When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Albert Pujols for the remainder of the 2021 season, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts expressed confidence in his ability to contribute on the field and in the clubhouse.
Meanwhile, Pujols refuted the notion of only being interested in an everyday role and asserted he was fully on board with what the Dodgers had outlined in their meetings. Also on a personal level, the future Hall of Famer is in pursuit of MLB history.
Pujols’ home run in the Dodgers’ loss on Saturday was the 669th of his career. He’s unlikely to reach 700 this year and may need to play into the 2023 season as well in order to reach the milestone.
As the 41-year-old works to join an illustrious group, he moved up another list by going 2-for-4 with an RBI double to go along with the home run. That tied Pujols with Babe Ruth for extra-base hits (1,356) in MLB history, and he took sole possession of fourth place with a two-run home run on Sunday.
“I can’t even begin to compliment him. When you look at the body of work, he’s in company that are in books and in black and white film,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
“He just keeps adding to that list, keeps going higher and higher on all these different lists. I just can’t say enough about the player and person.”
Pujols is 21 extra-base hits from passing Stan Musial on the all-time list. Then would be home run king Barry Bonds (1,440) at second, and the all-time MLB leader in extra-base hits Hank Aaron (1,477).
Pujols previously made MLB history with Dodgers
Pujols’ first home run with L.A. put him in the record books as the first player in MLB history to hit one for two different teams in the same metro area before the end of May in the same season.
Pujols became part of group that includes Shea Hillebrand (2007) and Tim Wallach (1996) as players to hit a home run with the Dodgers and L.A. Angels in the same season.
Pujols also became the fourth Dodger to hit a homer at 41 years of age or older. The list includes Rickey Henderson (44 years old; twice in 2003), Babe Herman (42; 1945) and Curt Davis (41; 1945).
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