Two weeks ago, I talked about Ichiro Suzuki and how he was drafted in the Illowa APBA League’s first round along with Albert Pujols. My friend Don Smith said he would have drafted Ichiro even if Pujols was still there. Well, this is what Don would have had three years later had he drafted Pujols. (sorry, Don. Had to do it.)
Pujols came off his NL-leading .359 the year before. However in 2004, it dipped to ONLY .331. He did manage a career high 46 homeruns (he topped that with 49 two years later). He also matched his 2003 total of 51 doubles. All told, he had 102 extra base hits in 2004.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 Totals | 154 | 692 | 592 | 133 | 196 | 51 | 2 | 46 | 123 | 5 | 5 | 84 | 52 | .331 | .415 | .657 |
Power numbers of 1-1-5-6-6 are always nice but when you’re in a league with strict limits, it’s nice when your player appeared in 154 games and batted 592 times.
Albert’s five stolen bases were enough to warrant a 10 in APBA’s eyes. He received three 24s too (I’ve seen his more recent cards so that’s not an insult).
Albert’s card (coming to me thanks to Pastor Rich, btw!) says he’s from STLN. So no, he didn’t play for the Browns :)
In case you’re wondering, Albert didn’t hit .300 for me with this card in the IAL. He hit .295. With 10 teams, we tend to have a pretty pitching-rich league. He did clobber 41 homeruns with 115 rbis and hit 48 doubles though. It’s a shame though. Pujols won our league’s MVP in 2004 and 2006. Would have been nice to pull that one off too.
Any regular player with a “6” (or less) on 44 and a “7” (or less) on 55 is a Monster! Good choice Thomas! :)
Great card. Two others to consider for Monster Card Monday – both from the 1929 Cubs – Rogers Hornsby and Hack Wilson. What a 3/4 combo!