average home run trot over the years it has been tracked by Statcast is ~26 seconds.
Extrapolated over his full career, Pujols has spent just over 5 HOURS of his life just running the bases after hitting a home run!
— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) September 24, 2022
Albert Pujols, man. What a legend. What a career.
