Who Is Albert Pujols?

by Carl Bialik of Gelf magazine

http://www.gelfmagazine.com/gelflog/archives/sports.html#who_is_albert_pujols

Now that Barry Bonds is one homerun from tying Babe Ruth on the career homeruns list, a legion of Bonds-hating press turns affectionately to Albert Pujols. The 26-year-old Cardinals first baseman is on pace to hit about 80 homers, hasn’t had a sub-40-HR season in his career, and hasn’t been implicated in any steroid use. Yet for all the Pujols-loving we read (and I’ve written some of it), most is quite superficial. Consider Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Ted Miller’s take today:

Pujols works hard. He’s humble. He carries himself with dignity on and off the field. And he plays with just enough flair and edge to avoid looking like a namby-pamby.