Albert Pujols appeared on 60 Minutes Sunday, and while the shape of the narrative is unsurprising to St. Louis Cardinals fans—13th round in the 1999 MLB Draft, an adopted daughter with Down Syndrome, his devout Christianity, his philanthropy in the Dominican Republic—but it's a great reminder, as he struggles with double plays in the early going of the 2011 season, of what makes Pujols sui generis.
↵The specificity is what makes it so worthwhile. Not just that 13th round pick, but his ongoing anger about it; not just the adopted daughter, but his recent Down Syndrome prom; not just the philanthropy, but the squalor into which he throws himself every year.
↵It's easy to take Pujols for granted as a Cardinals fan—to worry about any given slump, to wonder about his oft-stated desire to be a Cardinal for life—and pieces like this, that attempt to introduce the Pujols we all know about to a national audience, are a great antidote for that. Why, it'll probably be at least another week until I take him for granted again.
↵