With a single into right field that scored Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels’ Albert Pujols passed yet another milestone in his historic baseball career. He passed fellow Dominican born Adrian Beltre to become the all-time hits leader for foreign-born players.
Career hit no. 3,167 now places him 15th on the all-time hit list. While Pujols isn’t the threat he was when he played with the Cardinals, the milestones keep piling up for the 39-year-old. This year he became only the third member of the 2,000 RBI club and became the first player in history with 650 homers and 650 doubles.
With foreign-born players such as Ichiro and Roberto Clemente who were known for their hits and getting on base, the fact that Pujols is now the all-time leader is a testament to how good he has been for so long. In addition to hits, he is also the all-time foreign-born leader in homers (651), doubles (653), runs (1,815), and RBI’s (2,052).
Although his numbers have declined since his prime, his humility hasn’t. Pujols still refuses to pay too much attention to his personal milestones and instead focuses on getting the Angels to a much-needed playoff appearance.
Pujols is only 9 home runs away from moving into 5th all-time and is close to passing Cal Ripken Jr. (3,184) for 14th in the hits category. It is just a matter of how many more productive seasons Pujols can put up as to where the future Hall of Famer will stand on the all-time leaderboard when he eventually does retire.
