albert left st louis for more money. but is that really why he left? i think he really wondered that if the cards paid him the huge dollars that the team around him would suffer, and he knew the angels would spend to surround him. we had one of the five greatest hitters of all time for eleven years, and i really think we got the best he had to give. sure he may go there and put up some good numbers, but will they top what he did here? at 32 to start the season, i think back on all the minor injuries he has played through here (plantar fascitis, the back pain, the hamstrings, the calf, and worst of all, that awful right elbow that could blow any time), the older he gets the more of these aches and pains will be showing up. what will that be like at 40?

dont get me wrong here, i am not downing pujols. he is by far the best hitter i have seen, but i really think the cards went as far as they could go, and pujols became infatuated with moreno, so when the offer came out he couldnt pass it up

when you look back at what pujols did here it is amazing:

3 time mvp; 2nd in mvp voting 4 times; he also had one each at 3rd, 4th, and 5th; his other season was 9th; that is 10 top 5 finishes in 11 seasons. simply amazing

the team reached the playoffs 7 times in his 11 years, including 3 world series and winning 2

for comparisons sake, who would you compare him to? he is so far off the charts for this point in his career, there are no good comparisons

all i know at this point is that i am very happy he switched leagues, (if he was a cub i couldnt stand it), but if the angels come to st louis for interleague play, his number should be retired, and his picture put on the outfield wall

a comment about the racehorse secretariat reminds me of losing albert; when the horse died, the stable owner said you all say you hope you will see another like him,but you know it isnt going to happen, but you just have to keep on trying, and be happy that you had him as long as you did

this is just a bit about the way i feel about albert, but i think most dont give credit where it is due

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there have been some very interesting things happen in this season around baseball this year, some are records, others just points of interest

ryan howard has already broken the strikeout record for a season with 197, and there is a good chance he will be the first with 200

jimmy rollins has 704 at-bats, the record's held by willie wilson, at 705

curtis granderson has at least 23 each of 2b,3b,hr,sb a feat never done before

rollins needs 1 triple to be the only player ever with a season of 30 2b, 20 3b, 30 hr, 30 sb

there are 25 guys with 30 homers this year, 17 from the national league, 6 from the american league, and 1, mark tiexiera who played in both leagues (does this big a difference seem odd to anyone else)

a-rod is having a season for the ages, he has 140 runs, 53 homers, and 151 rbi

there have only been 4 men ever have a season with 140/50/150:
babe ruth (twice)
hack wilson
jimmy foxx
sammy sosa

and lastly, our own albert pujols is now only 3 runs away from extending his record of 6 seasons at the start of his career with .300/100/30/100, he also needs 2 walks for 100, and he also goes into the weekend with an ops of .999

i know the rules were current players, and front office people, but if those rules had not been there, i think the cards hall of famers could easily be the face of this franchise

musial
schoendienst
gibson
brock
smith
sutter

is there any team with as many living hall of famers? or who match up this bunch anyway? i really cant think of one, but there are a few that might come close:

the yanks:
berra, ford, reggie, winfield

the giants:
mays, marichal, mccovey, cepeda, irvin

i also wanted to say that while jack buck was alive, he could have very well been considered the face of the cards, but i just dont think shannon is quite there

also i am only including the guys who have their numbers retired, which leaves out carlton, cepeda, and eckersley

lastly, i will be glad to get to see who larry picks tomorrow

I don't know how many of you watched the Hall-of-Fame ceremonies, but I was thinking about Gwynn saying he changed the way he hit after 1992, when he had been talking to Ted Williams. After checking the numbers, Gwynn had hit .327 through his first 11 seasons, which as you all know, is very good. In his final nine seasons he hit .356, to bring his final average to .338. The fact that a guy was able to do that much better in the latter years of his career is fascinating, and just shows how much Williams knew about hitting.

i dont know how to post a link, but joe posnanski has an article on WWW.KANSASCITY.COM, posted on may 26 about bo jackson, this is just detailing some of the "superhuman" things he did on a baseball field, if you grew up watching bo, it is a must read, hopefully hardcore, val, erik, or larry can make the actual link

<http://kansascity.com/180/story/124608.html>