Pujols becomes 4th to reach 500 HRs

Albert Pujols, who compiled perhaps the DMBL's best decade by an offensive player, this season became the fourth player in league history to reach the hallowed 500 home run level, joining Jim Thome (531), Alex Rodriguez (595) and Barry Bonds (689). He's also closing in on his 500th double, a feat accomplished by just three players as well: Todd Helton (507), Manny Ramirez (538), and Chipper Jones (561).

The blast was a highlight of what's been a down year for Pujols in his first with a new franchise, the Saskatoon Shields. The historic homer came off Hopatcong's Ubaldo Jimenez, a solo shot in the 7th inning of what was eventually a 5-3 win for the Shields. The next active player is Hoboken's David Ortiz, who on Monday night tied Jason Giambi for 14th all-time with 378.

Pujols matched Manny Ramirez with 498 home runs (5th all-time) when he blasted his 12th homer of the year. That was a first-inning blow off Justin Masterson in a game Saskatoon eventually triumphed, 4-3, over Marietta in an Aug. 8 extra innings matchup. He passed Ramirez with a solo shot, his 13th of the year, off Allentown's John Lackey, in a 5-4 loss in an Aug. 13 game.

Pujols was on a trajectory for the Hall of Fame after Philly took him with the first overall pick of the 2002 draft. He was beaten out for the Pat Listach Rookie of the Year Award that season by Hoboken's Joel Pineiro, who was selected 4th overall, but routinely played 160 games a year and mashed home runs by the 40s for the next decade. Pujols averaging more than 40 a year for his first 12 seasons, including a career-high 64 in 2010 when he won his second consecutive Kevin Mitchell Award as the league's most valuable batter, the only player to do that besides Bonds.

After the Philly franchise folded this past offseason, Saskatoon grabbed him in the 14th round of the four-team dispersal draft and he hasn't been able to regain the magic yet, though he doesn't have the supporting cast he's had in previous years either.

Pujols has a respectable but mortal 17 home runs and 63 RBI for a Shields squad that scores a league low 3.7 runs per game and dealt its best hitter (Yan Gomes) at the trade deadline. He's hitting career lows of .215/.284/.365 and is on pace for his worst year by far. Only two other seasons has he not driven in 100 RBI -- 99 in his sophomore season of 2003 and 97 in 2012. He's also on pace for a career-low in home runs, which was his rookie year of 2001, when he blasted 29.