It’s written down somewhere in the annals of baseball history that you’re never supposed to compare current players with the elite greats from the past. As a baseball fan, if the name Babe Ruth slips from your mouth, it better be followed by a statement reminding everyone that he’s the best player in the history of the league. If not, baseball purists are standing by to remove your credibility by throwing out stats of great players back in the good ole days.

Baseball purists have ingrained the shadows of former great players into our heads so deeply that to even compare a current great player to a Babe Ruth or Willie Mays is on par with committing blasphemy. But there is one player who might just be able to plunge through and be worthy of comparison to the all-time greats: St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols.

Much like Babe Ruth, Albert Pujols started his baseball career in complete obscurity. After being the 402nd overall pick in the 1999 draft, Pujols played his first full season in the major leagues in 2001, a year he hit .329, belted 37 homeruns and drove in 130 RBIs. Most figured it had to be a fluke, but Pujols has never slowed down. In his nine seasons in the big leagues, Pujols’ worst overall hitting season was in 2007, when he hit 32 homeruns, drove in 103 runs and batted .327 – all figures well below his career averages.

For one of the premier power hitters in the game, he also has a freakish ability as an all-around hitter. Pujols has won a prescription cialis generic batting title (2003) and as of April 13th he had a career batting average of .334, which is higher than the career average of Ichiro Suzuki, who is generally considered the best hitter in terms of average in the entire league. As habitually as brushing his teeth, Pujols leads the league in OPS (on base + slugging), a mark that is the best statistical indicator of who the best power hitters in the league are. It also doesn’t take a mathematical formula to realize how easily he sells MLB tickets for the Cardinals.

And what is completely unbelievable for a power hitter is how seldom he strikes out; in his nine seasons, Pujols has never struck out 100 times and has only struck out more than 70 times once. By comparison, Alex Rodriguez has struck out 100 times or more 12 times already in his career and Ryan Howard has struck out 180 times or more each of the last four seasons. Despite playing in roughly half of the career games that Pujols has played in, Howard has struck out more than 300 extra times.

Just looking at Pujols’ freakish ability to put up huge numbers without striking out is already impressive enough, but he has also established himself as a top-tier defensive first baseman as well. Though he has only one Gold Glove to his credit, Pujols is always in the running and continues to work on his craft year in and year out. Speaking of running, Pujols even steals bases on occasion and is considered by scouts as one of the top running big men in the game.

All things considered, Pujols has not only been a staple of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise for nearly a decade but he is the game’s best player, and has been for some time. Some may still believe A-Rod to be the better overall talent but if Pujols played his seasons in the spotlight of New York, there is little question who would be considered the best player in baseball. One can even make the argument that Pujols is playing as good of baseball as has ever been played.

While Kamagra many baseball fans long for the days when greats like Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Ted Williams roamed the ballpark, Pujols not only deserves to be mentioned alongside them but is as good an all-around player as any of them. Then there is the inevitable comparison to Babe Ruth, the holiest of holies for baseball purists. Even with a close look at Pujols’ batting stats, you’ll always have a wise guy who asks whether or not Pujols will ever have two 20-win seasons and nearly 500 career strikeouts as a pitcher. Well, you certainly would have me there.

It doesn’t seem likely that Pujols is going to learn to pitch, and he also probably won’t start a curse on the Red Sox that will live for nearly 100 years either. But while others long for the glory days of old, when players took the subway to games alongside fans, maybe a new tactic is needed. Just watch Albert Pujols. Like all the former greats, he won’t be around forever.

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