Big Ups to Phat Albert

We often like to have fun at the expense of the White Sox and Cardinals. We've always had respect for guys who do great things in those organizations, like Dave Duncan and Don Cooper. There is deep seeded animosity against many fans of these two franchises, mostly for disrespecting the game by their boorish behavior at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. We have some really good friends who are Sox and Cardinal fans. It's no big deal, no hard feelings.

Tonight, we are going to actually shine the light of respect on a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. No, it's not Colby Rasmus; it's team leader, league leader, All World All-Time Great, Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols.

We're not breaking a story tonight. Pujols is a star and perennial best player in the game. The reason we're spending this ink tonight is that we took a minute to check his stats on Baseball Reference tonight and were amazed by the fact that he had an MVP caliber season as a 21 year old, his rookie year, and he's never had a down season, with this being his tenth season. Again, it's nothing newsworthy. I'm almost embarrassed to even bring this up. I've been so anti-pujols for so long, that I never even cared to begin to process some of these numbers. He's had MVP caliber seasons for every year from age 21, 22, 23, all the way to this year, as a 30-year old. He's the pre 2009 Thanksgiving Tiger Woods of baseball.

So, this post is designed for readers who are inclined to take a brief moment to check out his stats and enjoy the historic times we're living in.

For some amazing perspective, look at a couple of Pujols's comparable players: Hank Greenberg, Jimmie Foxx, and Joe DiMaggio.

Before you go, please do us one favor and look at their BB/K numbers, these are the bee's knees...

Albert Pujols 877 BB's, 622 K's
Hank Greenberg 852 BB's, 844 K's
Jimmie Foxx 1452 BB's, 1311 K's
Joe DiMaggio 790 BB's, 369 K's

BB/K ratio fever, catch it!