Albert Pujols, the Cardinals’ designated hitter, made baseball history last Sunday, May 15th, when he was brought into the game to pitch in the ninth inning for the first time in his 22-year career. The Cardinals were winning by 13 runs in the ninth inning and the manager, Oliver Marmol was looking to rest his bullpen and asking for someone to pitch the last inning. “They were looking, and I was like, ‘I’ll do it. Why not?'” Pujols said.
Pujols has now become only the 5th player to play all nine positions in baseball. The other four were Scott Sheldon of the Texas Rangers, Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City A’s, Cesar Tovar of the Minnesota Twins and José Oquendo, St. Louis Cardinals.
Albert’s pitching career record will be remembered as giving up a three-run homer to Luis González and a solo homerun to Joey Bart, but he managed to get the final three outs for the Cardinals win.
“A dream come true to say that I did it,” said Pujols, who is fifth on the career list with 681 home runs. “It was fun. It wasn’t fun giving up two bombs. I think the fans had a good time. I’m sure the guys that took me deep did, too.”
Albert Pujols has won the prestigious LatinoMVP award a record nine times and has stated that winning those awards were the highlight of his career, but after his pitching debut, he might have two highlights in his career.
Baseball needs fun times like these that add a different dimension to the game. I’m sure that every fan that stayed to see the last inning of this game will not remember that both Wainwright and Molina broke the major league mark with their 203rd victory as a starting pitcher and catcher. They passed Warren Spahn and Del Crandall, who amassed 202 wins for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves from 1949 to 1963. However, I’m sure they will never forget the debut of 42year old, Albert Pujols making his pitching debut.
Watch and enjoy.
