St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols has been a first baseman during most of his brilliant career.
But he came up as a third baseman: that’s the position he played the most during his rookie season in 2001.
Over the course of his successful playing career, he has logged at least an inning in first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, and right field.
He hasn’t played any catcher or center fielder, yet.
Additionally, he hadn’t pitched… before Sunday.
In the Cardinals’ 15-6 win against the San Francisco Giants, Pujols surprisingly took the mound for an inning, with the game 15-2.
He completed the ninth inning and sealed the Cards’ victory over last year’s NL West champs.
Pujols, however, gave up four runs on three hits and a walk in his inning of work.
Two of those hits were of the home run variety: Joey Bart and Luis Gonzalez hit it out of the park against the Cardinals legend.
Pujols became one of the oldest people in baseball to make their pitching debut, at 42 years.
He Was Close To Making History
In fact, he was a few days shy of being the absolute oldest.
“Oldest players to make pitching debut (since 1901): 1929 Lena Blackburne: 42 y, 225 d. 2022 Albert Pujols: 42 y, 119 d,” MLB reporter Sarah Langs tweeted.
Oldest players to make pitching debut (since 1901):
1929 Lena Blackburne: 42 y, 225 d
2022 Albert Pujols: 42 y, 119 d https://t.co/Cf6LDrRTO3— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 16, 2022
If Pujols decides to retire tomorrow, he will do it with a .297/.375/.543 line, 674 doubles, 681 home runs… and a 36.00 ERA.
If you are ever asked about the most bizarre moments of the 2022 MLB season, perhaps you have a good candidate in Pujols and his pitching performance.
Hey, it wasn’t necessarily pretty, but he got the job done and his manager didn’t have to use any more relievers.
NEXT: Albert Pujols Joins An MLB Legend In Rare League History