This Decade Dominated by Albert Pujols

Over the next two weeks, FanHouse will be covering the top sports stories of the decade. In this installment, Jeff Fletcher looks back at Albert Pujols' decade of dominance.

This decade belonged to Albert Pujols.

Although Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez grabbed more headlines (good and bad) and set more records, their claims to Player of the Decade are not strong enough to overcome Pujols' unprecedented run of consistent brilliance.

Pujols hit at least .300 with 30 homers and 100 RBI in every season he played. No other player in major league history can claim nine consecutive such seasons to start his career. Or nine consecutive, period.

Pujols' ability to hit for average and power, to play solid defense and to help his team win -- all while avoiding controversy -- helped him earn three MVP awards, including in 2009.

He gets the nod for this honor over a short list of players with impressive resumes.

• Rodriguez also won three MVPs. He hit 435 homers, most in the decade. He was the only player to hit at least 50 homers in three separate seasons since 2000. He also won two Gold Gloves, then switched positions. And he finally won a World Series this year. He admitted to using steroids during the early part of the decade in Texas.

• Bonds won four MVPs in a row, from 2001 to 2004. (No one else in history has won more than three, or more than two in a row.) He set the single-season and career home run records. Of course, he'll forever be linked to the Steroid Era, so all of his accomplishments are subject to some suspicion.

• Manny Ramirez was a perennial All-Star and MVP candidate. Although he never won the MVP, he finished consistently in the top six. He also led the Red Sox to two World Series championships, and they'd been in a bit of a drought. He was suspended for a violation of baseball's drug policy. (Notice a trend here?)

• Randy Johnson won the last three of his four consecutive Cy Young awards in this decade. He helped carry the Diamondbacks to a championship in 2001. He pitched a perfect game and ended the decade by getting to 300 victories.

• Mariano Rivera established himself as the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history. He had 397 saves and a 2.08 ERA in the decade. His WHIP of 0.96 was the lowest for any pitcher to work at least 500 innings since 2000. In the postseason, he had 26 saves and an unreal 0.94 ERA in the decade, bookending it with two World Series titles.

Despite those strong candidates, the pick here is Pujols, because he was the best all-around offensive player. His OPS of 1.055 was second only to Bonds' 1.241. Bonds loaded up on homers and walks. He may have been the most feared hitter of the decade, because so often he played in a lineup with no protection, but Pujols was as good a pure hitter.

"Right now, in the big leagues, there is Albert Pujols and everyone else," Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said at the All-Star Game, where Pujols was the center of attention.

Freddy Sanchez, the Giants second baseman, added: "He does everything you could want as a hitter. He's got a great eye. He's patient, but he's always ready to hit. I catch myself at second base sometimes watching him at the dish and thinking 'There's nowhere we can throw it that he's not going to hit it.' He's just an amazing hitter."

Pujols is also an above-average defensive player, winner of the Gold Glove in 2006, which also happens to be the year he led the Cardinals to a World Series title. (Bonds never did that.)

Frankly, Pujols also gets some credit here for his off-field performance. Bonds, Rodriguez and Ramirez are all tainted in some way by steroids. Not Pujols.

Although some have wondered how Pujols could have remained above the steroid fray -- 13th-round draft picks don't often wind up having Hall of Fame careers -- there has been no evidence linking him to any performance-enhancing drugs. Pujols knows that he, like all players who put up big numbers in this era, is under suspicion, but he has vehemently denied that he is tainted, most strongly in a Sports Illustrated story in the spring.

Pujols does not even drink, and according to the SI story, his wife makes fun of him for being so "pure." Last year Pujols won the Roberto Clemente Award, which is given to a player for his community service.

Mostly, though, Pujols is the Player of the Decade because of what he has done on the field.

"This guy is a different breed of hitter," Rays first baseman Carlos Pena said at the All-Star Game. "We all work really hard at what we do. We all put in all our effort, but he's at another level. For him to do what he's done for the past 10 years, and to do it at an extraordinary level, is hard to believe."