Pujols trying to party like it's 1967

MLB: JUN 22 Cardinals at Mets

National League home run leaders:

1. Albert Pujols 34
2. Raul Ibanez 24
2. Adam Dunn 24
2. Adrian Gonzalez
2. Prince Fielder
2. Mark Reynolds

National League rbi leaders:

1. Albert Pujols 90
2. Prince Fielder 83
3. Ryan Howard 68
4. Raul Ibanez 65
5. Chase Utley 65

National League batting average leaders:

1. Hanley Ramirez .345
2. Albert Pujols .333
3. Pablo Sandoval .331
4. Brad Hawpe .325
5. Miguel Tejada .324

With a comfortable lead in home runs and a good margin in rbis, Albert Pujols needs to make up 12 batting average points on Hanley Ramirez to achieve what no Major Leaguer has done since 1967 and no National Leaguer has done since 1937, win the Triple Crown.

To give you a clue on how rare it is to achieve this milestone, it has only happened 13 times since 1900, and only twice since 1950.

For his career, Pujols has led the league in only one category, winning a batting title in 2003.

If Pujols could complete the Triple Crown, it would arguably be the greatest accomplishment of this generation. Today's players have become more specialized, with many players hitting for a high average but no power, while some sacrifice their average to hit the ball out of the ballpark.

Pujols has done it all throughout his career, hitting .334 during his first eight seasons while averaging 31 home runs and driving in an average of 109 runs every year.

With 68 games remaining, Pujols has a chance to make up the gap for the batting title, but it will be difficult to chase down arguably the best shortstop playing baseball right now in Ramirez.

0 comments: