Home of the Kit Pellow Fan Association

Collecting Cleveland Baseball Since 1982

Collecting Cleveland Indians Topps team sets from 1952-present, as well as post-war minor and major league autographs.

From the Collection: 2010 Topps Heritage signed Albert Pujols

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2010 Topps Heritage Albert Pujols
2010 Topps Heritage Albert Pujols

Albert Pujols is a first ballot Hall of Famer:

    • 2001 Rookie of the Year
    • Ten All-Star selections
    • Six Silver Sluggers
    • Two Gold Gloves
    • 2003 batting title
    • Three-time National League MVP
    • Two time World Champion
    • 633 career home runs–which is good for 6th all-time.

Just the amount of black ink here…is impressive:

Standard Batting
Year Age Tm Lg AB R H HR BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Awards
2001 21 STL NL 590 112 194 37 .329 .403 .610 1.013 157 AS,MVP-4,RoY-1,SS
2002 22 STL NL 590 118 185 34 .314 .394 .561 .955 151 MVP-2
2003 23 STL NL 591 137 212 43 .359 .439 .667 1.106 187 AS,MVP-2,SS
2004 24 STL NL 592 133 196 46 .331 .415 .657 1.072 173 AS,MVP-3,SS
2005 25 STL NL 591 129 195 41 .330 .430 .609 1.039 168 AS,MVP-1
2006 26 STL NL 535 119 177 49 .331 .431 .671 1.102 178 AS,MVP-2,GG
2007 27 STL NL 565 99 185 32 .327 .429 .568 .997 157 AS,MVP-9
2008 28 STL NL 524 100 187 37 .357 .462 .653 1.114 192 AS,MVP-1,SS
2009 29 STL NL 568 124 186 47 .327 .443 .658 1.101 189 AS,MVP-1,SS
2010 30 STL NL 587 115 183 42 .312 .414 .596 1.011 173 AS,MVP-2,GG,SS
2011 31 STL NL 579 105 173 37 .299 .366 .541 .906 148 MVP-5
2012 32 LAA AL 607 85 173 30 .285 .343 .516 .859 138 MVP-17
2013 33 LAA AL 391 49 101 17 .258 .330 .437 .767 116
2014 34 LAA AL 633 89 172 28 .272 .324 .466 .790 126 MVP-17
2015 35 LAA AL 602 85 147 40 .244 .307 .480 .787 118 AS
2016 36 LAA AL 593 71 159 31 .268 .323 .457 .780 113
2017 37 LAA AL 593 53 143 23 .241 .286 .386 .672 80
2018 38 LAA AL 465 50 114 19 .245 .289 .411 .700 92
18 Y 18 Y 18 Y 18 Y 10196 1773 3082 633 .302 .382 .554 .936 149
162 162 162 162 614 107 185 38 .302 .382 .554 .936 149
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/9/2018.

Back in 2010-2011, it was actually pretty tough to find a decent Pujols autograph. He was the games biggest superstar and was not an easy person to get in-person. And unlike now he did not have many certified autographs floating around. The best chance to get him was at his yearly public signing at a batting cage company in Missouri. But that was always an iffy thing: he was famous for rushing through the autographs and stuff would end up getting smeared/damaged.

I knew the guy selling this card–he is well known and respected on a site that I am a member of–and since it was an auction I tossed my hat it. It ended up being a real steal.

Since then I have added a couple more Pujols autographs here and there. My favorite being this 2014 National Treasure:

2014 National Treasure Albert Pujols
2014 National Treasure Albert Pujols

Considering people were happy to shovel out $250 a pop for his autograph back in the day…there is an important lesson here about autograph collecting: Don’t buy high.

I mean, there is something to be said about getting stuff while you can–especially now when guys will retire and never touch a pen again–but at the same time, you should try and at least consider the long game. Especially since baseball collectors are kind of stupid in that that prices tend to fall once a guy graduates out of super-prospect status and starts performing at the major league level. Well, not Aaron Judge or Mike Trout…but those are rare cases. I remember seriously considering dropping over $100 on Jason Heyward when he was first called up.

Pujols has had a great career, but his autograph is worth way less than it was back in 2010. Part of it is because there is more stuff out there. Part of it is because of his totally normal (ish) performance decline.