Major League Baseball

Bittersweet: Cardinals Nation reacts after Pujols jacks No. 500

Published Apr. 22, 2014 8:50 p.m. ET

foxsports

St. Louis Cardinals fans still have feelings for Albert Pujols. The kinds of feelings, however, remain very much mixed.

Pujols cracked his 500th career home run Tuesday night in Washington — it was his second blast of the evening. Of those 500, 445 came while wearing the Birds on a Bat, a number that would place him 38th on MLB's all-time homers list alone.

On the Cardinals' franchise leaderboards, Pujols ranks second to Stan Musial in homers (475-445), RBI (1,951-1,329), doubles (725-455) and walks (1,599-975), and is second to Mark McGwire in slugging percentage (.683-.617).

Pujols is first in intentional walks (251) and sacrifice flies (68), third in runs (1,291) and fourth in hits (2,073) — Musial (3,630), Lou Brock (2,713) and Rogers Hornsby (2,110) are the top three.

After Albert became the 26th player to reach the 500-homer milestone, many Cardinals fans expressed their congratulations on Twitter. Others? Well, let's just say No. 5's departure to Anaheim still stings.

Take a look at how Cardinals supporters/haters reacted following the Pujols long ball.

Albert Pujols is the first player in @MLB history hit homers No. 499 and 500 in the same game.
— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) April 23, 2014

This St. Louisan and #Cardinals fan sends congrats to Albert Pujols. It didn't end well, but he provided 11 memorable seasons. Never forget.
— Michael Pointer (@michaelpointer) April 23, 2014

Congrats to #5 on #500! Will always appreciate what Albert Pujols did for the #Cardinals!
— Lon Tay (@LonTayESPNCU) April 23, 2014

Congrats to @PujolsFive on HR No. 500. You may not have hit it with the #Cardinals, but still a great milestone. #Congrats #Mr500
— Austin Dubinsky (@AustinDubinsky) April 23, 2014

Congrats @PujolsFive on 500 home runs. Would've been better to see in a Cardinals uniform, but I like postseason baseball so it evens out.
— Joey Budde (@JMFBudde) April 23, 2014

Congrats @PujolsFive on #500, still wish it came with the @Cardinals! #CardinalNation #Angels
— Jeremy Biggs (@JerBiggs) April 23, 2014

Congratulations to @PujolsFive on his 500th homer. 445 of those were for the @Cardinals. Once a Cardinal, #alwaysaCardinal
— STL Sports (@TeamsStLouis) April 23, 2014

Albert Pujols should be hitting homerun number 500 with the @Cardinals , but nope he had to be greedy
— Kyle (@KyleVanderVorst) April 22, 2014

I would care about Albert Pujols 500th home run if he wasn't DEAD TO ME #Traitor #BenedictPujols
— taylor barker (@TaylorBarker19) April 23, 2014

I hope he gets appendicitis. RT @MLB: History! Albert Pujols connects on his 500th career HR, a 2-run shot off Washington's Taylor Jordan.
— LJ Hoes (@d7u3wq6y) April 23, 2014