42-year-old Albert Pujols tries to steal a base, fools no one

Albert Pujols is not exactly a speed threat at this stage of his Hall of Fame career. But on Thursday night against the Brewers, Pujols thought he would try to turn back the clock.

The St. Louis Cardinals legend stood on second base with one out in the second inning of Thursday’s game. And before a 2-1 pitch from Brandon Woodruff, Pujols suddenly decided to just go all Leeroy Jenkins and break for third.

The result was what you would expect:

Although the element of surprise failed Pujols here, this was his first time getting caught stealing since 2015. Before today, he was 13-for-13 in SBs over the past six-plus seasons.

One must ask how many of those steals came with Pujols acting as back end of a double steal behind former Angels teammate Mike Trout.

During the first decade of this millennium, Pujols had a few seasons in which he compiled double-digit steals. But he has battled foot ailments for the better part of the past 10 years and commonly looks like he’s running with gravel in his cleats when he’s moving around the bases.

So, of course, no one would expect him to just take off for third base, right?

Unfortunately for Pujols, his maneuver didn’t put Woodruff and the Brewers in a comatose state of shock.