Albert Pujols is playing out his final season, and Major League Baseball may honor the slugger in a big way later this month.
Pujols is having the year many expected he would have when he chose to play one more season with the St. Louis Cardinals. The 42-year-old is batting just .189 with four home runs and seven RBI. Those are not All-Star numbers, but that does not necessarily mean Pujols will be excluded from the Midsummer Classic on July 19.
As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic pointed out, there is a new clause in the collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association that allows the commissioner to add a player to each league’s All-Star roster “in recognition of each player’s career achievements.”
“In addition to the 32 players elected and selected to the All-Star Game, the Commissioner may choose to add one player that he selects to each League’s roster, in recognition of each player’s career achievements,” the clause states, according to Rosenthal. “If special circumstances warrant, the Commissioner may select more than one player to each league’s roster.”
Pujols played for the Angels from 2012 until they released him last season, after which he caught on with the Dodgers, so it is fitting that the All-Star Game is in Los Angeles. If Pujols were added to the National League roster, Rosenthal speculates that commissioner Rob Manfred might add Miguel Cabrera to the American League roster. Though, Cabrera is batting .300 in his age-39 season and could be selected to the All-Star Game as the lone representative for the Detroit Tigers.
Pujols has been named an All-Star 10 times. The last time he played in the game was 2015. The Cardinals already allowed him to check a big item off his bucket list this season. Appearing in one final All-Star Game would be a great honor for the future Hall of Famer.
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