Los Angeles Angels' first baseman Albert Pujols joined some elite company Tuesday, as he jacked his 499th and 500th career home runs in a 7-2 victory against the Washington Nationals. Pujols is now the 26th player in MLB history to achieve the milestone, but has the steroid era and baseball’s decline in popularity doomed this moment for Pujols and the league?
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Once upon a time a player hitting his 500th home run was front page news and all but guaranteed a player was making a stop to Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame. Now in today’s MLB, you have so many factors that just take all the excitement out of every milestone. You have to ask the questions about performance enhancing drugs and if he is a cheater as Pujols has been accused but never found guilty in the past.
All this talk about the decline of the 500 HR Club does a disservice to Albert Pujols. He measures up to any era https://t.co/MER3uqupBw — Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) April 23, 2014
Combine the steroid era with the fact that fewer and fewer people are watching baseball and even fewer care when a milestone is reached. The context of the achievement has been clouded by the drop in popularity and the era that will always go down as a black eye for all of professional sports.
Albert Pujols: 1st player in MLB history to hit HR number 499 and 500 in same game..third youngest player to reach 500 homers (34, 96 days) — John Buccigross (@Buccigross) April 23, 2014
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Pujols has never tested positive for PED’s and should be congratulated on his amazing milestone. If the Hall of Fame voters have their way, Pujols may not see the inside of Cooperstown for a very long time, but in a world where it is innocent until proven guilty, he should be a first ballot entry whenever he decides to hang up the cleats.
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