Albert Pujols Returns From Injury, Is a Machine

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols returned to the starting lineup tonight just 17 days after he broke his wrist. That's absolutely unheard of. What's even more ridiculous are the things he has been doing since breaking his wrist.

ST. LOUIS – The day after Albert Pujols broke a bone in his left wrist, he asked his hitting coach, Mark McGwire, to do something that seemed utterly wrong.

“Mark,” Pujols said, “check my hand.”

Pujols extended it. He wanted McGwire to shake it. McGwire obliged, and to his surprise, Pujols’ grip was firm and strong. McGwire had come to expect certain things from Pujols. Not this.

“He’s a remarkable person,” McGwire said. “That’s all I can say.”

McGwire leaned on the back of the batting cage Tuesday afternoon. The heat was choking Busch Stadium. McGwire paid it no mind. Five feet in front of him, through a web of netting, Pujols was taking live batting practice for the first time since suffering the injury that was supposed to keep him out at least four weeks, probably more. That was 17 days ago.

Pujols lined a home run over the center-field wall, and then another deep into the left-field bleachers, and another down the left-field line, and another to the opposite field. McGwire chewed his gum.

I double dog dare you to name me someone who is more awesome than Albert Pujols. I texted a friend of mine an excerpt I saw from a Ken Rosenthal post (warning: all paragraphs are in one sentence form) yesterday about how Albert Pujols was machine-like and awesome a day after breaking his wrist. My friend's response was legen...wait for it...


...dary! Legendary. Text messages don't get any better than that. Pure perfection.