Albert Pujols confirmed his retirement from baseball after the St. Louis Cardinals lost 2-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies. Pujols has played the game for twenty years, starting with the Cardinals from 2001-2011 and then moving on to the Los Angeles Angels from 2001 to 2021. After a less than fruitful stint with the Angels and a half season with the Dodgers, Pujols opted to take a one-year contract with the Cardinals and vowed earlier in the year that it would be his last season. Pujols’s return to the Cardinals was less than stellar and he revealed he had contemplated retiring in June when he was struggling with a .158 average. Yet he decided to keep at it, saying, “When you have good people around you and they are encouraging you and you realize that God has opened so many doors for you, man, it puts things back into perspective. I decided, ‘I’m going to stick with it!’ I knew sooner or later it was going to come and turn around for me, because it can’t be like it was all year long.”

Pujols managed to turn things around the second half of the season, averaging .314 and hitting 20 homeruns, including his 700^th career homerun, making him one of the few prestigious members of the “700 club” alongside players like Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth. Pujols spoke about the achievement saying, “It did hit me really hard, because I had felt that weight to deliver for everyone. God has given me this talent and the joy for the game, and I was emotional because there were so many people supporting me and pushing me. They are people who love me and have always supported my career, and I wanted to do it for them. I don’t want to say ‘pressure’ because that word sounds brutal — and I really wanted to do it for them.” Pujols will retire with 703 total homeruns during his career.

He credited God in a postgame interview after the Cardinals loss. “All the glory goes to the Lord, not just me. He opened the door for me to come here. All I did, even through my struggles, was just stay faithful and strong and continue to trust my process that it might work out. I waited for my opportunity. That came, and I just took advantage and did whatever I had to do to help this organization win,” he said. Pujols will still remain connected to baseball, having stated that he intends to complete his 10-year personal services contract with the Angels. The Angels seem to be due for some changes as owner Arte Moreno contemplates selling the team, yet Angels General Manager Perry Minasian has stated the team is very interested in keeping Pujols on. Through a personal services contract, Pujols will not be able to associate himself with any team other than the Angels for ten years and could be called on to help as a hitting coach or to do commentary. Whatever Pujols’s future, it can be assured that he will remain true to his personal testimony: “My life’s goal is to bring glory to Jesus. My life is not mostly dedicated to the Lord, it is 100% committed to Jesus Christ and His will.”