Albert Pujols joins the 700 home run club

St. Louis Cardinals slugger reaches baseball immortality with a pair of home runs

Albert Pujols belted a pair of home runs on Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, moving the St. Louis Cardinals slugger into one of the most elite clubs in all of professional sports.

The 700 home run club.

Pujols’ first home run came in the 3rd inning off of Dodgers starting pitcher Andrew Heaney, and it was a no-doubter off the bat:

Pujols was able to turn on a 94-mile per hour fastball that Heaney left on the inside part of the plate, driving it 434 feet to deep left for the two-run shot. It touched off a frenzy in left field, with fans clamoring for a piece of baseball history.

Then in the fourth inning, Pujols came to the plate with a pair of runners on base. He pulled another pitch into deep left field, touching off a celebration as he joined the elite club:

Pujols is now the fourth member of one of sports’ most-elite clubs, the 700 home run club. Only Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds have amassed more home runs over the course of a career. Pujols currently ranks fourth all-time in home runs behind Bonds (762), Aaron (755) and Ruth (714).

Given that Pujols is retiring at the end of this season, it is unlikely he will catch Ruth with ten games left in the regular season. But the first home run was his 20th on the season, placing him in another small club, as he joins Ted Williams as only the second player in baseball history to hit 20 home runs in both his first, and his last, season:

In addition to joining the 700 home run club, Pujols joins Aaron as the only two players in MLB history to amass 700 home runs, along with 3,000 hits, over the course of a career.