Prince Albert Pujols, he reigneth

On the flip side, they were rewarded with excellent baseball nicknames and a newfound commitment to chewing tobacco

Which was often tied to the quality of their moustache.

it would be kind of a grim but fascinating study to see how many players of that era ended up with tobacco-related disease

xp correlated with quality of mustache factor, of course!

albert's platoon splits this season:

vs RHP: 135 PA, .186/.289/.322 (.611 OPS)
vs LHP: 101 PA, .398/.436/.807 (1.242 OPS)

i'm not a scholar of platoon splits, but that seems pretty extreme! and yeah, nice job by marmol

*scholar of platoon splits walks in wearing a gigantic top hat*

With Albert Pujols nearing the 700 HR milestone, do you have any evidence of pitchers in the past who threw pitches down the middle to help a player reach a milestone like 3,000 hits, 500 HRs, hits records, HR records, etc.?
Asked by: Taylor

Answered: 8/24/2022
No. I don't think I have ever heard of that happening.

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Hey Bill, it's very likely that Denny McLain -- finishing up his legendary 31-win 1968 season -- intentionally gave up a homer to the retiring Mickey Mantle. Jim Price, who caught the game, says this was the case. (Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/sports/baseball/09mclain.html) The game itself was meaningless in the standings, and it was 6-1 Tigers in the 8th inning, with no one on base. This allowed Mantle to break his tie on the HR list with Jimmie Foxx. The article says "Price, who has broadcast Tigers games for more than three times as many years (18) as he caught them (5), said he has never heard of such a scene happening with any other player, past or present."
Asked by: Mean Dean

Answered: 8/24/2022
Oh, I remember watching that game! I really do remember seeing it on TV. I don't think you can intentionally give up a home run, though. You can groove a pitch, if you want to, but it's still a 1-in-10 or 1-in-20 shot that the batter will put it in the seats, even if you throw it right down the middle.

The Home Run Derby suggests otherwise, no? If they only hit even 1 out of 10, seven HR would win it.

that is correct

I always think of wainwright admitting to grooving one to jeets his last ASG - showed how seriously the players took the home field advantage thing

#694 tonight, against the Reds. it's the 3rd inning and it's 8-0, so i expect he'll get some more chances to hit tonight

that's a record-breaker, the 450th different pitcher he's hit a HR against, one more than mr. bonds.

i've noticed, watching the opposing team's broadcasts as per usual, that pujols is now routinely referred to as "the machine". "the machine" is not found in any of the previous 850+ posts. i admit, during pujols' 2001-2011 with the cardinals, i was barely paying attention to baseball. is "the machine" a newish nickname or was it always there? i don't like it

Makes me think of the 70’s Reds

I vaguely recall Pujols' robotic and emotionless nature being a thing when he was first with the Cards. There was a Sportscenter commercial about it.

you'd think the nickname would have to be retired during the 2010s, though. that was brutal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5VH7ZudR0c

pujols' last AB against the cubs is a pinch hit home run, a no doubter, #695, a 2-run shot putting them up 2-0 in the bottom of the 8th. he's had extra good final performances against the reds and cubs now. dang

#697 is a 2-run shot over the center field wall that puts the Cardinals up 3-2 in the top of the 9th, after being held to 2 hits for the rest of the game

that was classic

https://i.imgur.com/TBJ4SmA.png

bold of them to mention bonds

Matt and Samantha Brown caught Pujols’s 697th homer. Samantha’s
father passed away one year ago today. They met with Albert to give him the ball back — he told them to keep it and signed two more for them. Said it would mean more to her than to him. pic.twitter.com/FuXXFiYCIa

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) September 11, 2022

albert "cool guy" pujols ftw

That is cool. That ball is probably worth a ton

#698, tied up the game.

699 and 700

congrats to Apple TV! and to Wayne randazzo of all people who got to call it live (he’s usually the Mets radio guy, he might actually be better as a tv play by play guy)

actually never saw him smile like that

Wonderful moment. And did I see Adrian Beltre and Dave Winfield in the crowd? (I watched the highlights from MLB's YouTube channel)

I have spent all night trying to figure out who that was. Was it David Winfield?

beltre was the guy he went over to

Like they haven't had enough good stuff happen in L.A. this year.

500 HRs against RHP, 200 HRs against LHP

the other way around surely?

nope!
for most of his career he was an equal-opportunity destroyer of right and left-handed pitching. but more importantly, most pitchers are right-handed so he had a lot more PAs against RHP then against LHP

9600 PAs against RHP
3418 PAs against LHP

He went over to Beltre after hitting the HR, but the other guy (Winfield) appeared on camera a couple of times.

I should say -- (Winfield?)

beltre i recognized, but winfield was driving me nuts because I also recognized him and just could not remember his name

after a 2-run double, pujols is now one RBI behind babe ruth for second place all-time. strangely, baseball reference has babe ruth with 2214 RBIs while fangraphs shows 2217 RBIs? albert has 2213.

he hits a HR, his 702nd, in his final game in St. Louis (three more follow in Pittsburgh), and ties Ruth with 2214 RBIs as well, behind only Hank Aaron.

what a moment

https://i.imgur.com/SVHsany.png

I was thinking the way he’s been hitting, he must’ve been having *some* decent success against right handed pitching, but wow those platoon splits are something else. Albert on the Cards playing at Coors Field 2006 vs Albert on the Angels 2020 basically.

check out the guy at the top falling over with a beer

https://i.imgur.com/By5XARC.png

#703 is in pittsburgh, a 2-run HR that barely cleared the wall in the left-field corner. it puts him ahead of Babe Ruth in RBIs with 2,216, second only to Hank Aaron.

Was surprised at first he didn't join Judge as player of the month, but yeah, Escobar was the better choice.