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Albert Pujols has been announced the winner of the 2008 NL MVP. Even though he is considered one of the best players in the game today, and a sure-fire Hall of Fame candidate, in some circles he may still not be fully appreciated. This is not going to be another Pujols vs. Howard vs. whomever article on who should be the NL MVP. That has been thoroughly discussed before the award was even announced. However, whether you agree with the baseball writers??? MVP pick this year or not, it must be admitted that Pujols is a special talent. He has maintained a remarkable consistency throughout his career. Just how good he has been can be summed up by the following statistic. In his eight years in the majors, Pujols has never scored fewer than 99 runs, or had fewer than 177 hits, 32 home runs and 103 RBI in a season. If you count the most number of years that a player has had at least 99 R, 177 H, 32 HR and 103 RBI in the same year, you get the following list (the data was obtained from baseball-reference.com): # of years Players 8 Foxx, Gehrig, Pujols 7 A. Rodriguez, Ruth 6 Aaron, V. Guerrero, Mays That???s right, Pujols is tied for the lead in this statistic after playing only eight seasons! In the years before 1961 (1962) the AL (NL) played only 154 games in a season, and the equivalent qualifying stats are 95 R, 169 H, 31 HR and 98 RBI. Making this correction, the list is modified as shown below. # of years Players 10 Ruth 8 Foxx, Gehrig, Pujols 7 Aaron, Mays, A. Rodriguez 6 V. Guerrero, T. Williams Pujols is still tied for second, even though he has played for only eight years. If he can stay healthy, it certainly seems possible that he could double his total before he retires, which would place him head and shoulders above everyone else, including Ruth. Sabermetricians might prefer a different set of measures. If we require having an OPS+ of 151 and 126 Runs Created in the same season (or 120 RC during a 154-game season), we get the following list. # of years Players 12 Bonds, Gehrig, Musial, Ruth, T. Williams 11 Mays 9 Aaron, Cobb, Foxx, M. Ramirez 8 Hornsby, Pujols, F. Thomas While he is further behind the leaders by this measure, he still has many productive years to go and could very well be on top when he retires. These metrics emphasize not just putting up big numbers, but durability as well. In order to maintain high numbers of R, H, HR, RBI and RC per season, a player cannot miss too many games per season. It is notable that Pujols has had nagging injuries each of the last three seasons, missing as many as 19 games (2006) and playing hurt part of the time (mostly in 2007). That he has still managed to produce at such a high level so consistently is remarkable. The particular measures suggested here are obviously tailored to paint Pujols in the most favorable light, since they use his worst season totals as minimum requirements. They emphasize a certain combination of power and on-base ability. Nevertheless, it seems likely that by the time he retires, Pujols will be the best player of this type ever to play the game.