Albert Pujols, the newest member of the hallowed 600 Home Run Club, was already a rising star in the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 2000. At the age of 20, Pujols combined for 19 home runs and 96 RBI during his three minor league stops in Peoria, Potomac and Memphis. Pujols carried his strong season into the 2000 Arizona Fall League with the Scottsdale Scorpions. Playing in 27 games, Pujols had 93 plate appearances, where he had 30 hits (.323 avg), scored 15 runs, belted four home runs, added five doubles and a had a team-high 21 RBI.

Offered here is one of the earliest known Albert Pujols game used St. Louis Cardinals jerseys. Worn by Pujols during the 2000 Arizona Fall League season, this jersey is every bit the magnificence of a Cardinals’ jersey. The classic “Cardinals” weaved across a gold bat and two cardinals perched on each end are stitched across the chest in red, navy and gold chenille stitching. Pujols wore number “36” in AFL and his number is sewn on in red and navy tackle twill on the left center chest and the back of the jersey. The back of the jersey also has “PUJOLS” sewn on in red and navy tackle twill on a matching white name plate with the MLB logo patch sewn on above his name.

Manufactured by Rawlings, this is a size 48 jersey, with the Rawlings patch sewn on the inside left front tail with “48” and “SET 1 2000” flags attached. The Rawlings logo is also embroidered in red on the base of the left sleeve. This jersey displays excellent game use and is accompanied by a LOA from BirdBats, a leading authenticator for St. Louis Cardinals memorabilia. In the LOA, BirdBats goes into great detail about the jersey and shows photographs of Pujols in this jersey. Additionally, there are five 4x6-inch color photos that were taken by photographer Barbara Jean Germano showing Pujols wearing this jersey. A terrific opportunity to own one of the earliest known Pujols-worn Cardinals’ jerseys. This jersey also comes with a LOA from Resolution Photomatching (426008) who state in part of their detailed findings “At the completion of our research process, a conclusive photomatch could not be made to any image of Pujols. However, an image was found with appropriate dating that we have determined shows a probable photomatch.”

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