The world looks very different since Albert Pujols’ first home run in 2001
Albert Pujols is in legendary company.
With his 700th home run, the St. Louis Cardinals slugger has accomplished a feat that only Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds have managed. His placement under them on the all-time home run list tells you just how incredible his 22-season career has been.
Pujols has been in the league for such a long time, in fact, that the world looked very different when he hit his first home run, in April of 2001, off the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ Armando Reynoso. Here’s a look back at just how much things have changed in the intervening years.
Baseball and other sports
We can get such a sense just from looking at the Cardinals’ and Diamondbacks’ rosters at the time Pujols hit his first. Pujols batted fifth in that early-season game. Batting ahead of him were Fernando Vina, Edgar Renteria, J.D. Drew and Ray Lankford. All of them were legitimately good players — none of them has been in MLB since 2011. Mike Matheny batted after Pujols — he’s now managing the Kansas City Royals and has been a major league skipper since 2012.
Their opponents, the Diamondbacks, would go on to win the World Series that year. Their lineup was a who’s who of Baseball Guys — Tony Womack (last game in 2006), Mark Grace (2003), Luis Gonzalez (2008 — and this was the year in which he hit 57 homers), Matt Williams (2003), Steve Finley (2007) and Jay Bell (2003), just to name a few. Grace, Williams, Finley and Bell all started playing major league baseball in the 1980s.
This was a year of incredible numbers in baseball. Bonds famously hit 73 home runs (and walked 177 times), Ichiro Suzuki led the league with 242 hits, Randy Johnson struck out 372 batters. The oldest player in the league, 44-year-old Jesse Orosco, was born in 1957. Even then, among all this incredible talent, Pujols stood out, winning Rookie of the Year honors with 37 home runs and a 1.013 OPS.
When Pujols hit his first, Tom Brady had 6 career passing yards. He’d end up filling in for an injured Drew Bledsoe in the 2001 NFL season, on his way to leading the Patriots to their first Super Bowl win. Now he has seven Lombardi trophies, and has added almost 85,000 passing yards to those initial six.
Ed Reed was a senior on the Miami Hurricanes’ 2001 National Championship team. He then played in the NFL, retired and made the Hall of Fame, all before Pujols hit No. 700.
LeBron James was just starting to make his name … in high school. James was a sophomore at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in April 2001.
Nolan Gorman, Pujols’ teammate this year on the Cardinals, was not yet a year old. Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was barely a month old. LaMelo Ball wouldn’t be born until August.
Technology
Not only was the original iPhone still six years away from release, the original iPod wouldn’t come out for another six months. iTunes was only 4 months old.
Anyone looking to buy an original Xbox would have to wait — the debut console didn’t come out until November. This was, however, an incredible year for video games. The original “Halo: Combat Evolved” would launch that year, as would “Max Payne,” “Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal,” “Super Smash Bros. Melee” and “Unreal Tournament.” By year’s end, console gamers would have their choice of the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, or Dreamcast.
Wikipedia, now a ubiquitous source of information and ultimate resolver of barroom debates, was only 4 months old by the time of Pujols’ first home run. Pujols himself wouldn’t have a Wikipedia page until June 2004.
Pop culture
The Harry Potter, Fast and the Furious, and Ocean’s franchises would all debut in 2001 — as would “Shrek,” which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature that year. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” would gross more than $317 million in 2001. That means Pujols’ career outlasted the 11 total movies in the Potter and Ocean’s franchises. In April of that year, when Pujols hit his first, the highest-grossing film was “Spy Kids” with more than $17 million.
The Billboard top song of April 2001 was a Shaggy beat … and surprisingly, it wasn’t “It Wasn’t Me.” Shaggy’s “Angel” was in the middle of a two-month run as the top song when Pujols launched No. 1. Lifehouse’s “Hanging by a Moment” was the most successful song of the entire year. Future Billboard No. 1 artist Billie Eilish wouldn’t be born until December.
MIAMI — Philadelphia Phillies star shortstop Trea Turner left the team’s game against the Miami Marlins in the seventh inning Sunday because of a right hamstring strain.
