The 2022 season was a historic one for the St. Louis Cardinals, as Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina capped off their legendary careers.
Pujols’ farewell tour was something special, as he was in the process of chasing down 700 home runs for his career.
The veteran slugger would ultimately reach that mark on September 23 at Dodger Stadium, when he took Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Phil Bickford deep for a three-run blast.
Dodger Stadium erupted in cheers from Cardinals and Dodgers fans alike.
However, Pujols recently revealed a shocking fact about his epic home run chase, that he was battling through a severe ankle injury and now isn’t sure how he was able to do it, as shared by the team on Twitter.
Exclusive: Albert Pujols discloses his final push to 700 homers was on an ankle injury so painful, “I don’t know how I played through it.”
Find out more in the 2023 Cardinals Yearbook, “The Legend of 5” 👉https://t.co/LxijPMUV79 pic.twitter.com/7rHxDIuaLZ
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 7, 2023
If Pujols was indeed hurt, he certainly didn’t look like it.
The slugger was on a mission to reach the milestone and help guide the Cardinals to the postseason in his final big-league season.
He wanted to win one more championship alongside Molina and Adam Wainwright.
The three had won two rings together previously.
But Pujols was certainly a competitor and managed to play through a lot of pain during his career, especially towards the end, and he was willing to put his body on the line to help the Cardinals achieve their goal and to achieve his own personal milestone.
The Cardinals didn’t win the World Series, but Pujols certainly had a run to remember.
He got hot in the second half and never slowed down.
But it is interesting to note that Pujols was far from 100 percent when he was on his way to 700 home runs.
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