With a pair of home runs in the Cardinals 11-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last night (September 23), Albert Pujols joined Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth with 700 career homers. Pujols hit #698 on September 16 and went almost a week before he slugged #699 and #700 in the contest, his 65^th multi-HR game of his illustrious career.

Here are 12 stats you need to know about Pujols and his chase for immortality and the 700-HR milestone:

1. Pujols was a 13^th round pick of the Cardinals in the 1999 draft. Of the 40 players chosen by the Cardinals that year, only one other selection, Coco Crisp, who was chosen in the seventh round, played 400 or more games in the majors (Pujols has played 3,072 through September 23). Crisp played 1,586 games in the majors, yet he never played for the Cardinals (the team that drafted him) in the bigs. The Cardinals number one pick that year was Chance Caple, a righthanded pitcher from Texas A&M. Caple spent five years in the minors, never advancing higher than Single A ball. According to baseball-reference.com, Caple signed a $1.2m bonus; Pujols signed for $60,000.
2. Pujols played only one year in the minors hitting 19 home runs, driving in 96 with a .314 batting average.
3. He made his MLB debut against the Colorado Rockies (in Colorado) on April 2, 2001, starting in leftfield. Batting sixth in the order, he went 1-for-3. His first MLB at-bat was a groundout to third in the 2^nd inning. He collected his first MLB hit in the 7^th inning on a single to left off pitcher Mike Hampton.
4. Albert was a three-time National League MVP. He is one of five players to win three or more NL MVP awards; the others are Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Mike Schmidt and Barry Bonds.
5. He hit most of his 700 HRs, 504 to be exact, from the number 3 spot in the batting order. He has the third most HRs from the #3 spot in the batting order in MLB history behind Babe Ruth (553) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (530)
6. Pujols hit 154 long balls in the first inning, most of any inning in his career. Second most was 87 in the fifth inning.
7. He is one of 21 players to have scored 100 or more runs in a season 10 times. Hank Aaron tops this category with 15 seasons scoring 100 or more runs.
8. Of his 700 career home runs, Pujols hit the most, 62, against the Houston Astros. He hit 59 versus the Cubs and 54 against the Pirates. The pitcher he hit the most HRs off is Ryan Dempster with eight.
9. Even with 3,377 career hits, Pujols had 200 hits in only one season (212 in 2003). He had over 190 hits in three seasons (196 in 2004, 195 in 2005, and 194 in 2001).
10. Pujols had 30 or more home runs in 14 seasons, tying him with Barry Bonds for third most 30-HR seasons in baseball history. Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez are tied for the most 30-HR seasons with 15.
11. He had six seasons where he hit 40 or more HR, drove in 110 or more runs, and batted .300 or higher. Alex Rodriguez also had six 40-11-.300 campaigns. Babe Ruth tops this stat with 11 such seasons.
12. Albert played in 86 post-season games. He hit 19 home runs, drove in 54, and had a .321 career post-season batting average. In baseball history, only one other player has hit 15 HR, had 50 RBI and batted .300 or higher in his career in the post season… Derek Jeter.