Speaking with Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Albert Pujols has intimated that while his future with the Cardinals remains up in the air, he would love to remain part of the team.
Here are the highlights of multiple conversations I had with Pujols this week; some of his comments came during his visit to my radio show on WXOS (101.1 FM).
— On his contract, which is up after 2011:
“People in St. Louis and our fans around the country know where I want to be. And that’s St. Louis. There’s no city like St. Louis to play baseball. And the way the city has embraced me, and my family and our charitable foundation has been unbelievable. I am blessed. So why would I want to go anywhere else?
“I appreciate being a Cardinal. I appreciate wearing this uniform. I appreciate being part of the legacy over the last nine years and I want to continue to do that. I appreciate being around the Hall of Famers. I don’t think there’s many organizations who have that. I think we have the most (living) Hall of Famers, and they come around. You see Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendienst all the time. They spend time with us. You appreciate talking baseball with all of those guys. So why would I want to go anywhere?
“Do I want to do this right now and take care of this so we don’t need to worry about it? Of course. If it happens, it happens. But there are some things I am able to control and there are other things that are out of my hands that I can’t control. And that’s the truth.”
Pujols is entering his tenth season as a Cardinal, the team with which he has spent his entire career. I’m all for Pujols staying in St. Louis, solely because I appreciate when players and their fans maintain a connection. How many current players have spent ten consecutive seasons (at least 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched) with the same team? They are listed below with their respective team and the number of seasons spent with that team.
Lance Berkman (Astros) – 10
Roy Halladay (Blue Jays) – 11
Andruw Jones (Braves) – 11
Chipper Jones (Braves) – 15
Kerry Wood (Cubs) – 10
Jim Thome (Indians) – 10
Omar Vizquel (Indians) – 11
Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners) – 11
Jamie Moyer (Mariners) – 11
Luis Castillo (Marlins) – 10
Melvin Mora (Orioles) – 10
Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers) – 12
Jason Varitek (Red Sox) – 12
Tim Wakefield (Red Sox) – 15
Todd Helton (Rockies) – 12
Paul Konerko (White Sox) – 11
Derek Jeter (Yankees) – 15
Jorge Posada (Yankees) – 13
Mariano Rivera (Yankees) – 15
I might be forgetting a few, but the supplied data speaks for itself: gone are the days of firmly establishing a collection of players. Oh, and the Yankees find a good thing and stick with it. Yes, they have have the money to make it happen, but they’ve utilized the same strategy since their inception. It’s great for both the fans and business.
Update: I did some more research and found some surprises. While the list has expanded, it’s still disappointing that many teams haven’t kept a player (granted, there are the retirees and those serving the remainder of their contracts) longer than ten consecutive years in the recent past.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
