Five for Five

Five of my favorite cards of Number Five. 

 

Once the Los Angeles Angels designated Albert Pujols for assignment, the reunion between one of the all-time franchise greats and the St. Louis Cardinals felt inevitable. His unceremonious exit from Anaheim seemingly freed him up from his "personal services" contract that was supposed to extend beyond his playing days. He would soon join the red jacket club in St. Louis, as long as he wanted to be there.

But for Albert to put on #5 again as a player? It made sense. The universal DH (which I hate) certainly pushed things in that direction. It's fun to see Pujols back, and as long as he's utilized properly I do think it benefits the team. I thought I'd take the opportunity to show off some of the best Pujols cards I've picked up over the years.

This would fit nicely in one of gcrl's mini collections (and, eventually his Hall of Fame collection.)

This card is reminding me just how much I miss the days when Majestic was the official brand for all MLB uniforms. Of course, Nike uses the latest technology for comfort blah blah blah experience, but there's a lot of things I don't like about what they've done to major sports apparel in general. Of course, Majestic ended up getting swallowed up by Fanatics, like many other things.

This one is actually new to the blog! It came from a Nachos Grande Breaker's Club break. I still don't have a Pujols base rookie card from any brand in my collection, but I do have this really impressive looking rookie year bat card.

Here, of course, is the big one. You were probably expecting to see this card all along. I'll go ahead and add this image to every blog post if I can find an excuse to.

There are currently 911 unique Albert Pujols cards in my collection according to TCDB, even though he spent ten seasons away from the team. His total surpassed Ozzie Smith, even though Ozzie is my #1 all-time favorite player.