Albert Pujols’ career may be over, but that doesn’t mean that fans of the St. Louis Cardinals have forgotten his greatness.
Pujols made his Major League debut on Opening Day in 2001 and immediately burst onto the scene.
He earned Rookie of the Year honors in his first season and set the stage for a truly legendary career.
By 2004, Pujols was arguably the best player in all of baseball and was on his way to becoming one of the all-time greats.
Today, August 3, marks the 19-year anniversary of a key milestone Pujols achieved.
He became the first player in Major League history to have hit at least 30 home runs in each of his first four seasons.
On Twitter, a Cardinals fan recalled this legendary achievement.
#OTD 2004 – Cardinal first baseman Albert Pujols becomes the first player in history to hit at least 30 homers in each of his first four big-league seasons. He would stretch that mark to 12 seasons! #STLCards pic.twitter.com/SMoMxRhF0g
— Augie Nash | 🇺🇸 (@AugieNash) August 3, 2023
Pujols would go on to hit at least 30 home runs in each of the next seven seasons before departing St. Louis for the Los Angeles Angels.
The slugger would achieve the feat one more time in his career, hitting 40 home runs during the 2015 season.
But he accomplished this impressive feat in each of the first 12 years of his career and did it a total of 13 times.
Pujols was selected to 12 All-Star teams over the course of his Major League career, being named to the National League roster in all but one of his 12 seasons in St. Louis
He also won three National League MVPs and two World Series rings with the Cardinals.
In 2004, the year he achieved this historic feat, he helped guide the Cards to their first World Series since 1987.
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