Is Albert Pujols a jerk?

Jeff Pearlman says he is.

http://www.jeffpearlman.com/albert-pujols-and-the-treatment-of-people/#comments

FWIW, Pearlman goes to this well a lot. He clearly believes that players should interact with fans. He really, really, really doesn't like athletes who set themselves on a pedestal (he wrote the other day about how Jon Rauch didn't even look up when Jeff was trying to address him).

I have less of an issue with Pujols' behavior than Rauch's. My dad always marveled at how players ignored fans. He thought it was a sign of concentration, focus, and professionalism. He was/is a hard-working, blue-collar guy, and respected the idea of a guy at the office, concentrating on his craft. We'd go to autograph signings and such, and the players would be nice as could be. I think he felt that was where the fan interaction was supposed to take place, not the stadium. We were there to watch and support. They were there to work.

 

yes.

 

Google "Albert Pujols" and "contract" and you'll get an answer.

 

Liked this column a lot. Pearlman reported accurately, we presume, on something that should have been the simplest, lowest-stress opportunity possible for Pujols to interact with fans. This wasn't between the white lines honing his craft or focusing on his skills or chasing the almighty W (and stats and $). It was specifically for Cardinal players to interact with their fans. And Pujols did the absolute least he possibly could do in that area, like your worst employee might do.

I agree with Pearlman: If you want $30M, you need to be the face and image and smile and personality of that franchise. You are a de facto partner and public good will is imperative in today's sports/entertainment marketplace.

Pujols is more interested in heeding his little trinkets contract and thus refusing to sign items other than the mandatory.

And if he's one of those squiggle scribblers, he's the latest reason I'm glad I did my autograph collecting back in the '70s, when these guys actually Wrote. Their. Names. (I can thumb through autographs from back then, after years without looking at them, and still read the names. Good luck with the illiterate crayon-scribbles of today's players.)

Now, my question is, is Jeff Pearlman a jerk for running that column -- a longish one -- in reverse type so that it is killer-hard to read? I had to paint it to make it stand out against that background. C'mon, show some consideration for the fans readers.

 

Fair point. Obviously it was "Autograph Day."

Pearlman writes about this topic, though, even when it isn't autograph day. He definitely thinks players have a duty to embrace and interact with fans.

 

Pujols hasn't been the same since finding out that in this man's world, RBI don't mean anything.

 

And it made the Bebe Jesu crine.

 

I thought the same thing, but halfway through reading it, the white background finally loaded. Looks like it just takes forever to fully load the site.

 

To be fair, in the 1970s, the memorabilia craze wasn't around, and the likelihood of people selling forgeries was small.

 

Isn't it easier to forge a squiggle than an actual signature?

Who's to say that a blob of ink with a few curly-Q's isn't Joe Superstar's "autograph." A roomful of chimps with pens strapped to their hands can reproduce that crap.

Here's what I'm talkin' about: http://bit.ly/gj7Y5L

 

In Ball Four, we learned that many Mickey Mantle autographs were actually by clubhouse man Pete Previte.

 

What a fascinating signature Clemente had! I always have wished that I knew how to do handwriting analyst. It just fascinates me. Although I'm kind of afraid what mine would say about me...