Turner hit a solo homer in the sixth to narrow Philadelphia’s deficit to 4-2. When his turn came again in the seventh, Turner legged out a grounder and reached on a throwing error by Miami Otto Lopez.
Edmundo Sosa replaced Turner as the baserunner and at shortstop.
The 32-year-old Turner leads the NL in batting average at .305 and also has a league-leading 179 hits this season.
NEW YORK — Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette was not in the lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Yankees a day after colliding with Austin Wells on a play at the plate.
Bichette was thrown out in the sixth inning of Saturday’s 3-1 loss by Cody Bellinger‘s 95.3 mph one-hop throw from right field when he attempted to score on a single by Nathan Lukes.
He hobbled off the field with the assistance of a trainer after colliding with Wells’ shin guard. The game was delayed by rain for nearly two hours, and during the delay, X-rays came back negative. Bichette struck out in his final at-bat Saturday.
“It didn’t look great, but we’re at the point where if you can play, you can play,” manager John Schneider said Saturday. “Bo understands that, and everyone understands that. I don’t think it needed stitches or anything, but there was a lot going on.”
Bichette is third in the major leagues with a .311 average. He has 18 homers and leads Toronto with 93 RBIs in 139 games this season.
He also leads the majors with 181 hits and 44 doubles and is hitting .418 (33-for-79) during a 20-game on-base streak.
Ernie Clement started at shortstop for the Blue Jays, who began Sunday with a three-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East.
The latest AP poll is out. After a dramatic first week of action, not much changed at the top of the rankings with most teams pulling out wins, but there was still quite a bit of movement throughout.
And we did see some upsets and impressive wins with four ranked teams (the Arizona State Sun Devils, Florida Gators, Michigan Wolverines and SMU Mustangs) all losing — Florida, SMU and ASU are no longer ranked as a result.
The top seven schools in the rankings, on the other hand, outscored their opponents by a combined 307-26. In all, four AP-ranked teams scored 70 or more points, the second time that has happened in the AP poll era (since 1936).
Stats courtesy of ESPN Research.
All times Eastern
Previous ranking: 1
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Grambling 70-0
Stat to know: Julian Sayin completed his first 16 passes to start the game. It’s the longest streak to begin a game in school history.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Ohio, 7 p.m., Peacock
Previous ranking: 2
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated FIU 34-0
Stat to know: This was Penn State’s 13th shutout since 2014, the second most in that span behind Alabama’s 15.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Villanova, 3:30 p.m., FS1
Previous ranking: 3
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Louisiana Tech 23-7
Stat to know: LSU has not lost a home game to an in-state opponent since 1982.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Florida, 7:30 p.m., ABC
Previous ranking: 6
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Oklahoma State 69-3
Stat to know: The 66-point win is Oregon’s largest win against an FBS opponent since 2019 against Nevada (won by 71 points).
What’s next: Saturday at Northwestern, noon, Fox
Previous ranking: 5
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Bethune-Cookman 45-3
Stat to know: Carson Beck completed his first 15 passes in Week 2. He passed Vinny Testaverde (1986, against Oklahoma) for the most consecutive completions within a game in Miami history.
What’s next: Saturday vs. South Florida, 4:30 p.m., CW Network
Previous ranking: 4
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Austin Peay 28-6
Stat to know: The 22-point win is the narrowest margin of victory by a top-five SEC team against a non-FBS opponent since 2012.
What’s next: Saturday at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., ABC
Previous ranking: 7
2025 record: 1-1
Week 2 result: Defeated San Jose State 38-7
Stat to know: Arch Manning joined Vince Young, Colt McCoy and David Ash by throwing multiple touchdown passes of more than 20 yards and having a TD run over 20 yards in multiple games.
What’s next: Saturday vs. UTEP, 4:15 p.m., SEC Network
Previous ranking: 9
2025 record: 0-1
Week 2 result: Idle
What’s next: Saturday vs. Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Previous ranking: 11
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Duke 45-19
Stat to know: After scoring 52 points against Western Illinois last week, the Illini have scored 45 points in consecutive games for the first time in the past 20 seasons.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Western Michigan, 7 p.m., FS1
Previous ranking: 14
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated East Texas A&M 77-3
Stat to know: FSU had 729 total yards, the most by the Seminoles since Nov. 4, 2000.
