Albert Pujols robbed...in 2002

For anyone looking at this year's all-star roster, no one should be shocked that there are four first basemen going to St. Louis for the all-star game; Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, and Ryan Howard. All of them are having great seasons and to defend Gonzalez' selection - he does this without any protection and was killing it the first 6 weeks of the season, Howard's selection is because he won a ring last year on top of solid power numbers.

*Player	AVG	HR	RBI
Albert Pujols	.337	30	77
Adrian Gonzalez	.268	24	48
Price Fielder	.306	20	74
Ryan Howard	.256	20	60

However, if you go back and look at the 2002 season, there were only 2 first baseman chosen for the game in Milwaukee; Todd Helton and Richie Sexson. Where was Albert Pujols? Although this was only his second season, Pujols made the all-star team the year before as a rookie and ended the season batting .329 with 37 home runs and 130 RBI, helped St. Louis tie for the National League Central Division title, and was unanimously voted the NL Rookie of the Year. So although his name was not as big then as it is now, he was still known for an extremely impressive first season that is not often seen.

So there are a few possible reasons why Albert Pujols did not get selected; a) he did not have a great start, b) Bob Brenly chose to select his players, and c) Richie Sexson was a Brewers. I'll have to strongly make the case for Bob Brenly, followed by Richie Sexson as reasons why Albert Pujols was robbed by Bob Brenly.

*Player	AVG	HR	RBI
Todd Helton	.344	16	60
Richie Sexson	.280	18	57
Albert Pujols	.286	17	56

The all-star game was held in Milwaukee and managers tend to select players from the host team if they are borderline all-stars to appease the fans. Well, Sexson was coming off a season in which in blasted 47 dingers and when comparing his numbers with Albert Pujols, they were identical. So Sexson was definitely deserving of his selection.

This brings me to my next point. If this year's manager, Charlie Manuel, can and did pick 4 first basemen, why didn't Bob Brenly do the same back in 2002? It was because Brenly chose to do a classless thing and instead choose his players for Albert Pujol's spot. Just looking at the 2002 All-star roster, I can already notice two positional players that maybe should not have been on there; Junior Spivey and Damian Miller, both Diamondbacks. The 2002 all-star team carried 3 catchers; Mike Piazza, Benito Santiago, and Damian Miller. That's a bit odd, Piazza and Santiago were having good years and should have been on there, Miller on the other hand played the same position his manager did and made it onto the team. And Junior Spivey is Junior Spivey, a player who's no longer in the major leagues. Clearly, Bob Brenly favored his guys as opposed to opposing AL all-star manager Joe Torre who selected only two Yankees as reserves; Derek Jeter and Robin Ventura.

So there was definitely a theft that occurred as a 3rd first baseman should have been added to the team that year. This is important because Albert Pujols has made the all-star squad every year from 2001-2009, except for 2002, a blemish on an otherwise perfect Cooperstown resume.

And if you are wondering where Brenly's managerial decisions have brought him, currently, he's a broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs, while Torre is still coaching and Pujols is still an all-star for the 7th straight year (this would have been 9th if not for Brenly).


*All numbers are as of July 1st of that same year in an effort to evaluate how the candidates were doing at the time when the all-star selections are usually finalize.