Cards I Love Part 21 - 2001 Fleer Premium Albert Pujols

During the 2000 season, Albert Pujols had played the majority of the season with the Cardinals A-Ball team in Peoria.  He hit well enough to get a Spring Training invite, where he hit well enough to catch the attention of the other players, media members, and fans.  He seemed likely to go back down to the Minors though.  

From a February 15th interview with Tony LaRussa during Spring Training:

"Pujols shouldn't make the club," He paused. "But," La Russa added, "I didn't think McGwire was going to make the club in 1987."

Many thought that Pujols would be sent somewhere in the Minors to start the season, but then Bobby Bonilla pulled a hamstring at the end of Spring Training.  It was Bobby Bonilla's last season in the Majors, and he ended up doing almost nothing with the team.  He ended the year with a .213/.308/.339 slash line that included 5 home runs.  Yet, Bobby Bonilla getting hurt during Spring Training is one of the most important events in Cardinals history over the past two decades.  

The Cardinals response to Bonilla getting hurt: Call up Pujols.  

There were no 2000 baseball cards of Pujols, because I do not think he was on anyone's radar.  The Cardinals picked him in the 13th Round out of a junior college in Kansas City.  So, no Bowman cards of any sort.  He was not on a Major League roster of any sort, not on the 40 man, so Topps, Upper Deck, Fleer, and whatever Donruss was at this point, could also not touch him.  

His first card?  At least the first I remember getting, was out of Fleer Premium.  It was not even clear that it was a Pujols card at the time.  Just a bland looking exchange card that simply promised you a rookie card.  No names attached.  Sort of a mystery redemption.  I wish I could find a copy of the redemption card somewhere, but I cannot.  

I ended up with two of them.  The first was a Wilson Betimet, who was a good prospect at the time.  He would later go on to disappoint me by a failing a drug test while playing for the Durham Bulls.  In 2001, that was a cool card, and Betimet was a very highly regarded prospect.   

My second exchange was the Albert Pujols rookie card:  

This card was the first Pujols card in my collection.  There are half a dozen other Pujols rookies that are roughly the same thing as this card, but being first counts for something.  In this case, I have always had a soft spot for this card.  Even if it is a pretty emblematic baseball card of the 2000s, and there is very little that is unique or special about this card.  I love this card, and it will always be in my collection.