José Alberto Pujols Alcántara born January 16, 1980, is a Dominican-American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Nicknamed “The Machine”, he played his first 11 seasons in MLB for the Cardinals, then played with the Los Angeles Angels for more than nine seasons before joining the Los Angeles Dodgers for half a season.
With St. Louis, Pujols was a three-time National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) (2005, 2008, 2009) and nine-time All-Star (2001, 2003–2010).
After joining the Angels in 2012, he made one All-Star appearance, in 2015. After returning to the St Louis Cardinals in 2022 he was elected again as an all-star.
Pujols married Deidre Pujols on January 1, 2000. They have five children: Isabella (Deidre’s daughter from a previous relationship), Albert Jr., Sophia, Ezra, and Esther Grace. After 22 years of marriage, Pujols filed for divorce on April 4, 2022, citing irreconcilable differences.
Pujols is a devout evangelical Christian. He became an evangelical Christian on November 13, 1998, influenced in part by Deidre and his grandmother.
During his first tenure with the Cardinals, Pujols and his family attended West County Community Church, a Southern Baptist church in Wildwood, Missouri.
