“God promised Abraham that he would not destroy Sodom if he could find ten righteous men… I have a feeling that for Baseball it may come down to one.”

After the 1994 strike, attendance was down and fanbases were destroyed. America’s favorite past time had become a cestpool of greed and corruption. The corporate fatcats that ran baseball were getting worried. Their wallets were suddenly becoming thinner, not fatter. What to do…What to do? In 1998, the answer to their problems came in the form of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. The solution was simple: turn a blind eye. As the balls sailed over the fences and the money rolled in, baseball became enshrouded in darkness, finally succombing to corruption. The dishonest face of baseball was ever-shifting and changing: Canseco, McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, A-Rod.

Alex Rodriguez is everything that is wrong with baseball. A-Rod hits the most homeruns, plays for the biggest market in baseball, has the largest contract, *had* the trophey wife and graced the covor of tabloids, and just admitted he took steroids. If there is a Gotham City in sports, look no further than Major League Baseball.

“I Believe in Albert Pujols.”

If there is one ray, one glimmer of light left in baseball, it is Albert Pujols. The antithesis of Alex Rodriguez. He is the hero baseball needs, the hero baseball deserves. Pujols does not play in the biggest market in baseball, he plays where baseball is purest: St. Louis. A city that pales in comparison to New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago. But the fans loyally pack the stadiums day in, and day out. They cheer for nice catches, no matter the team and rarely boo. In Boston, there is baseball season, basketball season, and football season. In St. Louis, it’s either baseball season or it’s offseason. Pujols loves playing for St. Louis and expects to finish his career there. He shows little interest in going where the cameras are, or making a brand out of his name.

Pujols was never a baseball prodigy. He went to a community college and was drafted in the 13th round. Scouts didn’t think he had a position or a “baseball body”. Everything Pujols has, he has earned the hard way. He not only hits, he snags baseballs left and right at 1st base, winning a Gold Glove in 2007, and having the highest range factor among first basemen. Pujols is not just some muscle-bound slugger who picks his nose on defense, waiting for his turn to bat, he accels at every aspect of the game.

“It’s who I am underneath. It’s what I do that defines me.”

Baseball does not define Albert Pujols. Last year, he won the Roberto Clemente Award, which is an award given to the player that “best exemplfies the game of baseball”. Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash, on his way to deliver supplies to Nicaragua. Pujols said that it was the most meaningful award he ever won. For those that forgot, Pujols won the MVP for the second time that year too.

Albert Pujols is more than just a baseball player. He married his wife, even after learning she had a child with down syndrome. Every year, Pujols takes part in the St. Louis Buddy Walk (which he is the chairman of) to raise money and awareness for children with down syndrome. He and his wife run The Pujols Family Foundation, which journies to the Domican Republic each year, with a team of doctors and dentists, to give care to poor communities (Pujols and his wife go with them by the way). Pujols believes baseball is God’s way of allowing him to help people. It gives him the money and the influence to do so. Nothing more. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Pujols said, “There is something more important to me—my relationship with Jesus Christ and caring about others. More than this baseball. This baseball is nothing to me.” That is all you need to know about Albert Pujols. He realizes that there is more to life than baseball.

“Because sometimes…the truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded”

Baseball is in a dark era where the question is not “Who took steriods?”, but “Who did not take steriods? And why not?”. Albert Pujols answer to that question is one of almost surprising simplicity, and is remarkably satisfactory. “I fear God too much to do any stupid thing like that.” Pujols is a decent man, in an indecent time. What baseball needs to realize is that no diving catch, no 98 mile per hour pitch, no 160 win season, no home run, no matter how far, will lift the dark cloud that hangs over the game. It will take more, much more. It will take a man who realizes it’s not about the money. It will take someone who loves the game, but realizes it is just that. It will take a hero who does more than just hit a baseball. I believe it will take Albert Pujols.

“I don’t want to be remembered as the best baseball player ever. I want to be remembered as a great guy who loved the Lord, loved to serve the community and who gave back. That’s the guy I want to be remembered as when I’m done wearing this uniform. That’s from the bottom of my heart.”-Albert Pujols

ALBERT PUJOLS

BASEBALL’S WHITE KNIGHT