Albert Pujols Passed Willie Mays for Fifth All Time in Home Runs

Pujols is 34 home runs away from fourth

Albert Pujols passed WIllie Mays for fifth in home runs with 661.
Albert Pujols rounds the bases after hitting his 661st career home run.
Getty Images

It took Albert Pujols quite some time to tie Willie Mays on the MLB’s total home runs list, but it didn’t take him too long to surpass the “Say Hey Kid.”

On Friday night, the 40-year old Pujols hit his 661st homer off of Wes Benjamin in the fifth inning of the Los Angeles Angels 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers. Pujols went for number 662 in his next at-bat against Demarcus Evans in the seventh inning.

It took Pujols about five weeks to tie Mays with 660 home runs last Sunday against the Colorado Rockies. His last home run before that came on August 4 against the Seattle Mariners.

“I knew that whenever it happens, whether it was going to be this year or next year, it was going to happen,” he said. “I definitely wasn’t thinking about trying to hit one out. It happened tonight and look how perfect it worked out. I not only got one, but two on the night.”

This season, Pujols is batting .244 with six home runs and 24 RBIs.

The two-homer performance was Pujols’ 56th career multi-home run game which is the eighth most in baseball history. The last season that Pujols didn’t have a multi-homer game was the 2002 season.

Next on the home run list for Pujols is Alex Rodriguez who is fourth all time with 696 homers. Pujols might be able to pass Rodriguez if he plays a few more years in the MLB.

While it is presumed that he would retire after that season, Pujols has been noncommittal about what the future holds for him after his contract is up. Pujols made that clear to ESPN earlier in May:

I don’t think about it that way. It’s my last year under contract, but that doesn’t mean I can’t keep playing. I haven’t closed that door. I’m taking it day by day, year by year, but you haven’t heard from my mouth that I’m going to retire next year, or that it’s going to be my last year, or that I’m going to keep playing. I haven’t said any of that.

When that time comes, we’ll see. Just because you have one year left on your contract doesn’t mean it’s your last year. It could be, but it could not be. God hasn’t put that in my heart yet.

In his 20th season in the MLB, Pujols’ 10-year contract with the Angels expires after the 2021 baseball season.

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