Albert Pujols: how many players have hit over 700 home runs in MLB history?
St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols could become only the fourth man to reach 700 home runs in MLB history during his final season.
At 42 years of age, Albert Pujols’ legend in the Major Leagues continues to grow. The St Louis Cardinals designated hitter is continuing to knock them out of the park like a player a decade his junior. With the end of his MLB career in sight - he has already confirmed this will be his final season in MLB - Pujols is chasing career numbers only three other baseball players in history have achieved: 700 home runs.
So far in his 20-year career, Pujols has hit 692 homers. Only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), and Babe Ruth (714) have homered more than the Dominican-American first baseman.
Pujols eight short of the 700-mark
On Saturday night, Pujols homered twice in the Cardinals’ 16-7 victory over the Diamondbacks, raising his total to 692, four behind fourth-placed Alex Rodriguez on the all-time list.
Pujols has picked up his pace as the current season has progressed. The veteran was hitting .189 on 4 July but since then his average has skyrocketed to .408 with nine home runs.
With Saturday’s first homer, Pujols passed Cardinals icon Stan Musial for second in total bases in MLB history with 6,143. Aaron leads that ranking with 6,856.
In a 28-game stretch through Sunday, Pujols batted .408 with an on-base percentage of .459 and a slugging percentage of .829. His batting average since 5 July is the best among all MLB players (with a mininum of 80 plate appearances), but more importantly, he has hit nine home runs, bringing his career total to 692.
Rodriguez just four homers away
Pujols now needs just four more homers to tie Rodriguez.
That feat appears to be well within his reach taking into account his record of hitting 30 or more homers over the past 14 seasons.
Pujols’ chase for the mythical 700 will ensure every Cardinals game from here until the end of the season will get national media coverage.
Taking turns against left-handed hitters and with just over 40 games left, Pujols has a good chance of passing Rodriguez on the all-time list and joining the elite 700 club.