NewsPujols' slam notches several milestones
Star sets season, career slam mark; third-youngest to 350
By Matthew Leach / MLB.com
07/04/09 12:28 AM ET
CINCINNATI -- Albert Pujols may have a little bit of record fatigue, but everyone around him is enjoying the show.Pujols etched his name in the record books of both the Cardinals and Major League Baseball once again on Friday night with an eighth-inning home run off Reds reliever David Weathers in St. Louis' 7-4 win. The shot was his 31st of the year, but more notably, it was his fourth grand slam of 2009. That set a Cardinals record, breaking a tie with Jim Bottomley, Keith Hernandez and Fernando Tatis. Moreover, it was the 10th grand slam of Pujols' Major League career, another club record.
That one, though, is a little grander. He broke a tie with the greatest Cardinal of them all, Stan Musial, who hit nine in his career. That caught the attention of his manager.
"He broke Stan Musial's career record?" manager Tony La Russa asked. "I'll go bow to his feet here in a second. That's a serious point to make."
Pujols wanted no part of the topic, though.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said. "The last time I talked about it, you guys jinxed it. So I don't want to talk about grand slams."
In addition to the slams, Pujols put himself in the annals in another way. His homer was the 350th of his career. He's the third-youngest player in history to reach that mark, at 29 years, 168 days. The only players to get to 350 at an earlier age were Alex Rodriguez (28 years, 282 days) and Ken Griffey Jr. (28 years, 308 days).
Pujols leads the Majors in home runs, RBIs (82), runs scored (63), total bases (205), on-base percentage (.460) and slugging percentage (.748).
Matthew Leach is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
