Albert Pujols May Be the Greatest Baseball Player Ever

When Albert Pujols won the Major League Player of the Year award last season, most hardcore baseball fans thought they'd seen his peak.

Who could blame them? Who in their right mind would expect a baseball player to generate better numbers than a .357 batting average with 116 RBIs, 100 runs and 37 home runs?Could there be a higher level of production for a player?

Then came 2009.

Ninety-six games into the season, Pujols is on pace to bat .328 drive in 152 RBI, score 130 runs and smash a career-high 57 homers. He's also in position to win only the 14^th triple crown since 1900 (and the first in the National League since Joe Medwick in 1937). Imagine if the guy didn't have worse protection than the security at Wimbledon.

Just about every baseball announcer has pointed out Pujols is off to perhaps the greatest start to a career of any player ever. But suddenly, it's become more than that.

He isn't merely the best player in the game right now. It doesn't do justice to simply say he's the greatest player of this decade. (Like, duh. He's going to become the fourth player in baseball history to win the decade triple crown.) He's quite possibly on a collision course to becoming the finest baseball player of all time.

We should've seen this coming.

It's damn near impossible to compare Pujols to anybody because, in 140 of professional baseball, there's only been about four or five players who can keep up. What Pujols has done in his first eight seasons blows away the first eight years in the careers of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Barry Bonds, Honus Wagner, Harmon Killebrew, Manny Ramirez, Mel Ott, Cap Anson, Tris Speaker ... well, you get the idea.

The best way to explain Pujols?

Imagine Tony Gwynn with power and Sammy Sosa with average. Think David Ortiz, in his prime, on 'roids and with a golden glove. It's not blasphemy to say Pujols is the right-handed version of Ted Williams.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa called Pujols the "perfect player" earlier this season. But what is a perfect player? He's a guy who must hit for a high average and slugging percentage, get on base at an alarming rate, consistently record more than 100 RBIs and runs, produce 30 to 35 home runs a season, strike out much less than 100 times a season and show the same excellence with the glove. No exceptions.

Pujols fits that description, well, perfectly.

No player in baseball history has recorded more RBIs, runs and home runs while hitting for a higher average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage with fewer strikeouts. Only one player has done better in all six offensive categories (without counting strikeouts). His name? Babe Ruth. And that's only after counting Ruth's offensive numbers starting with 1920, his first season as a full-time position player. (And don't forget Ruth played in a segregated era, while Pujols is one of the few players with a squeaky-clean reputation in the midst of the steroid era.)

Some players have had a far superior batting average and on-base percentage without power numbers (i.e. Ty Cobb). Others had better power numbers with similar batting averages along with on-base and slugging percentages (i.e. Lou Gehrig). But in terms of perfect? Nobody can match Pujols numbers: 122 RBIs, 118.4 runs, 40 homers, .335 batting average, .425 on-base percentage, .626 slugging percentage with 63.3 strikeouts per season. (Remember, Pujols has finished in the top three of MVP voting six of his eight seasons.) Pujols also won a gold glove in 2006, even though he didn't play 100 games at first base until his fourth season in 2004.

Only seven players have experienced production in their first eight seasons that are similar to Pujols: Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Alex Rodriguez. Four of those men played at least half of their career during the era of segregation, and only one played it during the steroid era.

No one else compares to what Pujols has done.

If this season is any indication, there's much, much more to come. So sit back, relax and appreciate what we're seeing in St. Louis. Above all else, realize we may be watching the greatest baseball player of all-time.