St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols is moving up career hit lists while improving his 2011 totals as well.
With all the focus on New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter’s achievement of 3,000 career hits, reached on Saturday, another less nationally-interesting, yet significant milestone was reached in St. Louis that same night.
With his 1,981st career hit, Albert Pujols broke a tie with Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst for the fifth-most safeties in St. Louis Cardinals franchise history.
Career hits, St. Louis Cardinals (through 7/9/11)
| Rank | Player | Hits | PA |
| 1 | Stan Musial | 3630 | 12712 |
| 2 | Lou Brock | 2713 | 9927 |
| 3 | Rogers Hornsby | 2110 | 6714 |
| 4 | Enos Slaughter | 2064 | 7710 |
| 5 | Albert Pujols | 1982 | 7120 |
| 6 | Red Schoendienst | 1980 | 7446 |
| 7 | Ozzie Smith | 1944 | 8242 |
| 8 | Ken Boyer | 1855 | 7046 |
| 9 | Curt Flood | 1853 | 6914 |
| 10 | Jim Bottomley | 1727 | 6008 |
Pujols, in his 11th season in the majors, ended Saturday just 18 hits short of the 2,000 milestone. The free agent to be should be cracking that barrier very soon.
Following is the top 30 active major league players in career hits. Pujols is currently 20th, but should move higher before the season is out. Of course, I drew the line at number 30 as that is where Lance Berkman currently resides. Note Matt Holliday is 55th. Both he and Pujols are 31 years of age.
Career hits, active MLB players (through 7/9/11)
| Rank | Player (age) | Hits | Bats |
| 1 | Derek Jeter (37) | 3003 | R |
| 2 | Ivan Rodriguez (39) | 2842 | R |
| 3 | Omar Vizquel (44) | 2831 | B |
| 4 | Alex Rodriguez (35) | 2762 | R |
| 5 | Johnny Damon (37) | 2663 | L |
| 6 | Manny Ramirez (39) | 2574 | R |
| 7 | Chipper Jones (39) | 2565 | B |
| 8 | Vladimir Guerrero (36) | 2513 | R |
| 9 | Miguel Tejada (37) | 2354 | R |
| 10 | Ichiro Suzuki (37) | 2345 | L |
| 11 | Bobby Abreu (37) | 2343 | L |
| 12 | Todd Helton (37) | 2321 | L |
| 13 | Edgar Renteria (34) | 2284 | R |
| 14 | Jim Thome (40) | 2239 | L |
| 15 | Magglio Ordonez (37) | 2107 | R |
| 16 | Carlos Lee (35) | 2058 | R |
| 17 | Orlando Cabrera (36) | 2020 | R |
| 18 | Scott Rolen (36) | 2002 | R |
| 19 | Adrian Beltre (32) | 1986 | R |
| 20 | Albert Pujols (31) | 1982 | R |
| 21 | Michael Young (34) | 1964 | R |
| 22 | Paul Konerko (35) | 1963 | R |
| 23 | Jason Giambi (40) | 1937 | L |
| 24 | Juan Pierre (33) | 1935 | L |
| 25 | Placido Polanco (35) | 1924 | R |
| 26 | Derrek Lee (35) | 1907 | R |
| 27 | Andruw Jones (34) | 1857 | R |
| 28 | Carlos Beltran (34) | 1854 | B |
| 29 | Jimmy Rollins (32) | 1806 | B |
| 30 | Lance Berkman (35) | 1753 | B |
| 55 | Matt Holliday (31) | 1293 | R |
Footnote: With a 2-for-4 day on Sunday, Pujols enters the All-Star break at 1,984 hits and with an uncharacteristic four-day mid-July rest. His 2011 batting average is at a high point for the season at .280.
(Player links go to their pages as Baseball-Reference.com, the source of these tables.)
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If Albert is 6 years younger than Jeter, he is on track to overtake him.
New Jersey birth certificates are said to be reliable.
Depends on whom you ask.
I’m sure you noted, Brian, but 83 of those who voted opined that Albert will hit at least .300. I guess you can take it to the bank…and so may he.