Albert Pujols makes history with his 700th career home run

Editor’s note: This story will be updated through the remainder of the season when Albert Pujols hits another home run to track his progress.

Eleven-time major league All-Star Albert Pujols made history Friday night.

The 42-year-old hit home runs in back-to-back innings in the St. Louis Cardinals’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the second home run giving Pujols 700 home runs for his career.

By reaching the 700-home run mark, Pujols became just the fourth player in history to reach that milestone, joining Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).

Pujols his his first homer of the night in the third inning, then followed with home run No. 700 in the fourth.

He also hit his 499th and 500th home runs on the same day, back on April 22, 2014.

How Albert Pujols reached 700 home runs

Pujols has now hit 21 home runs this season to reach the milestone.

Pujols has hit 14 home runs since Aug. 10, including a pair multi-home run games on Aug. 14 and Aug. 20. He’s also hit 17 of his 21 home runs since July 10.

Albert Pujols and his retirement plans

Back in March, when he signed a one-year deal with St. Louis, Pujols announced he would retire at the end of the 2022 season, calling this “his last round,” per CBS Sports.

Pujols reiterated that’s still the plan, and chasing 700 home runs won’t change it. He plans to retire after 22 seasons and finish off playing for the same team, the Cardinals, where he played his first 11 years in the majors.

“I’m still going to retire, no matter whether I end up hitting 693, 696, 700, whatever,’’ Pujols told USA Today in an article published Aug. 21. “I don’t get caught up in numbers. If you were going to tell me 22 years ago that I would be this close, I would have told you that you’re freakin’ crazy. My career has been amazing.’’