Albert Pujols is an Angel

Part of being a Cardinals’ baseball fan is feeling like you should set a place at the dinner table for our players.  Over the past 11 years, Albert Pujols has certainly become part of that, “family” of Cardinals.  So it was, with genuine sadness, that I learned that the three-time, National League MVP has agreed to a 10 year contract with the Los Angeles Angels for a cool $254 million.  St. Louis is the best baseball town in the United States and we loved Pujols.  Unfortunately, St. Louis is also well known for making good teams on the cheap.  They parley their good well (and a pretty good scouting and farm system) into competitive teams; but when individual players want top dollar, St. Louis sends to send them on their way with the best of all good wishes.  So Pujols is going to finish his spectacular career in Los Angeles.  Well, the weather is better there than in St. Louis; but they won’t love him like we do.  I think Albert knows that.

            Is Pujols worth it?  He has a .328 lifetime batting average and 445 home runs;  

but he is 31 years old.  What else should we look at?  Besides his athletic credentials, he is healthy, smart and disciplined.  He was born in the Dominican Republic, but moved to this country in 1996, living first in New York City, then in Independence, Missouri.  He is married and is the father of four children.  His marriage, like his baseball stats, tells us some important things about what kind of man Albert Pujols is.  His wife had a daughter with Down syndrome when she met Albert.  That wasn’t a deal breaker for him.  He has adopted both the girl, and her disability, as his own cause.  In St. Louis he is known as a classy guy—no tantrums, no prima donna attitude, and no drama.  He scored a 100% on his citizenship test, and has set up a foundation for charitable causes.  He sponsors a golf tournament each year to provide dentistry for the poor in the Dominican.  Here is a man who does good while he does well.

            Once again, is he worth $245 million?  Yes.  The proof of that is that he got it.  Personally, I have never turned down a pay increase in my life.  If you are a free market person and not a socialist you believe that worth and an open auction determine ones salary.  Money is one way we judge the worth of an individual.  If one has a choice of employment, there are only two reasons a person works at any job.  You either like the working conditions or you like the pay.  Usually, it is some combination of the two.  A great work environment will cause you to give up some salary.  A great salary will allow you to put up with poor working conditions.  But given skills and a choice, you will try to maximize both.  Pujols has done that.   All of us do that every time we try for a better job.

            Albert Pujols is a good man with a unique skill.  He is being paid commensurately.  The Occupy Wall Street idiots would have us believe that his salary should be divided equally between everyone on the ball team.  They don’t want merit to determine salary, they want a social agenda that punishes talent and guards mediocrity.  Obviously, I disagree.  I am going to miss Albert Pujols, congratulate him on his success, and wish him nothing but the best—except when he plays the Cardinals. 

            Celebrate success and keep the faith.