His .340 average, 20 home runs, and 64 RBIs are three very good reasons why St Louis Cardinal fans can’t get enough of Albert Pujols. But the swing’s not the only reason why we should love Albert Pujols…At the moment, Albert Pujols is one of the best players in baseball. His .340 batting average is plain sickening, and the way the Cardinals offense can heat up on any given day, he’s sure to be a Triple Crown contender right up until the curtain finally falls down on the MLB regular season.
And even if he’s having an 0-4 day (rare, but it does happen- even to Triple Crown contenders), the 24 year-old is good enough at the sac fly or a runner-advancing ground out to make him an invaluable addition to the team. Oh, and he’s quite useful at fielding his position too.
But that’s not the only reason why we should love Albert.
Despite getting a $100 million (over 7 years) contract, family life for Albert and his wife Deidre hasn’t exactly been plain sailing. His daughter, Isabella, has Down Syndrome, and suddenly he had a mission on top of his Christian one- raising money for his foundation which helps families affected by Down Syndrome through increased awareness and the meeting of “tangible needs.”
“We didn’t choose Down Syndrome, Down Syndrome chose us,” Pujols shares. You can almost hear the first baseman’s sleeves being rolled up even as we speak.
And Albert sure knows how to use his celebrity value.
For a certain donation, you can have a signed Albert Pujols shirt, sticker, baseball drawing, and if you pay between $5,000- $9,999, you even get invited to the meet and greet. Corporate donors have already jumped on board, with household names like Ford, Morgan Stanley, Outback Steakhouse, American Airlines, Nike, and Wheaties already adding their weight to an important issue. There’s also a golf fundraiser where you’ll be able to meet Cardinal heroes past and present-including Pujols and manager Tony LaRussa. Hey- anyone know Tiger Woods’ cell number?
And even if he didn’t have enough callings from The Big Man, he’s also got a sideline in the education and raising of living standards for Dominican orphans, a far cry from how some professional athletes spend their hard-earned green.
“I try to spend as much time with God and my family. That’s more important than anything I’m doing in baseball,” Albert says.
At least someone has their priorities right.
8 replies on “Why we should all love Albert Pujols”
disagree Albert’s a great player, but he’s not the best. Alex Rodriguez would have qualify as the best…youngest player ever to hit 400 homeruns. If he stays healthy, he’ll break every record in the books.
Good article Good article.
Albert is a great player, and it seems from your article that he is also a great person (which is even more important).
I don’t think he is the #1 player (but that’s a subjective opinion – and you have good and legitimate reasons for your belief he is), but certainly is great, and baseball and baseball fans are lucky to have him.
clean it up it is sloppy/incorrect in some parts.
First off, “down syndrome” is not an “illness”. It is a “genetic disorder”.
Illness is “Poor health resulting from disease of body or mind; sickness.” Down syndrome is a genetic, having nothing to do with body or mind. Thus illness is the incorrect word.
“And even if he’s having an 0-4 days”
“an” is singular, “days” is plural.
“he wanted to love, care and develop Down Syndrome people and their families.”
What??? How do you “develop” people and their familes? It does not make sense (at least to me).
“because God’s called him to do it.”
“here’s got their priorities right.”
Although those contraction may in fact be right (i’ve thought about it and I guess they are), don’t use them. Write out “God has” and “here has”. It does not read write and can confuse the reader. That is my opinion so I won’t take off for that.
I’ll vote abstain, but please make the changes and I will reconsider.
Actually…. On Down Syndrome, it’s an illness, if I’m quoted from Albert Pujols’ own website…which I was. I was mulling over whether to put “genetic disorder” or “illness” but I decided to go what the Pujols family said on their site.
“Down Syndrome people”—again, quoted from their website. I don’t what to say, you know??
A Note It is not in my nature to vote against something, in fact in the short time that I was active on this site before my computer decided to melt down like the Orioles, I never gave a vote lower than abstain. However,it is my dismay of the nature of your story. Moving past the poor grammar that a previous poster commented on, it seems that you have merely taken information from a website and put it into your own words. Please rework this story, you obviously have a great heart, and while it was in the right place, the story needs a little work (though it can be an incredible story, kudos on finding it). Again, rework this and my vote will at least be changed to abstain, and hopefully to a degree of plus one.
Changes made… To story..
Thanks,
Alex
in other news…. besides the flaws, this brings up a big debate of who the best in the game really is. pujols, vlad, and arod have to top everyone’s list.
pujols will be best ever — 20 years later, albert pujols and alex rodriguez will both stand as the top 2 all time home run leaders. They will have won numerous MVPs and Gold Gloves. They will both have a lifetime average over 330 and as soon as they become eligible for the hall of fame the will be unanimously voted into it. Pujols is my favorite player. I try to collect as many cards of Pujols as I can. I think that Rodriguez and Pujols are the hardest-working players in baseball. In 20 years, I think that they will be considered the best two players to ever play the game. Right now, I am trying to be unbiased, but I think that Pujols will be the absolute best.