This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/23/2020
Albert Pujols started 2016 at the 14th spot in career home runs. By October he had leaped to number 9 on the list, closing in on the cherished 600-career home run mark. Pujols finished the season with 31 home runs and 119 RBI and 591 career home runs. Pujols has since surpassed the 600 home run mark, joining only Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome and Sammy Sosa.
During the 2016 season, Pujols passed Rafael Palmeiro (569), Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew (573) and Frank Robinson (586) on the all-time home runs list. While wearing this red Angels helmet, Pujols hit career home runs 580-585 during those 33 games and has been photo matched by Resolution Photomatching to those games. Home run 584 came during the August 24th, 2016 game at Toronto off of Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada in the top of the first inning – passing Mark McGwire (583) and moving into the Top 10 on the all-time home run list and hit career home run 585 two days later on August 26th of Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander in the top of the first inning in Detroit. Pujols also hit a walk-off home run against the Oakland A’s on August 3rd, which is currently the final one of his career. This helmet was photo matched to the July 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, August 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27th games.
This size 7 ¼ Rawlings helmet is red, with an Angels “A” logo decal applied to the forehead of the helmet. A number “5” and an MLB logo are applied to the back of the helmet. The helmet displays heavy game use and has cracks on the top of the crown and on the left side of the brim. The brim has a good portion of the paint chipped of and a crack in the middle leading up to the “A”. This helmet comes with a LOA from Resolution Photomatching (426615), who have photo matched this helmet to the aforementioned 33 games, plus an MLB Authenticated hologram (JB981617), which authenticates that this helmet was used for the last time during the August 27th, 2016 game.