“Albert Pujols stretches out into his familiar batting stance—legs wide apart, bat quivering high above his shoulder, head up in an oddly proud way, like he’s a soldier sitting on a horse, like he’s posing for posterity.” — Joe Posnanski, 2009, describing Pujols’ stance at the height of his peak.
6 comments
Love it, but 04-06 was the height of his peak
Does Albert get a big statue like Stan or a little statue like Cool Papa Bell?
Pujols’ batting stance is to this day my favorite stance in baseball.
It’s such a unique and majestic stance so many kids and even adults tried to imitate when Pujols was destroying the league in the 2000s.
It’s a shame Pujols couldn’t keep that amazing stance for most of his career due to plantar fasciitis which made it extremely hard for him to keep that unique posture in his ABs.
Pujols’ career fell apart when he signed with the Angels but the signs of his body no longer being able to keep up with his performance were already there.
This was Pujols’ stance in 2011 right before he left the Cardinals, as you can see he could no longer replicate the stance he previously had:
https://preview.redd.it/dgkdftp5r84g1.jpeg?width=683&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1a6d06d730bfe47aba54084e9933777b64d75a1
Little league me made my mom take a picture of my Pujols stance. I swear it added at least a few feet of power to my swing
If he had an at bat left in the game, I get the cards had a chance to win
In little league, I wore number 5, Dri-fit batting gloves, and those same Nike cleats because of him. I mimicked his stance, as much as my little body could, to no success, although it did teach me to align my second knuckles. I even begged my coaches to put me at first base, despite being 4’6″. My only regret is that I wasn’t older to truly appreciate just how dominant he was. I figured we’d always have a guy like him, but now I realize there will only be two or three more guys like him in the entire league in my lifetime.