Albert Pujols is the superstar first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals and the cornerstone of a team that won the 2006 world championship! He’s been the National League’s Rookie of the Year, has won the National League Most Valuable Player award and has finished a close second three other times in the MVP voting, and has enjoyed playing on several NL All-Star teams.

You might expect Pujols to have an ego the size of Busch Stadium, but that’s not him. “I remember 2001 when I first made the team,” he says. “I didn’t know how things were going to go—until Mike Matheny took me under his wing and told me everything was going to be all right. I’m pretty sure it was the same way with Stan Musial. When he played, they tried to take care of each other and help each other out.”

Stan Musial is synonymous with baseball history in St. Louis. And for many observers, Pujols’s talent calls to mind the greatness of Stan the Man. Clearly, part of the secret within Albert Pujols is the storied Cardinals’ franchise, a National League fixture since 1892 and winner of ten world championships. Pujols is standing on the shoulders of such Cardinal Hall of Famers as Musial, Enos Slaughter, Dizzy Dean, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, and Ozzie Smith.

Albert is humbled to be compared to Cardinal greats, and he believes that “to whom much was given…much will be required” (Luke 12:48). He is convinced that God intends for him to use his position and popularity to help others who don’t have the advantages of being a celebrity. It also fits the thinking of a man who has a strong commitment to his family.

That’s why there is a Pujols Family Foundation. It gives Pujols and his wife Deidre the opportunity to use their position for good by helping children in the US and Pujols’ native Dominican Republic who are suffering from Down Syndrome. And since Pujols had to change his thinking on signing so many autographs, with hundreds of requests each week, he prefers to use his signature to help the helpless. All autographed items are sold through the foundation’s store with 100% of the proceeds going to the foundation’s work with children.

Having started in the majors at 21, it has taken Pujols a while to get used to being a role model and leader to younger players! Rick Horton, who pitched for the 1985 and 1987 Cardinals teams that won the National League pennant, now serves as a Baseball Chapel leader for the team. Horton thinks it’s good when younger players can look for guidance to someone as steady and as disciplined as Pujols: “For Albert, it’s heightened because of the great attention he’s getting right now. When you get a big contract, you’ve got more responsibility, you’ve got more activity, you’ve got more promotional things. Sorting that all out, in terms of prioritizing your spiritual growth, is a challenge.”

Pujols’s formula for handling the challenges that come with success has always been very simple. He thinks about how Cardinal legends like Lou Brock, Red Schoendienst, and Bob Gibson played the game, and he strives to bring that tradition to the 21st century. “They played the game hard,” Pujols says. “As young players right now, that’s the same thing we want to do.”

He also reminds himself often of his favorite verse from the Bible—“I can do all things through him [Christ] who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). He became a follower of Jesus Christ in 1998 at age 18, and has never regretted what he calls “the most important decision of my life. There are some people who look at me and say, ‘Oh, man, you’re awesome,’” Pujols says. “I say, ‘I’m just trying to follow my Lord Jesus.’ That’s who I’m trying to represent every day I step onto the field.”

Keeping a championship focus and a humble attitude could be a major challenge for a player who has reached so many lofty goals at such an early age, but for Albert Pujols it’s just the state of mind he needs for getting ready for another baseball season.

Highlights of an amazing young hitter

Albert Pujols’s life-changing decision

What would Albert Pujols call the most important decision of his life? A baseball decision? His decision to marry? No, it was the decision to place his total trust in Jesus Christ to make him right with God!

Everyone must come to Jesus like Albert did… by following God’s Book, the Bible. It says that we have a problem, called sin: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sins are our actions, our attitudes, and our moral condition that come up far short of what God says is right. They separate us from God: “The wages of sin is [spiritual] death” (Romans 6:23).

God’s solution was to send a substitute—Jesus, his only Son—to take the punishment for our sins! Jesus “suffered once for [our] sins, the righteous [Jesus] for the unrighteous [us], that he might bring us to God, being put to death” (1 Peter 3:18). Because Jesus lived up to every standard that God had for mankind, that qualified him to pay the penalty we could never be good enough to pay. The proof that God accepted Jesus’ payment was his resurrection three days later!

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Just as Albert did in 1998, you must choose to trust in Christ to save you from the consequences of your sins. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Do you believe that? If so, tell God today, then let us know about your decision.