Albert Pujols ties Willie Mays on the all-time home run list - Los Angeles Times

Albert Pujols has passed a number of Hall of Famers, including Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome, Frank Robinson, Reggie Jackson and Mike Schmidt, during his two-decade ascent up baseball’s all-time home run list.

But on Sunday afternoon, the Angels slugger pulled even with one of the legends of the game, a superstar whose bust would likely appear on a Mt. Rushmore of baseball players if such a sculpture existed.

Pujols hit the 660th home run of his career in the eighth inning of a 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, a two-run shot that tied him with Willie Mays for fifth place on the home run list behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Alex Rodriguez.

The towering 402-foot blast, on a 1-and-1, 96.5-mph fastball from Colorado reliever Carlos Estevez, traveled 402 feet and gave the Angels a 4-3 lead. It also snapped a string of 93 plate appearances without a homer, his longest such streak since 2014.

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Pujols, 40, is a three-time National League most valuable player who helped the St. Louis Cardinals win three World Series championships, a 20-year veteran expected to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

But Mays, known as the Say Hey Kid, is widely regarded as the best all-around player of all-time, a powerful, speedy and athletically gifted center fielder who batted .302 with a .941 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 523 doubles, 140 triples, 1,903 RBIs and 338 stolen bases in a 22-year career that ended in 1973.

Mays, who played the bulk of his career with the New York and San Francisco Giants, was a 20-time All-Star who won the 1951 rookie-of-the-year award, two most valuable player awards and 12 Gold Glove Awards.

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Pujols is also among the top 10 all-time in several offensive categories, ranking fifth in doubles (669), third in RBIs (2,095), fifth in extra-base hits (1,344) and fifth in total bases (5,907) entering Sunday. His lifetime batting average is .299, dipping below .300 for the first time in his career this season. He batted .314 or better in each of his first 10 seasons and won the batting title in 2003 with a .359 average.

The first baseman was considered the best right-handed hitter in the game during his 11 years (2001-11) in St. Louis before signing a 10-year, $240-million deal with the Angels before the 2012 season. The 10-time All-Star also won two Gold Glove Awards.

With this season shortened to 60 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Pujols’ contract expiring after 2021, it appears unlikely that Pujols will join Bonds (762), Aaron (755) and Ruth (714) in baseball’s 700-homer club. Next on the list would be Rodriguez, who hit 696 homers.

Albert Pujols follows the flight of his two-run home run off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Carlos Estevez in the eighth inning Sunday.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

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“I never thought about home runs in my career,” Pujols said on a recent video call. “You know, I accomplished 500, 600, and just to be out there in the top five, top six in home runs is pretty special. So, if the opportunity [to hit 700] comes and I do it, great. But if it doesn’t, there’s no regret. There’s not anything I can look back and say I wish I would have done.”

Falling short of 700 homers would in no way diminish Pujols’ career.

“When he’s all said and done, [Pujols] is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Probably it should be unanimous, I would imagine,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “The way he came up [in St. Louis], he took everything by storm early on in his career. Everybody had to watch Pujols, ‘who is this guy Pujols?’ when he first showed up. And then he continually just piled on the numbers.

“He’s known for his hitting, but he’s a good baseball player. ... He’s got this intellect about the game beyond hitting.“

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Pujols’ milestone homer comes after a sluggish start that got him benched against the Dodgers on Aug. 15 and 16, the first time in his nine-year Angels career that he hadn’t started two games in a row without a sidelining injury. Pujols also sat out two straight games at Oakland on Aug. 22-23.

He hadn’t homered since Aug. 4.

“Yeah, it’s tough when you know that you’re healthy and you feel good, you work your tail off every day to try to go out there and play and get yourself ready to play,” Pujols said of his reduced role. “But at the end of the day, you know, that’s the manager and the general manager’s call, and my job is to, whenever I’m in the lineup, just give 110%.”

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Pujols entered Sunday with a .235 average (27 for 115), .661 OPS, three homers and 20 RBIs in 30 games this season, a slight drop-off from his production in 2019, when he hit .244 with a .734 OPS, 23 homers and 93 RBIs. He retained more of a regular role after Tommy La Stella, the left-handed-hitting utility infielder who was sharing time with Pujols at first base, was traded to Oakland on July 28 but is now splitting time at first base with left-handed-hitting Jared Walsh.

Angels first baseman Albert Pujols.

(Kent Nishimura; Allison Hong / Los Angeles Times)

All-time home run leaders

Name, HR, AB per HR

Barry Bonds, 762, 12.9

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Hank Aaron, 755, 16.4

Babe Ruth, 714, 11.8

Alex Rodriguez, 696, 17.5

Willie Mays, 660, 18.9

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Albert Pujols, 660, 18.5

Ken Griffey Jr., 630, 15.6

Jim Thome, 612, 13.8

Sammy Sosa, 609, 14.5

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Frank Robinson, 586, 17.1

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Albert Pujols ties Willie Mays on the all-time home run list - Los Angeles Times
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