Angels slugger Albert Pujols joins the 600-homer club with a grand slam

Albert Pujols dug his right foot into the dirt, then his left, and nestled his deteriorating body into his famous stance. He crouched, he glared, he wiggled his bat, and he waited.

When a slider approached him, he gently cocked back his hands and ripped them through the strike zone, sending the commemorative baseball soaring toward the left-field foul pole at Angel Stadium. When Pujols debuted in the major leagues, the speed of those hands represented a revelation, an alarm sounding to all pitchers: Do not make a mistake to that kid.

Sixteen years later, at age 37, he is no longer the indefatigable force he once was. In six tries, he has never started a season well as an Angel. Opponents have grown adept at shifting him and forcing him into outs. But, at any given moment, Pujols can punish a baseball as viciously as anyone in the sport. On Saturday night at Angel Stadium, one such swing vaulted Pujols into his rarest territory yet. His fourth-inning grand slam off of Minnesota Twins right-hander Ervin Santana, his former teammate, made him the ninth major leaguer to hit 600 home runs.

His teammates, all much younger than him, crowded around home plate to celebrate. Assembled fans filmed on their smartphones. Employees got to work replacing one five and two nines on the center-field billboard the Angels erected to laud him. Scott Steffel, the 23-year-old Costa Mesa resident who caught the ball, found his way to stadium officials.

But before it all, before the ball even landed, there was his insistent, ardent glare. The same stare signified so long ago that he believed and you didn’t, that you doubted him and yet he knew all along he could do this.

On that count, Pujols was proven right long ago, his Hall of Fame future absolutely certain. Still, he collects as fuel those who question his ability to perform at his advanced age and decreased health.

“Knowing him, it’s not about hitting 600 homers,” said Toronto reliever Joe Smith, his teammate for three seasons. “It’s about being healthy and showing people that he is still Albert.”

Now, nine men in major league history have hit 600 home runs: Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome, Sammy Sosa and Albert Pujols. Pujols was the fourth-youngest to reach it and the only one to do so with a grand slam.

He will have the opportunity to rise on the leaderboard. Ten more homers and he’ll leap ahead of Sosa, and the Angels are paying him to play up to 751 more games, until he’s closer to age 60 than 21. He hinted at his goals Saturday night.

“We’ll see when I’m done with my contract, when I’m done playing,” Pujols said. “I know that if I stay healthy, I’m gonna be passing some guys.”

Pujols has homered in more stadiums than are still standing. He has homered against every major league team. And he has homered against 386 pitchers. Santana was already one of them.

“I’m not the only one, you know,” Santana said.

Pujols’ team won, 7-2, on Saturday night. Kole Calhoun and Andrelton Simmons supplied additional home runs, ambushing Santana. Right-hander Matt Shoemaker worked into the seventh inning, and manager Mike Scioscia deployed four relievers to acquire the eight remaining outs.

Still, the Angels’ record is under .500, and they will play without superstar Mike Trout for the next month, if not more. Moments in this same stratosphere of excitement will be scarce. So, the buildup became immense, if not to outsiders, certainly in the clubhouse. Many of the men who shook hands with Pujols near home plate Saturday night grew up idolizing his prodigious power as a St. Louis Cardinal.

“When you played a video game, you played with Albert Pujols,” said Garrett Richards, the Angels’ injured ace. “That was just the guy to play with back in the day. And then you watch the highlights of what he was doing. It’s the best first 12 years in the big leagues of all time. And he did it through the steroid era.

“As far as accomplishing things in this game, he’s accomplished it all. Now, this is just kind of the icing on the cake at the end, you know?”

Once this homestead concludes Sunday, the Angels will move the billboard recognizing his achievement out of view from home plate and place it behind the fake rockpile in center field. There it will remain for the next few years. If Pujols nears 700 home runs, the club will move it back to its current perch atop the bleachers.

As Pujols inched closer to this number, Angels reliever Huston Street recalled his father waking him up in Austin, Texas, to watch the Baltimore Orioles change their sign when Cal Ripken played his 2,131st consecutive game. He remembered watching Paul Molitor and Eddie Murray notch their 3,000th hits.

“To witness that had a profound effect on me,” Street said. “My perspective is very simple. I think Albert’s chase for 600 is historic. I think it’s something sports are made for, these moments. There’s something beautiful about the chase, there’s something honorable about it.

“He’s one of the best hitters of our generation, of all time, and he’s in real time. He’s still here. He’s still doing it.”

Late Saturday night, Pujols conducted a news conference, attended by Trout, Richards and Calhoun. Wearing a shirt commemorating his accomplishment, he welcomed Steffel to the stage and laughed at his stories of searching for the ball in the crowd. He thanked his minor league hitting coaches, his teammates and his family. He admitted to putting pressure on himself to deliver the moment fans sought.

At home Friday night, Pujols discussed that sensation with his wife of 17 years, Deidre. He said she stressed that he approach it as another hit, not an important home run. But he was finding that continually difficult since forging No. 599 on Tuesday. After he struck out on three pitches in his second plate appearance Saturday night, Pujols checked his phone.

“You need to stay back,” she had written to him.

He typed out a response before readying for the fateful at-bat.

“I was like, ‘I’m trying, babe,’” Pujols said. “‘I’m just trying a little bit too hard.’ And then I went out there, stayed back, and I’m glad that I listen to her once in a while.”

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Twitter: @pedromoura