Pujols: More Than the Game

After a decade starring for the St. Louis Cardinals, Albert Pujols is already compared with names in the highest reaches of baseball's pantheon: Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron, Mays. Slugging his way toward the Hall of Fame, Pujols has raised the game's standard for greatness beyond any statistical measure. But the standard by which Pujols measures himself has less to do with baseball performance than with honoring God and exemplifying his faith for the millions who follow him.

From his birthplace in the Dominican Republic to his high-school days in Kansas City, from a single season in the minor leagues to the World Series and nine All-Star Games, Pujols has developed his immense talents on the baseball diamond, all the while focusing his direction-and the direction of his family-with the belief that a higher power is behind every achievement.

Authors Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth spare no tale of this growing baseball legend, all the while accentuating "the unseen hand of divine providence" that has shaped the man Albert Pujols has become. It's a story that will inspire, and a reminder of the human quality behind superhuman achievement.

A story-still in the making-of allowing God's strength to guide one man's path to be the best his game has ever seen.

His numbers are staggering.

In 2010 Albert Pujols became the first player in baseball history to bat .300 with 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in for ten consecutive seasons. Babe Ruth didn't do it. Ted Williams didn't do it. Hank Aaron didn't do it. The fact that this was accomplished in Pujols' first ten seasons only makes the achievement more, well, Ruthian.

Albert Pujols' story goes beyond numbers, though. Beyond the bright lights and packed stadiums of Major League Baseball. Even beyond the adulation of millions who have come to see the St. Louis Cardinal star as the rare "once-in-a-lifetime-player" who transcends team loyalties.

Through the 2010 season, Pujols hit 408 home runs. And every time he touched home plate after sending another baseball to a random bookshelf or trophy case, Pujols pointed heavenward. Toward the strength behind his otherworldly talents, toward the inspiration that lifts him on a daily basis, regardless of his team's place in the standings. For Jesus Christ is Albert Pujols' first love. Faith, family, then maybe baseball.

Endorsements:

"He matches in his personal life the excellence that he demonstrates on the diamond. You will love this book and will love Pujols if you don't already." -Mike Huckabee , 44th Governor of Arkansas, Former Republican presidential candidate, Host of Fox News ' Huckabee Show, Best-selling author

But Pujols' argument for greatest player ever isn't nearly as interesting or significant as the fact that there even is an argument. That's because perhaps the most amazing thing about Albert Pujols is that less than two years before he began one of the greatest rookie seasons in baseball history, he was a non-prospect." -Joe Posnanski, Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated (included in the Foreword)

"Pujols is full of nuggets. Given that the action in the famous poem "Casey at the Bat" starts with "Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same," I enjoyed reading that Albert Pujols asks opposing runners at first base, "If you died today, where do you think you're going to go?" Lamb and Ellsworth lucidly describe both the season-by-season baseball exploits of Pujols and the impact he's having on some lives for eternity." -Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-chief, World

Tim Ellsworth is director of news and media relations at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and author of God in the Whirlwind: Stories of Grace from the Tornado at Union University. He is also a frequent contributor to Baptist Press. He has previously worked as an editor, reporter, and high school social studies teacher. He and his wife, Sarah, have three children and are actively involved at Cornerstone Community Church.
Scott Lamb is director of research for the President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. A native of St. Louis, Scott has pastored churches in Alabama, Missouri, and Kentucky. He is a contributor to WORLD Magazine's website and the "Civil Religion" forum of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He and his wife, Pearl, have five children and are members of Immanuel Baptist Church.