Albert Pujols' fast rise to 500 home runs mirrors prep career at Fort Osage High

Albert Pujols' path to 500 home runs is the third-fastest in Major League Baseball history.

His journey through the prep ranks at Fort Osage (Independence, Mo.) was also quick, not to mention unique and memorable.

Pujols played just two seasons, leading the Indians to a state title his sophomore season in 1997 before an unusual and highly productive junior season. He graduated early in December of his senior year in 1998 so he could play in the college ranks.

"I think most people recognized that he was looking for the quickest path to the major leagues," Fort Osage Athletic Director Brandon Hart said by phone Wednesday morning.

He found that at nearby Maple Woods Community College, where after a prolific season he was drafted in the 13th round and eventually signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999.

On Tuesday the three-time National League Most Valuable Player and career .321 hitter became the 26th member of the 500 home run club, smacking two homers for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at the Washington Nationals. The 34-year-old leads the majors with eight home runs.

"Albert and his name is still a great source of pride for Fort Osage High School and the Independence community," said Hart, who arrived at the school a year after Pujols graduated. "People around here have followed him every step of his career and he's obviously elicited plenty of positive conversations." 

The nine-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger Award winner and two-time World Series champion grew up impoverished in the Dominican Republic and was raised largely by his grandparents.

When Pujols was 16, the family emigrated to New York City but found life too fast and rough — Albert even witnessed a fatal shooting, according to reports. So they found refuge in Independence, a satellite city of Kansas City with a population of 115,000 and home town of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States.

He entered Fort Osage as a sophomore and hit .449 with 11 home runs. With a 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame and ultra quick and powerful bat, he was "like a gift from the baseball gods," former Fort Osage baseball coach Dave Fry told the Los Angeles Times two years ago. "He's this big, strong, good-looking kid just standing there smiling, saying he wants to play beisbol."

Beyond his raw talent, coaches and scouts were equally impressed with Pujols' work ethic, which also translated to the classroom.

Pujols spoke only Spanish when he entered the school but quickly picked up English. Because of the language barrier, however, he was held back a year, which caused a stir among opposing teams and coaches.

As an 18-year-old junior, in either protest or self-preservation, Pujols was walked 55 times in 88 at-bats, but still managed eight home runs while hitting .660. People still talk about the home run he hit at Liberty High that season that landed on the top of an air conditioning unit on the roof of a two-story building.

"The thing just went and went and went, and then you heard this, 'Bong!'" Fry told Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna. "I thought, 'Jimmy, did he hit a ball that far?' It had to be 485-90 feet."

Rather than face the same "walk" treatment as a senior, Pujols graduated early, hit .461 with 22 homers as a freshman shortstop at Maple Woods and signed with the Cardinals for $60,000. He spent just one season in the Cardinals' farm system, tearing the cover off the ball at three levels before earning a spring training spot with the big club in 2001.

He made the Cardinals' 2001 Opening Day roster, won National League Rookie of the Year honors and his fast track to true stardom had begun.

Then again, every step of the way was quick for Pujols. In his debut at Maple Woods he hit a grand slam and turned an unassisted triple play in the same game.

"I think people expected great things from Albert, but no one, quite frankly, could have predicted all that he's accomplished," Hart said.

Fort Osage, a school of about 1,500 students, hasn't produced many famous professional athletes. Betty Lennox, a WNBA Finals MVP for the Seattle Storm, played three seasons for Fort Osage; University of Missouri cornerback E.J. Gaines is expected to be a third- or fourth-round NFL Draft pick next month.

Wilfrido (Wil) Pujols, Albert's cousin, was a sixth-round pick of the Cardinals in 2005 and also starred at Fort Osage. His life spiraled downward after being signed, but he recently turned things around.

After an injury-plagued 2013, Albert appears headed upward toward another All-Star season, perhaps even Comeback Player of the Year honors.

"People call up here pretty frequently asking about him," Hart said. "Frankly, everyone around here still talks about Albert Pujols."

Bill Althaus, who covered Pujols for The Examiner (www.examiner.net) throughout his prep and college career, called the Angels’ slugger “The greatest high school athlete I’ve seen in 32 years as a journalist.”

Althaus said Pujols was “a man among boys” who “looked like he was 30 years old as a high school junior.”

He said talk of him allegedly being older than his actual age bothered Pujols, but he never let on. “I never bought into it,” Althaus said. “He was just more developed and skilled than the other kids. … When he hit at the local batting cages everyone around town knew it. The sound of the ball off the bat made a distinct sound we haven’t heard around here since he left.”

Althaus was there the day at Liberty when Pujols bonked the air conditioning unit.

“Not only were we all sort of stunned in the stands,” Althaus said. “But I think (the Liberty players) sort of watched it with admiration as well.”

See Bill Althaus' favorite memories of Pujols

It wasn’t the only famous Pujols moon shot.

At Chrisman's Crysler Stadium, he launched a ball over the railroad tracks and into a church parking lot.

“It was unbelievable,” Althaus said.

While playing American Legion ball at Hidden Valley Park in Blue Springs, Pujols cleared a scoreboard and the ball eventually stopped rolling at an equipment yard.

“He did that with a wooden bat,” Althaus said. “To me, that made it his most impressive home run of all.”

Fort Osage School District employee and school boosters member Phil Caldarella witnessed most of the mammoth home runs and noticed the different sound off Pujols’ bat. But he was always more impressed with his character not only then, but through the years.

The two have maintained a friendship and Caldarella always attends the annual Albert Pujols Family Foundation dinner, which benefits families who live with Down syndrome, disabilities, life-threatening illnesses and those facing impoverished conditions in the Dominican Republic.

“Everyone in the district and community is very proud of all of Albert’s accomplishments,” Caldarella said. “Personally, I’m more proud of the man he is off the field.”