The incredible Albert Pujols

His big bat has made the St. Louis Cardinals' slugger one of the top 10 players in baseball history. But to people with Down syndrome and the poor of his native Dominican Republic that he helps, he means a lot more than home runs and RBI. Bob Simon reports.

• Category

  News & Politics

[Tyler Garvey]

It wasn't about money with him...Pujols was extremely underpaid for a number of years and the Cardinals knew it..He never complained either...Instead of paying the man what he deserved...to show everyone you have a commitment to paying players who work hard, the Cardinals tried to lowball him and claim that their "salary cap" wouldn't permit it...

I know people are going to say-- if i could get a million, I would play baseball but you have to put yourself in his position.. YOU are the BEST

[Rodrigoiscool302]

Is that Obama on 9:32 ? Lol

[nutsack666]

exactly. Its a slap in the face by the upper management and alot of fans cannot understand that. Sure he got paid well compared to average people but in comparison he was being dicked over.

[mam362]

i wish i could cry about being drafted in the 13th round of the mlb draft

[homosaur]

This is just as wrong as people saying Pujols owed Cardinals. No one owes anyone in business, you get what you can get. You don't pay back salary and he's in clear decline. Let's be clear, the guy made nearly 150 million before he signed with the Angels so underpaid is strictly relative here. He would have still netted 350 million in total salary from the Cardinals. I'd say that's not bad.

[homosaur]

YEP. I actually thought that 5 years 150 million from the Cardinals was about what I would offer for a player in clear decline. Cardinals went to 200 because of history and all that but man, even that's not a good idea. Because of passing on Pujols, Cards signed Wainwright and Molina (another possible HOF candidate) to long term deals. Oh yeah and let's just forget signing Beltran and Craig too. If someone though Albert was worth 250 million, then bless them both. He'll still be in HOF for Cards

[T J Rhoads]

too bad the As will win the west dude

[zaxx19]

Hilarious....People would never expect a CEO, Musician or Actor to settle for lower than market value...but an athlete- with their infinitely shorter/more tenuous lifespan- should out of phony devotion to a city.

I don't think its a coincidence athletics are pretty much the only place where black and brown people outperform whites in earning/achievement and society holds these double standards.

[georgeker1]

Fabulous video clip clip. Youtube is made for this type of thing.My friend had been bullied. He explained he was planning to grow muscle mass. I chuckled at him because I didn't think he would for a second.... Until inside of weeks he gained 40 pounds of natural muscle mass. He made use of the Muscle Building Bible (Google it). He does not get bullied anymore.

I registered earlier this week. See what goes on. And the mans emails are cool!!!

[Stefan Hennessey]

The Cardinals definitely could have paid him more, but the Cardinals organization continues to be successful by not wasting their money on big names. Pujols demanded too much money that the Cards could be using to fill other areas of need on the team, in able to field a playoff team for years to come. Pujols left with a big contract to go to L.A and if you've been following him at all, you and I both know the Angels paid him way too much, and he wasn't worth the risk.

[Kevin Yang]

Albert owes STL nothing. The Cards decided to be 'good businessmen' by not offering him a max contract, why the f--- isn't he allowed to as well, after 11 years being paid less than he deserved. Only reason Stan and other players from the era stayed was because free agency didn't exist. Teams treated players like crap. Wise up. Your team will gladly screw your baseball heroes in the butt for the money.

[Kevin Yang]

As an Angel fan, I'm biased, but to say it's sad he left St. Louis for the money is just selfish, plain and simple. How would you feel to be the best in the world at what you do for a decade and be underpaid all of those ten years? And when it's finally payday, the team that's been underpaying you all along refuses to make the best offer. If you blame him for leaving based on the money you should place equal blame on the Cards based on the money.