Bert Blyleven

In his first eight-plus seasons at the Major League level, what Albert Pujols has been able to accomplish is simply amazing.

This year has been no exception. Pujols was in the Triple Crown race during the regular season and finished third in the NL in batting average (.327), first in home runs (47) and third in RBIs (135). And this season has been right in line with most of the other seasons of his career.

He has four seasons with at least 40 homers, 35 doubles and 110 RBIs. Only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig have accomplished that, and Pujols can stand alone with one more such season.

It might seem like it’s early in his career to compare Pujols to the all-time greats, but it really isn’t. This is his ninth season, and after 10 you are eligible for the Hall of Fame. Furthermore, Pujols is smack in the middle of his prime at 29 years old. There is no reason to think he can’t continue at a similar pace for years to come.

He's the best hitter of his era, and among the best who ever put on a major league uniform.

With that in mind, I compared Pujols to other great sluggers who I thought fit his success over the first nine full seasons of their careers. But of the current so-called steroid era, I only compared him to Ken Griffey, Jr. The others big sluggers from this era — Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, etc. — I won’t include in this discussion. (More on that below).

MORE THAN JUST A HITTER
As a former pitcher, you face guys who are good hitters who can hit .333. But what you look at is what they do with that .333 average. Not all of them are created equal. When you’re facing Pujols, it’s not like you’re facing a Wade Boggs or a Rod Carew, a Pete Rose or a Ty Cobb. What you’re facing is a guy who not only has a lot of hits, but they’re big hits. They’re doubles and home runs. They’re producing the most important part of the game, and that’s RBIs.

So when you’re comparing Pujols, you must compare him to the great sluggers who could also hit for average, Hall of Famers like Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle. And dare I say, Babe Ruth?

In St. Louis, Cardinals fans will naturally compare Pujols to their last great player, Musial. Musial won three MVP awards, and Pujols is about to also win his third. But the two are different players. While Musial hit .347 in his first nine full seasons, 14 points higher than Pujols, Albert has far more home runs than Musial during that span. (See chart).

Ted Williams was a great hitter who also hit for power. But as good as he was, hitting .344 in his first nine full seasons (including .406 in 1941), he wasn’t quite the home run threat the Pujols is.

Frank Robinson’s numbers are not even close to Albert Pujols in his first nine years, and he was one of the best clutch hitters in baseball. And Griffey had dangerous power, but not the RBI total or the batting average.

Statistically, the closest to Pujols might be Jimmie Foxx, who saw his first action in the majors at the age of 17 and became a regular at 20. In his first nine full seasons, Foxx had 21 fewer homers than Pujols, yet more RBIs and a slightly better average. Gehrig is also a close match.

But I don’t think anyone has been more consistent than Pujols. It is difficult to compare numbers from one era to the other. The ballparks are different, the pitchers are different, the mounds are different, but when you come right down to it, Albert Pujols really is the modern day Babe Ruth.