What’s next: Sept. 20 vs. Kent State
Previous ranking: 10
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated South Carolina State 38-10
Stat to know: Vicari Swain recorded two punt returns for touchdowns against South Carolina State, making that three for the season (and he has done it in just six quarters).
What’s next: Saturday vs. Vanderbilt, 7:45 p.m., SEC Network
Previous ranking: 8
2025 record: 1-1
Week 2 result: Defeated Troy 27-16
Stat to know: Clemson trailed 16-0 before scoring the final 27 points of the game. That is the largest comeback win for Clemson since 2020 against Boston College.
What’s next: Saturday at Georgia Tech, noon, ESPN
Previous ranking: 18
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Michigan 24-13
Stat to know: OU has not allowed a point in the first half of consecutive games for the first time since 2009.
What’s next: Saturday at Temple, noon, ESPN2
Previous ranking: 16
2025 record: 3-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Iowa 16-13
Stat to know: Iowa State won at home in this series for the first time since 2011.
What’s next: Saturday at Arkansas State, 4 p.m., ESPN2
Previous ranking: 22
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated East Tennessee State 72-17
Stat to know: The 72 points are the Volunteers’ most points scored in a game in the AP poll era (1936).
What’s next: Saturday vs. Georgia, 3:30 p.m., ABC
Previous ranking: 19
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Utah State 44-22
Stat to know: Marcel Reed has thrown three touchdown passes in three consecutive games. It’s the second-longest streak at A&M since 2004.
What’s next: Saturday at Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Previous ranking: 20
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Kentucky 30-23
Stat to know: This was Ole Miss’ fourth win when trailing by 10 or more points in the Lane Kiffin era.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Arkansas, 7 p.m., ESPN
Previous ranking: NR
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Florida 18-16
Stat to know: USF is the fourth team in the AP poll era (since 1936) to win its first two games of a season against AP-ranked opponents while being unranked in each win, joining 2012 Oregon State, 2008 East Carolina and 1976 North Carolina.
What’s next: Saturday at Miami, 4:30 p.m., CW
Previous ranking: 21
2025 record: 1-1
Week 2 result: Defeated UL Monroe 73-0
Stat to know: Ty Simpson finished 17-of-17, the most completions without an incompletion in a game in SEC history. It is also the most consecutive completions within a game in Alabama history.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Wisconsin, noon, ABC
Previous ranking: 25
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Cal Poly 63-9
Stat to know: After Jackson Bennee returned an interception 46 yards for a score, it extended Utah’s streak of returning at least one interception for a touchdown to 22 straight seasons.
What’s next: Saturday at Wyoming, 8 p.m., CBSSN
Previous ranking: 24
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Kent State 62-14
Stat to know: Texas Tech has outscored its opponents by 108 points this season, its second most through the first two games of a season in the AP poll era (since 1936).
What’s next: Saturday vs. Oregon State, 3:30 p.m., Fox
Previous ranking: 23
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Kennesaw State 56-9
Stat to know: Indiana improves to 11-0 against Conference USA teams all-time, the fourth-most wins without a loss against the conference.
What’s next: Friday vs. Indiana State, 6:30 p.m., BTN
Previous ranking: 15
2025 record: 1-1
Week 2 result: Lost to Oklahoma 24-13
Stat to know: Justice Haynes‘ four rushing scores this season are the most by a Michigan player in his first two games with the school in the past 30 seasons.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Central Michigan, noon, BTN
Previous ranking: NR
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Ball State 42-3
Stat to know: Auburn’s six sacks are its most in a game since sacking Alabama (all Bryce Young) seven times in November 2021.
What’s next: Saturday vs. South Alabama, 12:45 p.m., SEC Network
Previous ranking: NR
2025 record: 2-0
Week 2 result: Defeated Kansas 42-31
Stat to know: Missouri trailed by 15 points. This is its largest comeback win since 2016 vs. Arkansas.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Louisiana, 4 p.m. on SECN+
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