Source: FOX Sports

Albert Pujols achieved home run number 600 in grand (slam) fashion last night as the Angels beat the Twins 7–2. Pujols is the 9th player to join this elite club and is only the second player to be born outside of the United States to hit his 600th, the other being Sammy Sosa.

Unfortunately, I was not watching the game when The Machine hit #600, but as an avid Angels fan I have been sitting on the edge of my seat for every at bat, by Pujols, since he hit HR #590.

I was a little disappointed at the lack of interest that seemed to be surrounding Pujols hitting his 600th home run. There was a moment during Pujols’ trek for 600, where I kind of forgot how big of a milestone 600 career home runs is.

The Angels have not been playing great baseball, Mike Trout is sidelined for up to eight weeks, so I am not surprised that the Angels fanbase is not the most invested at the moment. Further, it seems like ages ago that Albert Pujols was the best player in baseball.

It is no question that Pujols is a shell of his former self. He can’t field, he can’t run the bases, all he really can do is hit. But he can hit. Albert Pujols is one of the greatest hitters of all time. However, since joining the Angels, Pujols has seen a rather steady decline in his abilities. Plagued by a foot injuries that have required surgery in 2015 and 2016, it is time to accept that Pujols is no more than a designated hitter.

All that to say, I was happy, and relieved, last night to see how much love was given to Albert on his career night. For the last few weeks, it seemed as if Angels, and baseball, fans just wanted him to get it over with. Thankfully, I didn’t get that feeling last night as I scrolled through my Twitter timeline. Here are some tweets from last night:

Not only was it great to see so much love for Albert on social media, but I loved that there were so many people at the game last night. According to the NBC Sports box score, there was an attendance of 40,236, only 4,814 shy of a sell out. I’m glad that the video of the home run doesn’t have a grand slam shot going into a section of empty seats. Rather, there was a sea of red as the ball was blasted over the left field wall. It would have been a bit anti climactic had he hit #600 on the road, or at an empty Angel Stadium.

Pujols has played 17 MLB seasons, 11 with the Cardinals and 6 with the Angels. He has won 3 MVP awards, 2 World Series (2006 and 2011), and 6 Silver Slugger awards. Albert Pujols will be enshrined in Cooperstown before long, but before then, congratulations on home run #600.