(LOT 98)
2001 Bowman Chrome Refractor Auto #340 Albert Pujols Rookie Card BGS 9.5/Auto 10 - #317/500
PUJOLS ROOKIE!!! One of the 21st century's most significant rookie cards belongs to the great, and recently retired, Albert Pujols with this breathtaking 2002 Bowman Chrome Refractor #340 Pujols rookie card sporting a BGS 9.5 GEM MINT grade and perfect 10 autograph assessment. Numbered 317 out of 500 possible autographed subjects, its immense hobby stature is substantiated by two separate examples fetching $77k and $78k in 2022, with modern-card enthusiasts salivating over its availability. Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols finally hung up his cleats after the 2022 campaign, with the hard hitting first sacker playing his inaugural MLB season the year this 2001 Bowman Chrome rookie card was first issued. It didn't take Pujols long to set the tone for the spectacular career he was about to embark on, with Albert captivating the St. Louis fanbase with his 37 round trippers, 130 RBIs, 1.013 OPS and .329 batting average that easily merited his Rookie of the Year award.

Pujols would move on to belt 30 or more round-trippers and knock in over 100 runs in an unfathomable 14 separate seasons, while batting .300 or better his first 10 campaigns. Along the way he captured three National League MVP Awards, was a member of 11 All-Star teams and won two world championships with the Cardinals in 2006 and 2011. Most significantly, the legendary first baseman walloped his 700th home run on September 23, 2022 at Dodgers Stadium off of right-handed twirler Phil Bickford, ironically hitting #699 his previous at-bat versus southpaw Andrew Heaney. Only nine days earlier he became the second player (Hank Aaron being the other) to knock in 2,200 runs, with Pujols ending the season with 703 lifetime dingers to Join Bonds (762), Aaron (755) and Ruth (714) as one of only four players to reach the iconic 700+ homer milestone.

The aforementioned achievements of the now immortal Albert Pujols justify why this magnificent rookie card offering stands tall as one of the most exalted inaugural cards on the planet. Along with Hornsby, Foxx and Aaron, Pujols arguably resides as one of our National Pastime's four greatest right-handed hitters, and synonymous to Albert's pinnacle-like stature is this BGS 9.5 GEM MINT marvel that has only been bested by a single BGS Pristine example. The extremely bold blue sharpie "A. Pujols" script merits the sanctified 10 grade, and every aspect of this virtually supreme offering is unquestionably pack-fresh with Beckett providing the following world-class sub-grades: CENTERING (9); EDGES (9.5); CORNERS (9.5); SURFACE (9.5). A "CERTIFIED AUTOGRAPH ISSUE" caption on the card's obverse side confirms the manufacturer's autograph authenticity, the holographic Topps label (#3040020) and limited edition hand written serial-number "317/500" are both affixed to the verso. Five years from now, Pujols will be voted into Cooperstown, New York as one of its greatest inductees, and any savvy collector would be wise to capture this immaculate Pujols scripted rookie card before its already lucrative value soars to unprecedented heights!

MIN BID $15,000
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