Pujols 'Ouch My I' baseball

[rj_lucas]

Ended up in the hands of a very lucky 11-year old...

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...rt-pujols.html

Rick
rickjlucas@gmail.com

[AWA85]

Not sure that I would be a nice guy and give it away to a kid if I caught a home run ball..... who am I kidding, not a chance I would part with it

[bigtruck260]

I go to about 20-30 games every year, and no matter where my tickets are located, I stand in the left field tower right next to Big Mac land. the view is awesome and I don't have to make people get up every time I go to the bathroom or need a beverage...

Because of my perch out there, I've seen Albert's homers land all over the place since the stadium opened in 2006. In the Detroit series, Albert put one past Big Mac land and just below me - they estimated it at 445 feet.

The ball was hit a ton, and a poor kid tried to catch it and it hit him directly in the face - shattered his glasses and bloodied him up. In the scuffle for the ball, another guy grabbed it away from him proudly showing it off to the rest of us.

In this case, it really WAS "OW My I".

Anyway, after the guy from Deloitte (or whoever was authenticating that night) came out and hologrammed it (pretty cool, huh?) he had at LEAST 5 guys come up to him and make an offer for the ball. He didn't sell.

What Albert has done and is doing puts memorabilia into a new eschelon. One guy has a potentially valuable home run baseball - and another has a story to tell generations...I was hit in the face by the greatest hitter in the game...pretty cool. The kid that got hit recieved a standing ovation as the ambulance cart took him away.

On the stadium replay you could see our reactions to the entire event...it was priceless.

[skyking26]

Albert is exciting baseball the way McGwire did back in the late 90's. What he is doing is on another level. Hoping for baseball's sake that roids are not part of his game.... Anybody ever check?

[Vintagedeputy]

Admittedly I have not followed Pujols as much as some folks have, but there is no doubt that he is the Ruth or Mantle of this generation. He is one of those rare guys that comes along once in a lifetime.

[bigtruck260]

I got into an argument with a Cubs fan on his blog regarding Albert and PEDs.

If you live in STL and watch him every day, he's not just a great hitter - he's become a defensive wizard, a base stealer and a game winning base runner. He gets better every year sans 2007 when they refused to pitch to him and his numbers drooped to only top 10 MVP numbers instead of top 2.

I might be biased, but I don't think Albert is currently on anything. I don't believe that since he's been in the majors he's taken anything to enhance his performance. When Albert talks, he puts GOD first and uses his baseball prominence as a way to reach people. GOD first, Family second, everything else is a distant third. If he were to test positive for PEDs, it would turn so many people off of what he says and believes in.

Granted, there have been many in ministry that have failed - but I have a hunch that Albert is not only tested, but he's probably tested pretty regularly. Obviously he feels he has nothing to hide...and he's certainly not distracted by much. Unlike Sosa, Albert went to Sports Illustrated and basically said TEST ME. That was quite a statement.

I'm not one of those people who is suspicious of every player with good numbers. Sometimes there are just those rare players that improve through hard work and little outside distraction. Albert does not party, does not drink and does nothing to compromise his public image. He cares too much about it to do something stupid.

And if he does end up a user? I will probably sell my entire collection and start watching boxing exlcusively.

[skyking26]

Dave, I hope for your sake and others he does not turn up a user. He is unreal. I don't see him at all being in Detroit area; but see the numbers. Amazing. He should be tested regularly. If he is clean, give him his HOF plaque now as he's a cut above the rest...

[suave1477]

For all your sakes, I hope your all right!! Pujols is the last hope of the game. I hope he is clean.

But don't be so sure he is clean.

Remember it was just a matter of months ago we all believed or hoped Alex Rodriguez was clean.

Including myself I hoped he was clean and that is saying a lot becuase I can't stand AROD and that is even before all the roid talk and testing.
And I am a Yankee fan.

Even my friends all say to me how can you hate AROD he is the greatest. "He hits this many home runs or has this many rbi's". I like a player who helps the team not just pads his own numbers, he has been one of the worse in clutch spots and to me hitting in the clutch is one of the most important places to do damage cuz usually that is the time when your team needs you most, needs you to make that extra hit, needs you to bring in that run, needs you to get on base. When it comes to arod at the plate its "echo echoo echooo" "crickets chirping"

Greatest as an individual player, sure. But to me not the greatest.

So with all that said you can imagine how much i do not care for him, but yes even me was sitting praying, hoping Arod was not involved with and PED'S. I was just hoping the one New York player, the one who has Babe Ruth numbers, Bonds passing record stamina, Maris single season home run record breaking potential was clean and he wasn't. I was saddened by this.

Even before he admitted it no one wanted to believe he was or ever was on PED's. "Who Arod?" "No way" "He has had the powerful swing, since he came out the womb" "He has been hitting bombs since high school" - No of us wanted to believe it, but we were all wrong.

So I say this with Pujols as much as I would like to believe he is clean. I have lost hope and you just never know.

[suave1477]

So I say this with Pujols as much as I would like to believe he is clean. I have lost hope and you just never know.

Just so everyone can understand what i meant by this. I do hope he is clean, but in general I lost hope because at this point seems like everything has been tainted in someone due tot his.

You have to remember not only are the batters numbers padded by the PED's but how much it harms the pitchers numbers. How many games has John Doe pitcher lost because of pitching against a batter using, who hit that home run that changed the outcome of the game.
Think how many pitchers have lost games because of it???
Think how many pitchers may have lost there opportunity to play in the Majors because of it???

[rj_lucas]

To assume that an athlete is using a banned substance simply because they're performing at an exceptional level makes no sense. Isn't that what they're supposed to do?

Do we assume that a successful CEO cheated on their college exams? When did we, as a country, stop rewarding excellence and begin viewing it as something sinister? Probably right about the time we started seeing a general decline in excellence in this country.

The source of Albert Pujols' success isn't hard to understand. It's out there for the world to see, and even to share in:

http://pujolsfamilyfoundation.org/faith.htm

Rick
rickjlucas@gmail.com