The Baseball Report: Pujols Passes A St. Louis Cardinals Legend
Ryan Mayer
Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols has had a legendary career as one of the best hitters in baseball. While his talents have tailed off a bit since signing his mammoth contract with the Angels during the 2011-2012 off-season, Pujols has continued to climb up the milestone charts. In Sunday's game against the Minnesota Twins, he moved another spot up the all-time RBI list passing St. Louis Cardinals legend Stan Musial in the process.
Pujols then added a pair of RBI later on in the game to run his total to 1,954 for his career as the team now opens a series with the division-leading Seattle Mariners on Monday night. Sitting in the sixth spot on the all-time MLB career RBI list, Pujols is looking up at some of the sport's most revered names.
- Hank Aaron 2,297
- Babe Ruth 2,214
- Alex Rodriguez 2,086
- Cap Anson 2,075
- Barry Bonds 1,996
- Lou Gehrig 1,995
Add his RBI total to the 623 home runs that he's accumulated in his career and we're likely looking at a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee whenever his playing career ends.
It's a good thing Angels fans had Pujols' march up the RBI charts to smile about because the other big news of the week involving the team is about as dire as it gets. On Friday, the team announced that they would be placing two-way player Shohei Ohtani on the disabled list with what they were calling a Grade 2 UCL sprain.
Then, on Monday, ESPN's Pedro Gomez reported that it is increasingly likely that Ohtani will need Tommy John surgery, effectively ending his 2018 and 2019 seasons in all likelihood.
The team has not confirmed that report and has said that there is currently no change in Ohtani's status, but either way, damage to the UCL is never a good sign for a pitcher. It usually ends with the player going under the knife to get it fixed. For more on that story and other big news from the past week of baseball, check out the video above.
