ALBERT PUJOLS SPEECH
Commissioner John “Stray” Corrado’s Introduction Speech for Albert Pujols
Born January 16th, 1980, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Played 22 seasons (2002-2023)
Played 22 seasons (2002-2023)
Teams: Yonge Street Stalkers (2002) · L.A. Riots (2002-2007) · Sacramento Capitals (2008-2018, 2023) · Valdosta (2019-2021) · Tempe (2022-2023)
Career Stats: 3034 Games, 11,399 AB, .288 Avg., .365 OBP, .542 SLG, .907 OPS, 3280 Hits, 2009 Runs, 705 HR, 1971 RBI, 720 Doubles, 6157 TB, 1349 BB, 1391 K, 140 SB, .992 Fielding %, 1728 Assists, 17,037 PO, 1366 DP
Awards: 8x NL MVP (2004-2011) · 700 Career Home Runs · MWBL All-Time Home Run Leader
Ladies and gentlemen, owners, friends, and members of the Mid-West Baseball League family, welcome to today’s Hall of Fame ceremony.
Every so often, a player comes along that makes you rethink what’s possible in this league. A player who doesn’t just set records, but obliterates them so completely that the rest of us are left shaking our heads, wondering if we’ll ever see anything like it again.
Today, we enshrine that player.
Albert Pujols was traded to the Los Angeles Riots midway through the 2002 season, and he announced himself immediately. By 2004, he was putting up a .345 batting average, 52 home runs, and 163 RBIs. Most guys would frame that stat line and retire happy. Albert did it again the next year. And the year after that.
In 2007, he launched 63 home runs. Sixty-three. That remains one of the most dominant single seasons in MWBL history.
When the L.A. Riots became the Sacramento Capitals, Albert didn’t miss a beat. Eight consecutive National League Most Valuable Player awards from 2004 through 2011. Eight. There was no debate. There was no conversation. There was Albert, and there was everybody else.
His career numbers speak for themselves: a .288 lifetime batting average, .365 on-base percentage, .542 slugging, .907 OPS across 3,034 games. He collected 3,280 hits, 720 doubles, and 705 home runs. One thousand nine hundred seventy-one RBIs. He scored 2,009 runs.
And on August 1st, 2023, with the Sacramento faithful on their feet, Albert launched number 700 off Glenn Otto. A milestone no one in this league had ever reached. Two days later, he hit 701 as a walk-off, because that’s just who Albert Pujols is.
Through it all, one man believed in him from the very beginning. George Skiles saw something special in a young first baseman and brought him to Los Angeles, then Sacramento, and when Albert’s journey took him to Valdosta and Tempe in his later years, George brought him home one last time to finish where he belonged.
It is my absolute honor, as Commissioner of the Mid-West Baseball League, to welcome Albert Pujols into the MWBL Hall of Fame.
Albert, you’ve earned this and then some. Welcome home.
Albert Pujols Speech:
Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you all.
I’m standing up here, and honestly, I don’t have the words. Which is funny, because my bat always did the talking for me anyway.
I want to start at the beginning. In 2002, I was a kid with the Yonge Street Stalkers trying to figure out this league. Seventy-four games in, I got the call that I’d been traded. At the time, I didn’t know what to think. But that trade brought me to George Skiles and the Los Angeles Riots, and it changed my life forever.
Now, I gotta address something. Scott Farquharson. Scott, buddy, I love you, but you traded me for Rafael Furcal and a bag of beans. A bag of beans, Scott! Seven hundred and five home runs later, I hope those beans were magic, brother, because you’re gonna need some kind of magic tongue to explain that trade to your grandkids. I still can’t believe it. Furcal was a good player, don’t get me wrong, but a bag of beans? Come on, man.
But honestly, that trade was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because it brought me to George.
George Skiles believed in me when I was just a name on a trade call. He built a lineup around me in Los Angeles. When the franchise moved to Sacramento, he kept me at the heart of everything. He never once told me to take a pitch when I had my pitch. That trust, that loyalty, that’s what let me be the player I became.
I was happy playing for George Skiles. Every single day. Whether it was the L.A. Riots or the Sacramento Capitals, it was always George’s team, and it was always family.
Eight MVPs. I still can’t wrap my head around that. 2004 through 2011, every year I walked up to that podium and tried to find new words to say. By year six, I was running out of material.
Sixty-three home runs in 2007. That season felt like I couldn’t make an out if I tried. Every pitch looked like a beach ball. You get stretches like that maybe once in a career if you’re lucky, and I rode that wave all summer long.
My career took me to Valdosta for a few years, then to Tempe. Different cities, different teammates, but I carried Sacramento with me everywhere. And when George called in 2023 and said, “Come home,” I didn’t hesitate. Not for one second.
Hitting number 700 in a Capitals uniform, in front of those fans, with George watching from his box? That’s the moment I’ll take with me forever. Not the stats. That feeling.
3,280 hits. 705 home runs. 1,971 RBIs. Those are just numbers on a page. What matters is the teammates who picked me up after an 0-for-4. The road trips. George calling after tough losses just to say, “We’ll get ’em tomorrow.” The pitchers who challenged me and made me better. Every single owner in this league who made the MWBL worth playing in.
To Commissioner Corrado, to every owner, player, and fan who made this league what it is: thank you. This is the greatest honor of my career, and I don’t say that lightly.
God bless this league, God bless George Skiles, and God bless the bag of beans that started it all.
Thank you.