Selig, MLB Have To Promote Pujols

Coming out of the steroid era, there were certain players we seemed to just accept were not juicing. We were looking for that white knight to lead baseball out of the dark

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

shadow had cast itself in.
The most prominent was Alex Rodriguez. He seemed to be a natural. A pure swing without the obscenely apparent ripped bodies of the likes of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. Then it all came crashing down with the report of a failed test, some nonsense about a cousin (It's always the cousin, isn't it?) and the nation was left grasping at straws in regards to who it could look to.

Manny Ramirez? Oh. Nevermind.

In such a time, MLB needs to pray that the testing policy works and that it never turns up anything on a slugger that wears the same uniform McGwire did when he cheated his way to a short-lived home run record. That record, if you don't recall, was broken by another cheater.

Albert Pujols gets little love outside of fantasy baseball circles because he plays in the NL Central. He even has a ring and no one seems to notice. But baseball needs this man more than any other in the sport right now.

Not sure if you're quite convinced? Let's take a look at the resume and get to know Prince Albert a little better.

Image via Wikipedia

Pujols is 29 years old. That's according to him. You never can tell with players from certain parts of the world. In any event, let's assume he's telling the truth. At 29 years of age in his ninth major league season, Pujols has a .334 batting average, good for first on the active career list. The Dominican-born slugger has 345 home runs, which is 13th on the active list and currently gives him the most home runs by a player under 30. His 1045 RBIs also are the most among ballplayers under 30 and 22nd among active players. Mathematically speaking, an average season for Pujols goes a little something like this: .334 batting average, 200 hits, 43 home runs, 129 RBIs, 124 runs scored.

He's a seven-time (soon to be eight-time) All Star. As for hardware, he's got the 2006 World Series ring, two MVP plaques, four Silver Slugger Awards and was Rookie of the Year. Oh, he can play the field, too. He's got a Gold Glove to attest for that.

He's played and produced, even through injuries, including a nagging elbow problem that could have shut lesser players down for the season.

Before it's all said and done at his current pace, if Pujols calls it a career at 40 years of age he'll have surpassed 800 home runs - 818 to be exact. Barry Bonds reached 762 at age 42. For those of you who don't buy Bonds' record as legitimate, Hank Aaron was also 42 when he ended his career with 755.

Despite a putrid lack of exposure to the masses by the marketing department of Major League Baseball, Pujols is in the lead for the starting spot at the 2009 All Star game. Coincidentally, the show is being held in St. Louis this year. In any event, this is the time for Bud Selig and his cronies to do the right thing and properly introduce Albert Pujols to the world. He's a world-class athlete playing in one of the biggest sports spectacles in the world in front of his hometown fans. Tell the story of Pujols. Or better yet, let him tell it himself.

Image by lscan via Flickr

The cloud of suspicion has always seemed to pass Pujols by. That could also be because he remains a relatively well-kept secret to the masses. Those who follow baseball closely know just how good he is. Those who follow as an average fan, however, don't see him in quite the same light.

Why hide him in relative obscurity? Why not put him out there? Is it because baseball is afraid to glamorize another superstar only to have it blow up in their faces? If that's the case, the MLB can't have it both ways. If they want to claim they have a strict testing policy, they need to be ready to accept it when a good player fails. This is a sport that needs a hero once again and if they trust Pujols, they need to celebrate him on a national stage. Then they have to pray it doesn't come back to bite them.