After entering the season 34 home runs shy of 400 for his, yes, young career…the talk turned from IF it was going to happen this season to when Albert Pujols was going to reach the milestone and who was it going to be against.
After failing to go deep against the Pirates Wednesday night, the St. Louis slugger was slated to face off against Washington pitcher Jordan Zimmermann Thursday night.
“The Machine” was three for three lifetime against the righty with one home run and after grounding out in the first…he stopped playing games and sent Zimmermann’s second offering in the fourth deep for the historic homer.
Sure, the Cardinals ended up losing 11-10 in 13 innings, but the history Pujols made against the Nationals is what fans will remember.
As it is…the first baseman became the third youngest overall (following Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr.) to reach 400 home runs and youngest National Leaguer ever to accomplish the feat.
Pujols is 30 years, seven months and ten days old, or (for the sake of the next round of numbers I’m going to throw at ya)…30 years and 222 days old.
Rodriguez was 29 years and 316 days old when he hit his 400th homer, whereas Junior was 30 years and 141 days old.
To answer the question “who else went deep 400 times before their 31st birthday”…Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx did it at 30 years and 248 days and Yankees legend Mickey Mantle was 30 years and 325 days old.
And if you were wondering…only four players of the 46 other players to go deep 400 times have done it in fewer than Pujols’ 5615 at bats.
So what’s next for “Phat Albert”?
This season has already seen him extend his own streak by becoming the only player in Major League history to begin his career with ten straight seasons of 30 or more home runs.
Well, with 93 RBI, dude is only seven shy of becoming the only cat to have started his career with 30 or more home runs and 100 RBI as well. Incidentally, he’ll also become the only player to have ever belted 30 home runs and knocked in 100 in ten straight years.
Recently, Hall readers were aked who they thought would be the next player to reach 600 career home runs. Their answer?
Albert Pujols.
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