Pujols Bolts for LA But Don't Compare Him to LeBron (100th Post)

Albert Pujols: A Cardinal no more

The deal has only been made public for about thirty minutes, and already I’ve been hearing the statement “Pujols is just like LeBron.” Really? Just because he left St. Louis doesn’t make him like LeBron.

Pujols spent his first ten years in the league with the Cardinals and it doesn’t exactly take a genius to figure out that he staked his claim as one of the best players in the game just a few seasons into his career. He racked up two Gold Glove awards, one Batting Title, and two World Series rings. He’s been named MVP three times and was named NL Rookie of the Year in 2001. If you compare his stats through the first half of his career to LeBron’s, they’ve enjoyed much of the same success. LeBron won two MVPs back-to-back in 2009 and 2010, he made a trip to the Finals in which his team got swept (mind you he had to face the most dominant team of the decade in the San Antonio Spurs), and he was named Rookie of the Year in 2004. It’s not a secret that the two stars are the best in their respected businesses.

You can’t argue statistics, they’re set in stone, but you can argue character and personality. Pujols brought St. Louis baseball back to the top, and LeBron James brought Cleveland basketball up from the bottom. They were their cities’ most beloved athletes and were treated like kings (no pun intended, LeBron). However, the fact that someone could say “Pujols is just like LeBron” is downright ignorant. I’m a Cubs fan, I should hate Pujols, but you can’t hate the player Pujols is. He’s about hard work, never making excuses, and always being humble.

That’s not to say that LeBron is necessarily a polar opposite of that; I will say that LeBron recognizes when his team needs to improve and when LeBron himself needs to make adjustments. That brings us to the next two subjects on the list in never making excuses and always being humble. After Pujols failed to cut off a throw from the outfield that ultimately seemed to cost St. Louis Game 2 of the World Series, he refused to talk with the media yet still owned up to his mistake. He knew that as a big-time player he should’ve made that play, but he screwed up, accepted it, and moved on. LeBron, on the other hand, struggles with making excuses. After Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Championship this past year, in which the Bulls absolutely embarrassed the Miami Heat, LeBron blamed his poor performance on the head cold he was currently suffering. Give me a break, Michael Jordan dropped 38 points in a game where he had the flu and had to basically be helped off the floor by Scottie Pippen. Kobe Bryant played how many games with a sprained ligament on a finger that was on his shooting hand? Dirk Nowitzki played the entire Finals series with the same injury just on his non-shooting hand. Great players don’t make excuses, they learn from mistakes and admit to them and use them as motivation to get better.

And who could forget the way that the two went about their free agency decisions? I heard about Pujols from my Sociology teacher during school. Sources simply told Buster Olney of the deal and then ESPN.com was filled with news shortly after; nothing was heard from Pujols. I could be wrong, there might be an hour long program on ESPN dedicated to Pujols telling us of his move to the Angels, but Pujols doesn’t care that much about being the center of attention; he’s more of a “pick up your lunch pail and go to work” kind of guy.

So is it fair to say that Pujols and LeBron are alike? When you’re discussing their dominance and mind-boggling statistics, absolutely. When you’re speaking of Pujols’ decision to move to LA as opposed to LeBron’s decision to move to Miami, don’t even say that. Pujols isn’t calling any of the other free agents and asking if they want to team up with him, and he isn’t going to predict the amount of championships the Angels will win. Pujols, though the amount of money is definitely outrageous and over-the-top, is never going to be the selfish player that LeBron made himself look like throughout his free agency.

St. Louis will certainly be bitter with Pujols for leaving, I bet most of us will be, but that city has far too much tradition and has had far too much success to let Pujols’ exit set them back too far. It’s sad to see Pujols leave knowing he could’ve been the best Cardinal ever, but his legacy in St. Louis will no doubt last forever.