Albert Pujols’ resurgence continued Monday night, as he hit three homers in the Angels’ doubleheader sweep over the Red Sox to give him an MLB-leading 29 home runs on the season and move past Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt for 15th place on the all-time homer list with 549.
Pujols already passed Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Willie McCovey, and Frank Thomas on the all-time homer list earlier this season. He’s currently on pace for a career-high 51 homers, which would put Pujols into the all-time top dozen with 571 total.
Here are the players he’d surpass if that happens:
12. Rafael Palmeiro, 569
13. Reggie Jackson, 563
14. Manny Ramirez, 555
15. Albert Pujols, 549
Pujols’ overall production still isn’t quite on par with his MVP-winning Cardinals days because his batting average is just .260 compared to a career .328 mark in St. Louis, but he already has more homers (29) than he hit in 159 games last season (28) and his next homer will tie his Angels high of 30 from 2012.
To do that at age 35 after looking good but not great and frequently banged up since signing with the Angels is remarkable and even more amazing is that Pujols started the season slowly by hitting .208 with three homers in April. Since then he’s hit .275 with 26 homers in 68 games while striking out just 27 times.
Mark McGwire holds the record for homers by a 35-year-old with 65 in 1999, so that’s out of reach for Pujols. However, no other 35-year-old has ever hit 50 or more homers and Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds are currently tied for the second-most with 49 apiece. Pujols is doing some incredible things again.