How to give up a home run to Albert Pujols, an expert’s guide

You don’t have to push Ryan Dempster at all. When you mention the name of Albert Pujols, the retired pitcher offers an answer so good it seems rehearsed.

“I’m an expert at handing off home runs to Albert Pujols,” Dempster jokes. “If you’re going to have back surgery, you’re going to try to find the best doctor to do it. But if you want to know how to give up homers against Pujols, there’s nobody better qualified than me.”

There is some truth to this line. The two are very familiar, having faced off in many heated divisional battles between the Cardinals of Pujols and the Chicago Cubs of Dempster. And Dempster, a Gibsons, BC native who has played 16 seasons with the majors, has the dubious honor of being the pitcher who’s allowed the most homers to Pujols. The St. Louis Cardinals hitter, who hit his 699th and 700th career home runs in Friday’s 11-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, tagged Dempster for eight long balls in his 79 plate appearances against the pitcher.

“So much great competition between the two of us,” says Dempster, now an analyst for Chicago’s Marquee Sports Network. “He’s such a fierce competitor. And for a long time he was the best hitter in the game. So, to be able to compete against him and succeed and fail [made] Moments that you look back on and remember much later in life.”

Dempster has only played one more club than Pujols during his career (he has seen 87 plate appearances by Lance Berkman). And Pujols, for his part, has only faced four pitchers more times than he’s boxed against Dempster. The results of their frequent meeting tipped in Pujols’ favor, who owns a .339/.456/.807 slash against Dempster with 14 walks to just two strikeouts.

Dempster’s favorite story from fighting Pujols even includes doses of success and failure.

The Cubs had a three-game lead over the second-ranked Cardinals for the NL Central lead in early September 2008, with Dempster on the mound to start an important three-game streak in St. Louis. The right-hander led 3-0 in the sixth inning as he gave up back-to-back singles and put Pujols on the plate that set the tie run.

The slugger immediately put the first pitch he saw from Dempster – a fastball away – over the right field fence.

The Cardinals won that game 4-3, and Dempster recalls chatting with Cubs outfielder Jim Edmonds later that night. Edmonds, who spent seven years playing alongside Pujols with the Cardinals, told the pitcher that the next time he faced Pujols late in a game, he should be careful not to throw anything on the outside half of the plate. After about the sixth inning, Pujols tended to adjust his approach and attempted to spray the ball to opposite field, Edmonds explained.

Indeed, a few weeks later, the Cardinals visited the Cubs at Wrigley Field and offered Dempster an opportunity for reconciliation.

“We struck [the NL Central title] against the Cardinals and the next day I started against them,” says Dempster. “I remembered Pujols’ previous shot and I said to myself, ‘I’m not throwing fastballs at him because he hit him last time.’

“Jim also mentioned to me that Pujols has never broken a racquet, so I said to myself, ‘I’m going to break his racquet today,'” he continues. “I had nothing to lose. We just won the night before so I ran a sinker into his hands and I broke his racquet. He was angry.”

When Dempster was traded to the American League towards the end of his career, Pujols was right there waiting. The Cubs traded Dempster to the Texas Rangers just before the close of trading in July 2012, and his first start with his new team was against the Pujols and Los Angeles Angels.

The right-hander was tattooed for nine hits and eight carries over just 4.2 innings. Pujols didn’t homer, but Dempster still felt his impact.

“Personally, I think Albert was a big part of that,” says Dempster. “Just for the scouting report he could give to these thugs. We faced each other so many times – not only did he see me pitch when I faced him, but also the many attacks I had against his teammates and the amount of videos he probably saw of me. So he gave these guys a really good scouting report and they executed. I also threw good pitches, they were good.”

Pujols, 42, caught the attention of the baseball world with his recent home run chase. He announced in spring training that this campaign – his 22nd at the majors – will be his last before retirement. A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, he returned to the Cardinals for one last hooray after spending a decade with the Angels (plus half a season with the Dodgers), and as his 2022 unfolded, he seemed to have a new life to find and do his best offensive numbers in years.

His climb up the record books increased when he hit eight home runs in August. Pujols took fourth place on the all-time MLB homer list when he hit his 697th homer to pass Alex Rodriguez on Sept. 11, and now he’s behind only three men: Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755). ) and Barry Bonds (762).

According to Dempster, Pujols is the perfect blend of talent, work ethic and a high IQ.

“He was an extremely good chess player,” says Dempster. “Knowing what you would throw, finding patterns in which to throw. You always had to try to be one step ahead or change what you’re doing because if you stayed in the same repetitive behaviors, he would take advantage of that. Maybe he would sit in a pitch and if you make a mistake at that pitch you will pay for it.

“I used to say, ‘When Albert was running well, if you made a mistake he would hit a home run. If you executed your pitch, he could still hit a home run. He was that good.”

As the self-proclaimed expert on passing long balls to Albert Pujols, Dempster watched closely as the racquet ended his Hall of Fame career on a high note.

“He’s locked up like I’ve never seen him right now,” says Dempster. To emphasize this, he references lyrics from the 2005 song “As Good As I Once Was.”

“‘I’m not as good as I used to be, but I’m as good as I ever was,‘” says Dempster, quoting country musician Toby Keith.

“Albert Pujols is living that right now, man.”