He is the epitome of superstars. He is the greatest baseball talent in the last forty years, if not ever. He swings the bat with a mission in every plate appearance. He works as hard as anyone in the history of the game. His defense is improving at such a pace that some predict him to win a Gold Glove award this year. He’s won an MVP, a batting title, and the hearts of Cardinals fans all over the world. People of all ages can be seen sporting a Pujols shirt on their back all around the country every day. There is only one Albert Pujols. His caring personality, attitude, approach, talent, work ethic, and love for the game are unmatched. They will always be unmatched.
It wasn’t long after the 2006 season began that the whole baseball world started to unfold. There are names, plenty of them, that have been listed in the same sentence with "steroids" or "human growth hormones". We all know about that guy who plays for the Giants and how he is fighting speculations about steroid use all the time—and the evidence is there. Then, one unfortunate day, Albert Pujols became a target.
From day one of his baseball career, dating all the way back to high school, Albert Pujols has been a pretty darn built. He looks like an NBA power forward, much less an MLB first baseman. He has pure, need I say "natural" strength that I haven’t seen in some time. His home runs are not cheap ones, about 90% of them going deep into the stands, and of course he has a few triple-deck shots, much like his game winner on April 16th against the Reds. All of this, and Albert Pujols still has untapped potential—at least he does if you were to ask him if he did.
Pujols’ approach to the game is simple: work hard, and fix any and every hole in your game. One thing Albert doesn’t have in his approach is "win at all costs". One could call it something like "win at all moral costs".
The reality and truth to the steroid era of baseball is that every single player is guilty until proven innocent. It’s extremely sad that it’s reached this new level of mistrust, but it’s reality. Each and every one of the Cardinals fans in the world wants to believe Albert Pujols is completely free of performance enhancing drugs. I believe he is, and you believe he is, but we don’t know that he is. It’s tough, but it’s real.
As Pujols come back from his strained right oblique, it’s nice to see him struggling at the plate. I say this because rumour has it that Human Growth Hormones (HGH) improves muscle performance and vision. If he was on HGH, he’d be able to see those breaking balls a little bit better, wouldn’t he? If he was on steroids, wouldn’t that shot to left field he hit yesterday have been a home run? That little extra push it supposedly offers should have made him a hero yesterday. That’s the beauty of it though…he doesn’t want to be a hero just on the baseball field…Albert Pujols wants to be a hero off the field. This is why I believe that we know that Jose Alberto Pujols is 100% clean. To the heartless doubters and skeptics, they only have physical proof. To the fans and believers in Albert Pujols—his actions on and off the field are enough evidence.
Written by APC Staff Writer Brady Holzhauer