Albert Pujols Joins The 600 Home Run Club

600 home runs.

Late on Saturday night Albert Pujols became the 9th member of the 600 home run club. With a grand slam, just because.

*presses hand longingly to screen* pic.twitter.com/y6vfzrYSPM

— Double Birds (@2xBirds) June 4, 2017

He joins the following list:

• Barry Bonds* (762)
• Hank Aaron (755)
• Babe Ruth (714)
• Alex Rodriguez* (696)
• Willie Mays (660)
• Ken Griffey Jr. (630)
• Jim Thome (612)
• Sammy Sosa* (609)
• Albert Pujols (600)

His name will live among the titans of baseball for eternity.

19,006 (and counting) players have made it to the Major Leagues. Albert Pujols has hit more home runs than 18,998 of them.

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Here was home run #1:

In his second MLB at bat, Pujols drilled a game-tying home run deep into the Arizona night. Diamondbacks announcer Thom Brennaman said this:

“First career big league home run. And after watching this kid in batting practice and that swing right there, it will not be nearly the last.”

599 round trips later, truer words haven’t been spoken often.

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I know what you’re thinking.

I’m thinking it too. So is Tony LaRussa:

Tony La Russa on Pujols' #600 not coming w/ Cardinals: "We all regret he's not in uniform-and he does too-but that's just the way it went."

— Brenden Schaeffer (@bschaeffer12) June 2, 2017

Somehow this happened in Anaheim and not St. Louis.

Even though we’re happy for Albert and his accomplishment, there’s an inherent sadness present. The best Cardinals player that many of us have ever seen is off doing historic things 1,820 miles away from Busch Stadium.

But today is a celebration of #5. So we’ll keep a stiff upper-lip and instead remember some great home runs from the past. Join me in a trip down memory lane…

1) The time he ruined Brad Lidge:

2) The time he hit 3 (!) home runs in a single World Series game:

3) The time he had a 3 (!) home run game against the Cubs in Wrigley Field in ’04:

4) The time he had 3 (!) home runs against the Reds (including a walk-off) in ’06:

5) The time he started the bat-flip trend:

6) The time he wasn’t scared of Aroldis Chapman:

7) When he always seemed to ‘do it again’:

600 home runs.

What an accomplishment.

Congratulations, Albert.

Photo: ESPN