In sports, typically the event is a run of the mill next game in a long and arduous schedule. In baseball, the regular season alone is 162 games before the post season even begins. For players often a career can span over years well into the teens. It can take an athlete most of that career to amass stats that are even vaguely mentioned by broadcasters and analysts alike. But sometimes we are treated to something great. Over long careers, stats can reach levels that seemed otherworldly when you first get started. But then you really begin to whittle away the distance between movin up on the leaderboard, and now youre in the top 10. And the hysteria begins as fans start to really pull for a player chasing those top numbers. Especially when it looks like they might have to wait another season for it. Does the player have enough time and body left to go another off season and full season. Can the fans emotionally hold out to wait for the next season to get the hype machine going again. The fans that attended this game got to witness something amazing. Even more than fans, other pros current and retired. Because they were fans too. Pulling for one of their own. A comrade trying to do the improbable. While in the last decade, multiple HR ganes are a lot more a regularity, these 2 particular HRs were special. They put a man on a list for an accomplishment that till that night in well over a century of professional baseball only 3 other mrn had done. The other side is the pressure the athelte feels that he must get it done. And while Albert said he was treating each at bat as just that, they were much bigger. Because all the fans there got to share the elation of what he had accomplished. The reiief and excitement he had to feel with that final crack of the bat when he knew undoubtedly that he'd gotten all of it. The giddy little boy inside him that dreamed of making it to the show as he rounded the bases. The overwhelming joy he felt as he hugged his teammates and his family. Most of the opposition tipped their hats smiling and enjoyed the magnitude of what they too got to be a part of. And even the pitcher who gave up that homerun couldnt feel too ashamed. He was as big a part of that moment as Albert himself. The spectators roared their ovation for what seemed like a lifetime. Moments in sports can often seem larger than life. Just like when the Cubs won the WS in 2016. We were allowed to share with so many around the world all at the same time. The moment can be so grand that it feels like our victory. We saw new young fans that had just developed their love of a team. We also saw the elderly who stood by their boys for decades. We saw them beeakdown in the uncontrollable relief in that they had waited so so very long to see a moment that perhaps they had lost faith in. And even that being said it has been 7 years since that night they won. Just like it has been a while now since HR 700 seen here. Yes the game will go on, and people eventually change the sublect to other players and other goings on in the game. But as cliche as it sounds.... you will always remember what you were doing, the night Albert Pujols joined the 700 HR club.
Ive known Phil Bickford since he was about 13 years old - His dad took him to all his baseball games in Ventura CA - Me and his mom are good friends ...
I remember watching him take batting practice in dodger stadium, earlier in his career. What a talent! You can’t help but wonder, if he had stayed leaner, how many more he could have hit. Even if he ended his career, where’re he did, he could have had a little extra quickness & mobility. How many more!?
Thanks for the upload. Great moment in Baseball History. Molina jumped over the rail and ran to Albert, hugging him. Love that Albert gives thanks to God each time he scores a run. When Pujols and Molina retired at the same time, the each spoke about their careers. Pujols humbly expressed his faith in and love for God. He's a great man, on and off the field.
EL MUCHACHO DE UN BARRIO POBRE DE SANTO DOMINGO --QUE IBA CON SU MADRE A VENDER EMPANADAS --- AL ESTADIO JUAN MARICHAL DE SU CIUDAD, MIRAR DONDE HA LLEGADO...EL TRABAJO, LA DICIPLINA Y EL TALENTO CONVINADOS ..GRANDE ALBERT.
One Former Angel(Albert Pujols) takes another Former Angel(Andrew Heaney) deep for number 699. Pujols could have also taken Heaney deep for 700, but the Dodgers down 2-0 at the time brought in Phil Bickford to pitch to Pujols in his second at bat which was Home Run Number 700.
