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Having joined the 3,000 hit club in May of 2018, Albert Pujols has had nothing short of a hall of fame career. After recording his 3000th hit, he became the 32nd player in history to do so and the fourth player in history to do so while also having at least 600 home runs. Since his rookie season in 2001 in which he won Rookie of the Year, Pujols has become one of the most prolific hitters in baseball. In his first nine seasons, he posted a batting average no lower than .314 and a slugging percentage no less than .541. After retirement, the former St. Louis Cardinal and current Los Angeles Angel will surely be on the first ballot for the Hall of Fame.
Albert Pujols Net Worth 2018: $110 Million
In 2012, Pujols joined the L.A. Angels with a ten year, $240 million contract. It started at $12 million the first year and climbing gradually to $30 million during his final year. There are also milestone bonuses built into the contract. For his 3,000th hit, he was paid $3 million, if he manages to become the new home run record holder, he’ll receive $7 million.
2001-2011
Thanks in part to Mark McGwire, Pujols debuted for the St. Louis Cardinals during opening day in 2001. From the first game Pujols proved why he deserved to be a major leaguer. I his first year alone, he was an All-Star, Rookie of the Year, won a silver slugger award and finished fourth in the MVP voting. Pujols would continue this level of dominance all throughout his time in St. Louis. Pujols would take the Cardinals to two World Series during his time in St. Louis, winning both of them. During the 2011 playoffs, he had a slash line of .356/.463/.676 leading the birds to their second World Series win in five years. He had arguably his best season ever in 2009, finishing with a slash line of .327/.443/.658, 47 home runs and 135 RBI. Following his 2011 World Series win Pujols decided not to resign with the Cardinals, accepting a ten year, $240 million offer from the L.A. Angels instead.
2012-Present
After joining the Angels, Pujols never matched his how he played with the Cardinals. Most of the seasons he has battled with injury and has had an OPS higher than .800 during only his first season as an Angel. However, he has had most of his major milestones in L.A. He has reached 500 and 600 home runs in California, as well as reaching the 3,000 hit club. Once he recoreded hit number 3,000, Pujols joined Alex Rodriguez, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays to be the only players to record 3,000 hits and 600 home runs.
At this point in his career, Pujols is a 10x All-Star, has recieved 6x Silver Sluggers, 2x Golden Gloves aand is a 2x MVP. In his first ten seasons, His lowest combined slash line was .312/.394/.561, giving him a .955 OPS, his lowest HR total for a season was 32 and his lowest RBI count for a season was 103. Considering those are all his lows for his first ten seasons, there shouldn’t be a doubt in anyone’s mind that Pujols will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game.