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To Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer

The old man walked slowly.

Albert Pujols staggered on his way to the home dugout of the Cardinals’ spring training stadium.

His strenuous gait did not exactly give confidence that the impending athletic outcome was at hand. Pujols stepped forward as if his bones were made of lead. His massive upper body looked like an oversized piece of luggage, and his lower body was tasked with lugging it around the airport.

It was unclear if Pujols was enjoying the moment or if he was simply stuck. Aside from his recognizable face and the indelible number 5 on the back of his red uniform, there was little sign of sporting greatness.

But the 3,176 Cardinals, loyal in the South Florida sun, didn’t care one bit about Pujols’ physical condition. I should have. As he drove past his bullpen in front of right field, St. Louis gave him a standing ovation as his new teammate had barely played and had never even met the franchise icon.

That’s because, about 12 hours before midnight on March 28, news broke that Pujols, one of the greatest hitters in the history of the sport, would be making his 22nd return to the city that birthed the team and his legend. is. And the final season of MLB. It was a reason for even the most cynical realists to celebrate.

Later in the day, at his (re)introductory press conference, Pujols addressed the media alongside owner Bill DeWitt, GM John Mozeliak and new manager Oli Marmol. Marmol, who was named skipper for the NBA and has yet to lead the card in an MLB game, was a whopping six years younger than his newest student. When Marmol was drafted by the Cardinals in June of 2007, Pujols had already hammered out his 263 career bombs.

In his opening remarks, Mozeliak, in a nostalgic tone, gave a list of Pujols’ incredible accomplishments as a cardinal before looking to the future.

“We all want it to be a magical year defined by the team’s success and honoring the careers of Yaddy, Adam and now Albert. This is a unique opportunity for all of us. , three legends making the final laps of baseball… It doesn’t always have a happy ending, and seasons can’t be predicted, but this story could be historic.”

Storybooks don’t always have happy endings.

There was reason for Mozeliak to hedge. Pujols has wasted his 30s in various parts of Los Angeles for the past decade. He enjoyed his 2021, which was great for the Dodgers, beating the left-handed Hurler off the bench, but looked utterly lost against Atlanta in the postseason cauldron.

To say that Pujols’ heyday was behind him was a thousand years of understatement. He hadn’t recorded his OPS above average since his 2016. Over the past seven seasons, his WAR has been -0.4 and his career total has tragically dropped him below 100.

And when the Cardinals were set to contend for the division title in 2022, Pujols and his feel-good talk didn’t exactly fit the bill. He may become an invaluable asset in the clubhouse and emerge as a useful bat against left-handers, but the potential downside is immense. What if Pujols struggles? Will the Card strip the Band-Aid and pull future Hall of Famers off stage and retire, or will they suffer for good vibes and ticket sales? We talked about passing A-Rod for fourth place on the all-time home run list. However, to a sober person, those aspirations seemed more fantasy than reality.

My parents saw Frank Sinatra when he was a specter of his greatness in the early ’90s, at the end of his career as a performer. On stage, Sinatra looked unbridled, bloated, and, frankly, quite drunk. They call it one of the strangest nights of their lives, when he, one of the brightest stars of the century, was dimmed by the reality of time. Not knowing when to end the party can prolong the welcome. People remember how you lingered, not what you accomplished.

Somehow, against all odds, Albert Pujols refused to go dark.

After enduring years of irrelevance, corruption and baseball incompetence, Pujols is enjoying a long season. After Albert left town, his renaissance was palpable for the thousands of St. Louis citizens who harbored resentment and ambivalence, and understandably did not follow his California excursions with great interest. It may seem inevitable in. It’s Albert Pujols! Of course he is great!

But Pujols’ return has been amazing, the 99th percentile result when he and the Cardinals agreed to reunite in late March. As Bush made history in front of sold-out crowds at stadiums and across the country, Pujols rewrote the end of his story.

Most notably, he’s…actually good, winning NL Central and being a legitimate contributor to the Cardinals team making it tough for the Dodgers, Mets, and Braves in October.His 145 OPS+ is tied for 13th best in baseball overall, ahead of players like Mookie Betts, Julio Rodriguez and Pete Alonso, and his 1.169 OPS against lefties is third. The only player to hit more home runs against lefties this year is Aaron Judge. And, perhaps most importantly to all my peers, Pujols’ 1.5 WAR this season puts his career total above his 100 WAR mark, according to Baseball-Reference calculations. is.

No moment was more emblematic of Pujols’ magical season than the 697th home run. Last Sunday, when Cards conceded in his ninth inning against Pittsburgh, the baseball magician slammed his 2-0 heater into his field at center to give St. Louis the lead and coincidentally with the final win. , passed Alex Rodriguez at number four on the all-time list. Explosions with meaning on multiple levels: historic and useful.

That homer elevated Pujols into the elite group and diluted the air. The only players with longer balls than him are Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, three of his four greatest players in the game (Willie Mays one more). Whether or not he hits 700 home runs in the final weeks of the season, Pujols has definitely been part of it and truly made him one of the all-time greats.

Regardless of his performance, this season has always been a celebration of baseball player Albert Pujols. But his rejuvenation changed the lens. His methodical home run trot, which once seemed arduous and strenuous, now radiates an aura of grace and grace. Albert Pujols is a timeless legend who has lived through the seasons, enjoying everything and taking his time.

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Jake Mintz, the loud half of @Cespedes BBQ, Baseball writer for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan who lives in New York City and spends most of October alone. If he doesn’t watch baseball, he almost certainly rides a bike. Follow him on Twitter @Jake Mintz.