Cardinals’ Albert Pujols lets family keep milestone HR ball

There’s usually a process that goes into catching a milestone home run.

Oftentimes, fans hold out wanting to keep memorabilia. Sometimes, players request to have the ball returned to them.

For St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter Albert Pujols, every home run he hits is another milestone. In Pittsburgh on Sunday, the future Hall of Famer belted his 697th career home run, putting him in sole possession of fourth on the all-time leaderboard.

697 FOR ALBERT PUJOLS ‼️

Just three away from history 🙏

📽️: @Cardinals | #MLBpic.twitter.com/HxxY174XxY

— FanDuel (@FanDuel) September 11, 2022

The pair of fans who caught the ball were Samantha and Matt Brown. They attended the ballgame on the one-year anniversary of the death of Samantha’s father.

After the game, the two of them met with Pujols to give him back his home run ball. However, he didn’t take it.

Pujols let them keep the ball and told Brown that ball would mean more to her than to him.

He also signed two more baseballs for them.

Matt and Samantha Brown caught Pujols’s 697th homer. Samantha’s
father passed away one year ago today. They met with Albert to give him the ball back — he told them to keep it and signed two more for them. Said it would mean more to her than to him. pic.twitter.com/FuXXFiYCIa

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) September 11, 2022

Pujols is closing in on his 700th career homer, which would make him just the fourth member of the 700-homer club.

And despite the historic milestone he’s on the precipice of, he reminded us that some things are just bigger than baseball.